EPI Centre

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Zavod EPI center
Prisojna 1, SI-1000 Ljubljana


Phone386 (0) 1 544 4155
Sebastjan Horvat, Artistic director







The now defunct Elizabeth Project Ideas Centre (EPI Centre) was established in 1997 by the theatre director Sebastijan Horvat and set designer Petra Veber. The group of renowned artists who worked within the framework of EPI Centre seeked new collaborators and new ideas related to innovative drama theatre, with a focus on the epic and the poetic, the image and the body, and philosophy.

EPI Centre's last production was the theatre project Manifest K (2010), directed by Horvat, which set out to stage the Communist Manifesto, not as a political programme but as a formal score, thus opening doors to contemporary artistic procedures and effects.


Performances by Horvat

The centre operated in line with the basic ideas of "performance first": minimalism, reduction, and the limiting of theatrical expression. Verbal and artistic languages were accorded equal status: every project deals with a literary model and a visual concept, which are created anew. The first performance was the eponymous Elizabeth Project [Elizabeth] (1997), and in 1998 EPI Centre produced its second show Ion, which won an award at the Week of Slovenian Drama in Kranj. Horvat's productions Instruction [Inštrukcija] (1995), Ion, Ionesco's Macbett [Makbet] (1999), and Sharpen Your Senses (2000) divided both critics as well as the Slovene public.

In 2005, Horvat received the Montblanc Young Directors Project Award at the Salzburg Festival for his direction of Vladimir Bartol's Alamut. Horvat has staged a number of works in recent years that make direct reference to communism and Brecht's radical theatre. Besides the stagings of A Passage to Jajce [Pot v Jajce] (2009), co-produced by Slovene National Theatre Drama Ljubljana and Slovene National Theatre Nova Gorica, and Ivan Cankar's For the People's Welfare [Za narodov blagor] (2008), produced by Slovene National Theatre Maribor, the production that garnered the most attention was Ragged People (Pupils and Teachers) [Raztrganci (Učenci in učitelji)] (2007), the legendary play written by Matej Bor in 1943 between the battles he participated in as a member of the Slovene Partisan army, which underscored today's need for a didactic theatre and the importance of communicating with the viewer.

Other productions

EPI Centre's past productions by other directors include: School Notebook [Šolski zvezek] (2003), directed by Ivana Djilas; Still Life [Tihožitje] (2004), conceived by the stage director Jernej Lorenci; and Oidipus [Ojdip] by Jaka Ivanc. In co-production with Dance Theatre Ljubljana, EPI Centre has staged choreographies by Matjaž Farič, Snježana Premuš, Valentina Čabro, and Ariella Vidach. EPI Centre's performances were often co-produced by Ptuj City Theatre, Slovene National Theatre Maribor, Slovene National Theatre Drama Ljubljana, Mladinsko Theatre, Glej Theatre and Dance Theatre Ljubljana.

Venues and festivals

EPI Centre productions often premièred at Glej Theatre and Old Power Station in Ljubljana and also appeared at numerous festivals, including the Mladi levi Festival and the Exodos International Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts in Ljubljana; Neighbouring Voices in Bulgaria; the New European Theatre Festival in Moscow; the Biennial Festival of Young Artists of Europe and the Mediterranean; the Four Days in Motion Festival in Prague; and Mittelfest in Cividale, Italy.

See also

External links

... more about "EPI Centre"
Zavod EPI center +
SI-1000 Ljubljana +
The now defunct Elizabeth Project Ideas Centre (EPI Centre) was established in 1997 by the theatre director Sebastijan Horvat and set designer Petra Veber. +
The now defunct Elizabeth Project Ideas Centre (EPI Centre) was established in 1997 by the theatre director Sebastijan Horvat and set designer Petra Veber. +
Ljubljana +
SI-1000 +