Cankar Goes West

The Project Cankar Goes West

The complete plays of Ivan Cankar are now available in the English language for the first time. 

The project Cankar Goes West is a collaborative effort between Prešeren Theatre Kranj in Slovenia and the Crane Creations Theatre Company, a professional theatre company in Canada led by Slovenian-born theatre director Andreja Kovač. 

The project aims to expand the readership of and grow the audience for the works of the "father of Slovenian drama", playwright Ivan Cankar (1876–1918), by translating, publishing, distributing and promoting Cankar’s complete playwriting opus of seven plays: Romantic Souls, Jakob Ruda, Lackeys, King of Betajnova, Beautiful Vida, Depravity in St. Florian Valley and For the Good of the Nation. The plays will be published both in print and digital format. The luxuriously designed limited edition hardcover print version has only four hundred copies making it a prized possession for collectors of rare books. The more accessible softcover and e-books will be available on Amazon. 

Ivan Cankar – the undiscovered Eastern European Henrik Ibsen, is regarded as the greatest playwright in the Slovene language and his work was instrumental in the formation of the Slovenian national identity. Accompanying the books is a timeline of the historical events influencing Cankar’s work and leading to the creation of the independent Slovenian state and photography from various productions of Cankar’s work in theatres across Slovenia. Thematically, the plays tackle political corruption, greed, truth and morality outlined in complex characters and plotlines akin to the works of Anton Chekhov.

The acclaimed literary translators who made this project a reality are Michael Biggins, Rawley Grau, Jason and Alenka Blake, Tina Mahkota and Tom Priestly.

This project is co-funded by the Creative Europe programme of the European Commission and the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia.