Randomramblings

Photo courtesy of SNG Drama.

Ženska od prej (The woman from before) is an interesting story about a woman who finds the man who swore to love her always after 24 years. Romy (Polona Juh), the woman from before, was 17 and he was 20 when he swore his eternal and undying love for her. Needless to say, the man, Frank, (Bojan Emeršič) is now 19 years married and has an adult son, Andi.

Romy comes to remind Frank of his promise at the last possible minute; as she finds out on the next day the family is to move overseas after having spent the last 19 years in this apartment. Frank's wife, Claudia (Nataša Barbara Gračner) is furious when she learns who Romy is. She feels that Frank is happy about their guest and is confused as to why she wasn't informed of this relationship before. She claims it's either that Romy didn't mean anything to Frank and he really forgot her or Romy meant a lot to him, thus making him kept quiet about her.

Frank, on the other hand, is confused. Exactly what's going on in his head is never explained quite satisfactorily, but at first he wants to deny that Romy came to see him, he pretends he wasn't talking to anybody. Then he admits he knew and had an affair with her when he was 20 and she was 17. He claims that she doesn't mean anything to him anymore and asks her to leave. Romy says he doesn't really mean it and that he'll eventually want to leave her wife and start his new life with Romy. This statement is made fearlessly and without a doubt in her head and the viewer finds himself thinking about it as though it was a prophecy of sorts. As with any prophecy, the more you try to avoid it, the closer you get to fulfilling it.

Naturally, this first encounter between two used-to-be-lovers and am-now-his-wife is hilarious, filled with carefully observant statements which make you realize the nature of the relationship between the man and his wife and why exactly this woman from before could ever prove dangerous to the couple. There is further situational comedy in almost every scene because of the tensions in the marriage. It is definitely funnier than Smoletov vrt, but substantially more tragic at the same time. To see the lust in Frank's eyes means that he has no lust for his wife anymore, the constant bickering between the wife and man, the insulting remarks they carelessly throw at each other only go to prove how dissonant their marriage has become (and there is lovely background music to underline the fact).

In its own it's quite a good performance, the play being nothing very special, but its fragmented structure, frequent repetition of scenes and the unusual plot twist make it interesting and fresh. The performances are solid (even Polona Juh manages a slightly different approach than her standard performance), the best actor undoubtedly being Saša Tabaković as the teenager Andi.

There is just one flaw in the consistency of the plot, but fearing it might give away too much of the story, I cannot say what it is. Otherwise, this is a thoroughly enjoyable performance although the woman behind me muttered to her neighbour that the theatre has become obsessed with being grotesquely morbid.