Marabou Stork Nightmares

MARABOU STORK NIGHTMARES Roy Strang is in a coma. Unable to interact with the outside world, he delves deeper and deeper into his own mind. His dreams are as adventurous as hunting wild game in Africa and as uneasy as the life of an innocent boy in the jungle of an Edinburgh suburb. Over the surreal visions, though, the true form of the disturbing events of his recent past emerges ever more clearly: a period of violence, frustration, hooliganism, and above all, profound guilt. Marabou Stork Nightmares is one of Irvine Welsh’s darkest and most complex works. He poses both disturbing and tricky questions in his typically harsh, yet revelatory language. What forms can the carousel of cruelty take in a world whose main law is the law of might makes right, where passionate brutality is the only source of excitement and there is no place for such things as humanity or forgiveness. The Marabou stork is an ugly, insidious and monstrous bird of prey, feeding mainly on flamingos. It does not hesitate to devour eggs or chicks, and resorts to unimaginably bestial tactics in its hunting and treatment of its prey. And humans? What can be said of them?

In Marabou Stork Nightmares, Ráliš decided to test the limits of graphic violence on theatre stage – and he has succeeded brilliantly. (…) Violence simply happens in the backstage, and yet the shouts, words, gestures, and muscle tension intensify the audience’s experience to the maximum. It’s agonizingly uncomfortable. But is it unacceptable? The brutality in the production escalates in parallel with the fragility of the situation, this changing the meaning and effects of violence. Here, violence takes the intimate form of a primal desire for revenge as an uncontrolled emotion.
JOSEFÍNA FORMANOVÁ, A2

In an interview published in the production booklet, director Ráliš talks about the possibilities of exploring violence in theatre. In Marabou Stork Nightmares, he proves that he is capable of showing it without literal naturalism, yet all the more chillingly.
VOJTĚCH VOSKA, Nadivadlo

TOMÁŠ RÁLIŠ (1997) Director and playwright, named the Talent of the Year 2023 at the Theatre Critics’ Awards, studied directing at the DAMU Department of Dramatic Theatre. He focuses on stage adaptations of the works of literature with an emphasis on thorough psychological probes and experimental form. Marabou Stork Nightmares mark his first collaboration with MeetFactory. In 2020, his play Safety Belts won the drama competition organised by the Vaclav Havel Library Foundation, New York, and was awarded a scholarship in the USA and an internship at the Tisch School of the Arts in New York. In the same year, he came third in the International One-minute Play Contest organized by the AGRFT faculty of the University of Ljubljana. During the second year of the drama workshop ‘Author in the House’ organised by A Studio Rubín, Ráliš wrote two plays, Sorex and 20/21. He also collaborates with Czech Centres as an author of short prose. Ráliš writes song lyrics and pieces for radio. His collaboration with Czech Radio commenced with a radio play titled Follow Me! about the phenomenon of YouTubers and influencers, directed by Ondřej Štefaňák. He has won several Evald Schorm Prizes. In 2023, he received the Minister of Education, Youth and Sports Award for Outstanding Students and Graduates for his excellent academic and theatre achievements, including original plays.

MEETFACTORY is a non-profit international centre of contemporary art. It was founded by artist David Černý in 2001. The 2002 floods in Prague forced them to move from their original premises in Holešovice and suspend their activities for three years. Now they continue at a peculiar old industrial building in Smíchov, located between the motorway and a busy railway line. The venue opened after refurbishment in 2007 and currently hosts four collaborating dramaturgic sections: a gallery, a residency programme, music, and theatre.