The play 'Girls' by the Collective Igralke and Tjaša Črnigoj is in the competitive program of the 34th Marulić Days on the stage of the Croatian National Theatre Split on Wednesday, April 24th, starting at 8:00 PM. This documentary play is based on the testimonies of women from three generations: performers in their thirties, their mothers around sixty years old, and their grandmothers around eighty years old. It is a co-production of the Artistic Organization Collective Igralke, HNK Ivan pl. Zajc, and the VIDNE Institute, with partners being the Slovenian Youth Theatre and MASKA Ljubljana. Considering the theme of the play, the authors do not deem it suitable for those under 14 years old.
Actresses Sendi Bakotić, Ana Marija Brđanović, Anja Sabol, and Vanda Velagić, along with Tjaša Črnigoj and Tijana Todorović, who are the authors of the project, delve into the topics of growing up, first sexual experiences, and sexual education spanning several generations of women. They raise questions about what "losing virginity" means to different generations, how many were afraid of unwanted pregnancy, and what support they had in their sexual exploration. Through intimate excavation of family histories, the authors and performers encounter shame, pleasure, and silence, equally inviting a conversation about things that are usually left unsaid. The play, through personal women's stories, depicts the change of times and socio-political systems. In Croatia today, reproductive and sexual rights of women are seriously threatened, prompting the question of where we are headed, whether the upbringing of future generations will resemble that of our grandmothers.
The collective "Igralke" consists of Sendi Bakotić, Ana Marija Brđanović, Anja Sabol, and Vanda Velagić, friends and graduates of the Acting and Media Studies at the Academy of Applied Arts in Rijeka, in the class of Rade Šerbedžija and Lenka Udovički. These professional actresses have backgrounds in completed studies of social anthropology and cultural management, comparative literature and Russian studies, as well as speech therapy, and independently carry out their own projects as authors and producers.
In the accompanying festival program, Goran Gita Galić, a licensed guide, will take interested participants on a free educational walk through the city center called "My Brother Marko," while at the Maruić Palace in Papalićeva Street 4, starting at 6:00 PM, a scientific-literary "Evening with Marulić" will be held."