Ljubljana is magic at night! The buildings and bridges light up and music is played on almost every corner. Last night I went to a cabaret performance at Glej Theater, the oldest independent performing arts venue in Ljubljana. Glej is in Ljubljana’s city center near the National University Library and the Slovenian Philharmonic.
“Glej’s fresh and innovative approach features interesting plays and dramas. Its name literally means LOOK.” The performance last night – Red Cabaret – is the first Slovene show “devoted to the style of New Cabaret”. It was a small audience and the singing and dancing production was like a bawdy, smaller-scale version of San Francisco’s Beach Blanket Babylon. It was hilarious and the six actors who performed were brilliant.
“Red Cabaret uses the stage to bite into the political issues, sexual taboos, and the trauma and joys of an average person. New cabaret is penetrating across Europe as a new kind of night Club Theater. It offers the freedom of mind and body, various theatrical and musical expressions, fights the restraint and bourgeois decency and challenges spectator’s instincts and subconscious desire for new, different, and edgy.”
Established as an experimental theatre in 1970, Glej played an important role in the making of the Slovene theatre scene. It’s the place for most unorthodox authors and “alternative theatre with a programme that attracts very different audiences”.
After the performance I walked around the city center and listened to the symphony playing outside in Congress Square, a jazz quartet on another corner, an accordion player in an alley, and a guitar player near the river. All were delightful. I love Ljubljana’s night atmosphere!