Old Clown Wanted

In a windowless hallway, a job advert is hanging on the door. The candidates for the job will be, so it seems, three old acquaintances. Aged circus hands Filippo and Niccolo used to be a famous tandem, but their camaraderie is now being tested, because only one “small role for an aged clown” is available. Soon they’re joined in their waiting by Peppino, who was their teacher and mentor. Their joyous meeting is clouded with anxiety and tension; the three of them are caught in despair, because they’re forgotten and sentenced to bitter solitude. Tired from waiting they come to life at the sounds of a circus orchestra and start presenting their best numbers ...

Matei Vişniec (1956), a Romanian author, poet, journalist, philosopher and dreamer, who emigrated to France because of censorship, has written over twenty stage plays, mostly in French. Translated into eighteen languages, his plays are now performed all over the world. He’s the most frequently performed Romanian author and in recent years also the most frequently performed European author. Our theatre was the first in Slovenia to introduce him in December 2014 with the lyrical comedy The Story of the Panda Bears Told by a Saxophonist Who Has a Girlfriend in Frankfurt. This season, we found ourselves captivated by the nostalgic black comedy Old Clown Wanted, which, although in a comedy form, sheds light on deep existential distress. The image of unemployed aged clowns waiting for an audition reveals not only the fear of increasing unemployment, but also the question, when is an individual, in a world that glorifies youth and beauty, too old for the labour market. The text is also a peculiar homage to the theatre of the absurd, particularly Beckett’s Waiting for Godot, a play in which years ago our actors Radoš Bolčina and Iztok Mlakar shone. This time, Gojmir Lešnjak Gojc, in recent years a regular guest here in the Nova Gorica theatre, will be “waiting” with them. Director Jaša Jamnik has so far created ten performances in our theatre, with which he has, regardless of the genre, addressed the widest possible audience.