On Friday, Roman Vodeb, a well-known psychoanalyst, sexologist, director and playwright, angrily announced on YouTube that his play, the comedy “The Disappointed Housewife At The Sexologist’s,“ had been censored and that some Slovenian cultural institutions, including the Prešeren Cultural Centre in Kranj and the theatre hall in Novo mesto, refuse to include it in their repertoire. They also want to prevent its performance in Ptuj.
Someone is also blocking the performance in Jesenice: “We should have had a performance on the 24th, but someone – the mayor, the mayoress, the director, would not let us perform it!” Roman Vodeb was furious. In this edition of the play, the role of the disappointed housewife is played by Serbian actress Mina Manojlović, who has been living in Slovenia for several years.
The show has received ovations, and Vodeb said he has had to make short breaks during the show to “give the audience enough time to stop laughing”. He admitted that during the performance he and Mina Manojlović also laugh a lot, “sometimes she is laughing more than me and vice versa.”
These are frustrated women at work
“But one week after a great performance, there was one neurotic woman, a feminist, an asexual, a frustrated woman she was,” said Vodeb, talking about the woman who was angry at Vodeb and had even accused him of insulting women with the performance, which Vodeb said is not true – instead, the opposite is true, he pointed out.
In his video on Youtube, Vodeb explained that the play has actually been very successful and well-received at the many shows they have played in front of as many as 60 thousand spectators. He also spoke of Manojlović’s success as an actress and praised her performance. He then also showed the letter that was sent to the Cultural Centre where the play was recently put on, which read: “On the 15th of February, a play was put on in your Centre, called ‘A Disappointed Housewife.’ I am saddened by the fact that you would even allow such a primitive play to be put on your repertoire. This was nothing but humiliating, primitive insults at women’s expense. Very, very sad. If I had come alone, I would have definitely left the hall during the play. People want to come to the Cultural Centre to have some fun and enjoy themselves a little, and not leave the play appalled by your choice of performance. The play was not worth even a cent!
For your consideration.”
Ptuj city councillor pressures the school management
The fact that this is an organised work of Slovenian feminists is also evidenced by the announcement of Ptuj City Councillor Lina Habjanič, who personally intervened to have Vodeb’s performance banned in the hall of the Ptuj High School. She pressured the school management to unilaterally cancel the performance.
The high school replied to her request, pointing out that the performance was not organised by them and had no connection with the school’s educational process. The school is only “involved” as the landlord of the premises, but the management of the school, surprisingly, apologised for not checking the content of the performance before the show and distanced themselves from it. Here is what they wrote:
“Dear Ms Habjanič,
we are responding to your recent letter.
The play in question that will be put on in the hall of the Ptuj High School is part of the evening cultural programme, which is not organised by our school and is in no way connected to the education process or morals of our institution. We fully distance ourselves from the content and the author of the play. The hall was rented out to the ‘Winter Hours’ Association and King Kong Theatre for the performance of the play/comedy.
The Ptuj High School has always been and continues to be committed to respecting and supporting human rights, respecting diversity, defending equal opportunities regardless of someone’s gender, skin colour, religion, nationality, sexual orientation and sexual identity. We teach and live these values every day during our lessons, after-school activities, and project work.
We sincerely regret that we did not check what the content of the show was before we rented out our premises. We apologise to everyone whom we unintentionally hurt for our mistake.
Kind regards,
Boštjan Šeruga, Headmaster
Renata Merc Furman, Assistant Headmistress”
Habjanič then went on to insist that the school should “destroy” the performance by unilaterally terminating the contract, and she even went so far as to suggest that she is willing to collect the money for the contractual penalty in the event of cancellation. In her letter, she wrote:
“Dear Sir or Madam,
Thank you very much for your sincere response.
I would also like to know if there is a way for you to cancel the play. We assume that in the event of a unilateral cancellation, you would be forced to pay a fine. In light of this, we are willing to connect money for this purpose and cover all of the expenses that would result from the cancellation.
We assume that the contract is formed in a way that does not allow for a cancellation. This is especially common when the premises are rented out to someone who (probably intentionally, as the City Theatre Ptuj did not allow them to organise their performance on their premises) keeps quiet about the nature and subtle intentions of the play.
If it is possible, we would happily help you cover the costs of the cancellation.
Namely, the problem remains that the play will happen.
Thank you again, and kind regards,
Lina Habjanič”
The school replied that, after consulting with lawyers, they came to the conclusion that what Habjanič proposed was not possible.
L. K.
