Beautiful Vida by Ivan Cankar A Staged Reading
Little Lion Theatre Company is partaking in the international launch of the first ever English translations of Slovenian playwright, Ivan Cankar, by staging a reading of Cankar’s dramatic poem “Beautiful Vida”. This international translation project is a collaboration with Slovenian National Playwriting Festival, Preseren Theatre Kranj, and Crane Creations Theatre Company (from Mississauga, Canada).
Beautiful Vida (1911, originally Lepa Vida) is an adaptation of a Slovenian folk song. The tale of Lepa Vida tells of a young woman whisked away from her poor and sickly husband and child, and is brought to care for the children of the Queen of Spain. She is eager to go, but once in Spain, she spends all her time gazing out the window across the sea, longing to return to her former life. Combined with the motifs of a dilapidated sugar factory, a final refuge of dying poets and the downtrodden, Beautiful Vida is a story about longing for happiness in a different world.
Ivan Cankar, playwright, essayist, poet and political activist, is regarded as the greatest writer in the Slovene language, and has sometimes been compared to Henrik Ibsen, Franz Kafka and James Joyce. He is considered the father of modern Slovene theatre and has had a major influence on almost all Slovene playwrights thereafter. His playwriting opus consists of 7 full length plays, all featuring a large cast, complex themes and deep understanding of socio economic and political nuances of Slovene society.
