Lucy Kirkwood ranks among the very best contemporary playwrights. In Mosquitoes, she highlights the intriguing battlefield between the extreme opposites of human destinies and truths. The play centres on two sisters: Alice, a brilliant physicist on the brink of a groundbreaking discovery, who is committed to her work relentlessly, and Jenny, mired in grief, burdened by being a carer for their demented mother, and captivated by endless conspiracy theories. This dynamic is joined by members of their family and companions, each of them emphatically powerless, but with a desperate lust for life. Both Jenny and Alice are, on a symbolic level, metaphors for the world we live in. A world of (self-)righteous individuals who are incapable of listening and hearing others.

The video footage in the performance features Prof. Dr. Marko Mikuž, Prof. Dr. Borut Paul Kerševan, Lenart Jerala, Dr. Tadej Novak, and Dr. Judita Mamužić. We would like to thank the Jožef Stefan Institute, the SMASH MSCA postdoctoral program, and the University of Ljubljana. Special thanks to Dr. Andreja Gomboc.

The performance features excerpts from David Bowie’s song Five Years (1972), quotes from Erin Dignam’sfilm Loved (1997), and an excerpt from Marlen Haushofer’s novel The Wall (Die Wand, 1963).