The present thesis focuses on literary interpretations and theatrical productions of Cankar's play The King of Betajnova since 2000. In the first part of the thesis I deal with literary interpretations of the play, where I find that literary interpreters have pointed out the difference in moral systems of Kantor and Maks (e.g. Kos), the influence of world literature and Nietzsche (e.g. Avsenik Nabergoj), Kantor's negative qualities (e.g. Bernik), his positive qualities or Betajnova's negativity (e.g. Mislej) and violence (e.g. Pezdirc Bartol). Many literary interpreters have actualised Kantor and Betajnova (e.g. Štefančič, Jr.). In the second part of the thesis, I analyse five theatrical productions of The King of Betajnova. Kantor is foregrounded in the staging of Šedlbauer, Jamnik, Miler and Gorkič, but he is portrayed differently. Šedlbauer and Miler showed the positive and negative side of Kantor, Jamnik emphasised his inevitable downfall, and Gorkič his cruelty. Pelko highlighted women in a man's world, or their helplessness and attachment to men. Šedlbauer staged the confrontation between Kantor and Maks very calmly, Jamnik and Pelko showed Maks' domination over Kantor, while Miler and Gorkič presented Kantor and Maks as equal opponents.
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