Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Ali: Fear Eats Your Soul
SNT Drama Ljubljana
Schedule
Original title Angst essen Seele auf
Stage adaptation of the film Ali: Fear Eats the Soul (Angst essen Seele auf)
Première: 15 and 16 March 2019, SNT Drama Ljubljana
Running time 2 hours 20 minutes including active interval.
Director Sebastijan Horvat
Translator from German Urška Brodar
Translator from Serbian Jernej Potočan
Adaptation and dramaturgy by Milan Marković Matthis
Set designer Igor Vasiljev
Costume designer Belinda Radulović
Composer Drago Ivanuša
Lighting designer Aleksandar Čavlek
Language consultant Arko
Assistant director Mitja Lovše
Assistant dramaturg Jernej Potočan
Assistant set designer Maruša Mali
Assistant costume designer Bernarda Popelar Lesjak
Student assistant director Maša Pelko
Cast
Emmi Nataša Barbara Gračner
Salem Iztok Drabik Jug
Mrs Ellis; Frieda Barbara Žefran
Eugen; Doctor Boris Mihalj/Mitja Lovše
Barbara Eva Jesenovec
Fuad; Bruno Borut Doljšak
Mrs Karges; Hedwig Damjana Černe
Mr Gruber; Waiter Nik Škrlec/Gregor Podričnik
Katharina; Angermayerʼs Wife; Paula Tamara Avguštin
Krista; Jolanda; Mrs Münchmeyer Saša Mihelčič
Angermayer; Foreman Vojko Zidar
Germany, 1970s. A 40-year-old Moroccan, El Hedi Ben Salem MʼBarek Mohammed Mustafa, called Ali, is one of the many migrant workers from his country, trying to pursue happiness in the golden years of economic migrations. Emmi, a 60-year-old widow, earns a living as a cleaning lady. A genuine feeling of warmth and attraction springs up momentarily between her and Ali. However, their relationship stumbles upon strong prejudice and the lack of understanding from their environment: Emmi’s female neighbours, co-workers, her grown-up children and even her local shop-keeper. They grow increasingly cold and even hostile. Ali’s origins and his social position as a "guest worker" challenge their narrowly restricted notions of humanity, while they are equally upset by his relationship with Emmi, 20 years his senior. In his acclaimed film Ali: Fear Eats the Soul (1974), Rainer Werner Fassbinder divulges a multi-layered and gripping love story set on the margins of society. Using his signature modernist aesthetics, he allows the viewer to confront social stereotypes that even today – especially in view of the recent wave of migrations, xenophobia and conservatism – remain neuralgic points of society and humanity.
Director
Sebastijan Horvat was born in Maribor in 1971. He studied theatre directing with Professor Dušan Jovanović at the Academy of Theatre, Radio, Film and Television in Ljubljana. He graduated in 1998 with the staging of Elsinor, an original adaptation of Shakespeare's Hamlet. The production won the University of Ljubljana Prešeren Award for directing. In 2007, Horvat received the national Prešeren Fund Award for theatre direction in the two-year period. He is one of the founders of the independent theatre institute E.P.I. center and a lecturer at the Department of Theatre and Film at the Academy of Theatre, Radio, Film and Television. In 2005, he received the Montblanc Young Directors Project Award for his staging of Alamut, co-produced by the SNT Drama Ljubljana. His other successful collaborations with the Drama Ljubljana (Main Stage and Small Stage) include Romantic Souls by Ivan Cankar, Mother by Bertolt Brecht and In the Republic of Happiness by Martin Crimp.
Producer
SNT Drama Ljubljana is the central drama theatre in Slovenia, with the largest, most recognizable and respected ensemble, which consists of 43 actresses and actors. Drama's repertory includes classical, contemporary and experimental theatre productions.
