Push up 1-3

For Roland Schimmelpfennig, one of the best contemporary German playwrights, liberal capitalism is a ruthless, cruel system which devours its children. The principal imperative - to succeed - for those who abide by it necessarily means working all day, being lonely, having no family or neglecting it, being spiritually empty... Everyone wants to escape from it, but only the chosen ones are really able to, with Schimmelpfennig, interestingly, by escaping to India which is presented here as a longing, a symbol and a fantasy. In order to get there, Angelika, Sabine, Robertt, Patrizia, Hans and Frank are prepared to do anything, because they have nothing more to lose... Precise, trenchant, layered and communicative, Push Up is a dramatic showdown with western ideology, which it questions, ironizes and ridicules staring at the face of prosperity. Directed by Dario Harjaček, who has already successfully staged Davor Špišić's Alabama in our theatre, Push Up is also a ''feast for the actor'', written in a hugely performative combination of confessional monologues and staccato dialogues, which almost dictate to be performed uncompromisingly and with virtuosity.

''The German playwright hit the bullseye (...) The director of the younger generation is already a name that draws the audience to the theatre.'' (Ana Lendvaj, Večernji list)

''The gallery of Schimmelpfennig's characters probes different kinds of careerism, from the youthful need to achieve the highest possible luxury through the preretirement desire to prove one's own irreplaceability within a firm (or even to surpass the idea of retirement), but the main thread of all these corporate troopers is closely linked to a much wider political programming: the imperative to make as much money as possible. (...) The most provocative are Antonija Stanišić Šperanda and Barbara Nola, bitter and estranged in their roles to the extent that it seems only anger can briefly snap them out of the mechanism of efficient corporate cogs.'' (Nataša Govedić, Novi list)

''Compliments are in order to the young director Dario Harjaček for his studious work with the actors, with which he achieved the qualitative unity of the ensemble, at a high level too (...) (Boris B. Hrovat, Vijenac)