With Kidričeva 29c, the young artists Martin Mlakar and Tajda Lipicer bring to the stage, through object theatre, the deafening silence that follows the death of a person. Martin Mlakar is originally from Nova Gorica, and Kidričeva 29c is the street where his grandfather lived.
The young protagonist in this play sways between nostalgia and memories, as the only thing still alive in the flat are the latter. They have no fascination to official history, but profoundly mark a personal story: memories of a childhood friend, soured by guilt, and imprinted in the space and the objects that inhabit it.
The performance conceptualises the objects as entities carrying their own and the inherited memory, as triggers that speak of a life and at the same time weave the narrator's innocence and regret.
‘Kidričeva 29c, second floor. I'm standing in front of the door with your name on it. My name. I've grown up now. When I unlock it with a special anti-theft key, it opens accompanied by a sharp, even crackle. I enter. Nothing has changed, but he is no longer here. I am looking for him. I am looking for his things. I'm looking for traces of him. Proof of existence. The shelves that only he could reach. How he put his things away. Where he put them. I wander around the flat aimlessly, looking at all the things, waiting patiently for someone to use them. Everything is waiting'.
From the text of Kidričeva 29c
Kidričeva 29c is brought to the stage by two very young and talented artists: Martin Mlakar, born in 1996, completed his studies at the Academy of Theatre, Radio, Film and Television in 2023, with a Master's degree in the arts. As a student, he received the Prešeren Prize and was later included in the play In the Name of the Mother, a drama by the Slovenian National Theatre, directed by Ivica Buljan. He collaborates as a cartoon voice actor with RTV Slovenia and in 2024 he became a member of the ensemble of the Ljubljana Puppet Theatre.
Tajda Lipicer, born in 2000, is a student at the Master's Degree Course in Dramaturgy and Performing Arts at the Academy of Theatre, Radio, Film and Television. She has worked in dramaturgy for the Puppet Theatre in Ljubljana and the Slovenian National Theatre in Nova Gorica. She works for RTV Slovenia as a scriptwriter and translator of children's cartoon series. She was co-editor of Adept magazine and part of the international curatorial team of the Mittelfest festival MittelYoung. She is also a member of the Expert Board of the Ljubljana Puppet Theatre.