The Stranger, based on Albert Camus’s novel

Translated from French by Laima RAPŠYTĖ.

The play The Stranger, based on a book by Nobel Prize in Literature laureate Albert Camus, is directed by Slovenian director Jernej Lorenci, regarded as the leading figure in contemporary Slovenian theatre and one of Europe’s most distinctive, perceptive and innovative theatre-makers.

The novel The Stranger explores indifference, loneliness and absurd coincidences. It recounts a brief period in the life of its protagonist, Meursault, and his trial. Having refused to lie to himself or others, and having defied the rules imposed by society, Meursault becomes caught up in a chain of strange coincidences. In the end, he is condemned not for a possible crime, but for being different—a stranger.

Is contemporary society, which is more tolerant than ever, actively defends human rights and stands up for the weak, truly accepting of those who are different? Are there some people who are different and universally pitied, and others who are not? Where does the difference lie? How would you feel if, while trying to explain your motives in court, you kept being asked the same leading questions and realised that nobody was really interested in your answers? Would you fight or give in?

Director Jernej Lorenci says that Meursault is an iconic figure in twentieth-century literature and philosophy:

“An outsider, a renegade, detached from everything and everyone. He observes the world from inside his shell. He has no position of his own. Does his ‘detachment’ have philosophical meaning, or is it merely a way to endure? Is Meursault an oddball, or perhaps a visionary after all? How would we describe him today, when we live in an age of snap judgments and black-and-white truths? Now, when we are expected to have a clear opinion on everything, always firmly ‘for’ or ‘against’? Either ‘for’ or ‘against’—this has become something like an all-encompassing commandment from God, a new catechism: for / against, either / or. We live in times when we are almost proud of our generalised and simplified opinions about everything. When we are furious, irritated, so angry that it seems we are about to explode. When we cling to our truth with all our might, fighting for our exceptional right, the one and only true one? We all wave the flags of our little rights. A sea of flags and banners—that is what we are! And little by little, we are drowning in stupidity, which is turning more and more ominously into real bloodshed.”

Along with numerous awards in Slovenia, Lorenci has also received many awards abroad. Among the most important are the New Theatrical Realities Award (2017) and the award of the Belgrade International Theatre Festival (BITEF) (2013).

In his work, the director rejects classical adaptation, and this production will be no exception. Camus’s novel The Stranger will form the dramatic backbone of the production, but during the creative process, the actors and creative team will also draw on other relevant texts, contemporary contexts and the creators’ personal experiences. Together, these will become an original and topical interpretation of the novel.

The production is funded by: