A man works at a public authority. Every day, he does the same things – routine, no contacts, no conversations, also hopelessly in love. Aksenti Iwanow Propristschin doesn’t have a choice: he has to change his situation, otherwise he would go insane. In his fantasy, he adjusts his reality and finally believes to recognize his true identity: King Ferdinand of Spain. This role raises him above the crazy things that surround him. And he is brought to a place where the insane is normal …

The mono-opera »Diary of a madman« is based on the story by the Russian author Nikolai Gogol (1809-52); he wrote it in the form of journal entries in 1835. The short story is considered one of the first representations of schizophrenia; it is described by Gogol not from a medical perspective, but rather in relation to the state of the world, to going insane in a conflict with society and reality.

Marjan Nečak, born in Bitola in 1976, studied composition at the School for Film, Sound and Animation ESRA in Skopje and Paris. He composes for theatre, opera and ballet, musicals, film and TV. In 2015, he founded the Moving Music Theatre in his home city; he has been directing it to the present day, as a laboratory and platform for new music theatre. The mono-opera »Diary of a madman« (2015) won more than 10 awards and was called »Best Play in the Balkan« by press and theatre critics. His latest piece »Little wire girl« was premiered in Ljubljana in 2018.