23.2.2024, Idrija, SLO
As part of the case study in Slovenia, ID20 in Idrija is preparing a special new event at the Giser miner's house. The house will become the scene of a gastronomic and theatrical experience that will premiere in the later spring months. We will step back in time to 100 years ago and experience the story of a family of miners from Idrija, and the Idrija bourgeois cuisine of that time will also come to life before us.
If we take a quick look at old photographs of Idrija, our eyes cannot help but be drawn to the stately and majestic Idrija miner's houses, which face Idrija from the hills around Idrija with their front sides. Countless stories have played out in these houses, beautiful and not so beautiful, happy and unhappy.
Story of a Simple Mining Family
The experience that will be presented for the first time in the Giser House in the spring months will take you into the story told by the Črv family. Father Peter, wife Marjanca, and daughter Klara are just one of many inhabitants who live in Idrija miner's houses, but in our presentation they will be the ones who will take us to Idrija in 1922. We will enter a city that was healing war wounds, learning a new language and culture, but still dancing at Didič club, loving, drinking at Švarcadler guesthouse, or walking along Via Amore.
The theatrical experience is being created based on the script by the acclaimed Slovenian writer and screenwriter Aleš Čar, with dramaturgy and direction by Ana Kržišnik Blažica. The play will feature actors from the Dramatic Society of Idrija and the Small Theatre School GJV Idrija, who will bring to life characters from an Idrija family as one might have encountered them on the streets of the town a hundred years ago.
Silver wedding anniversary and a culinary experience
How will visitors enter the world of the Črv family? You will come for a gala dinner for their silver wedding anniversary. A 4-course menu awaits you, which we designed with the help of a 100-year-old cookbook from the estate of the last residents of Giser House. The dishes prepared by Marjanca, the wife, will take you back to the times of bourgeois cuisine that was cooked in Idrija at the beginning of the 20th century. We will surprise you with forgotten dishes, of course, and there will be no shortage of žlikrofi, which you will get in a different shape than you are used to ... The menu was designed by Tilen Božič with the help of chef Nejc Lenič from Gostišča Barbara (a local restaurant).
The world where love conquers all
In addition to the dishes, you will also get to know moments from the lives of Peter, Marjanca, and Klara. We find ourselves in Idrija in the year 1922. Father Peter, a foundry worker in the Idrija mine, is still healing battle wounds from the Great War and eagerly awaits guests, even those from across the new border. However, the joy over the silver wedding anniversary is disrupted by the mysterious Klara, who surprises her parents in the middle of the celebratory dinner with unexpected news. Peter and Marjanca are faced with a new trial, and Marjanca with a decision that will change everything. Will courage or fear prevail? Is the forbidden love Marjanca has become entangled in truly forbidden? All these questions will be answered within the experience that reveals the world of a simple mining family. A world where love triumphs over the darkness of the mine and the times, aided by culinary delights.
The experience in the Giser house is being created as part of the RE: project, which is co-financed by the Creative Europe program. The experience is also part of the official program of GO! 2025 European Capital of Culture Nova Gorica – Gorizia.
