The author puts to use the examples of selected drama texts of several authors of the 1970s up until the recent time to demonstrate that memory and identity (more individual and civil rather than collective) pose a problem even for the new generation of dramatists and theatre makers. It is any less challenging for them as it was for their forerunners.
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Since the 1990s, Slovak drama has been increasingly affected by contemporary Western drama and it has developed its own appearance. Since the beginning of the 21st century, all forms of its structure, content and scenic interpretative means have been referred to as “new drama“ for convenience. At the beginning of this new path of the development of contemporary drama, some dramatists or authors of drama were inclined to work with a traditional building up of the drama text. A number of them purposely broke the compactness of form and content and favoured film language with its rapidly sequenced events and thoughts. The new drama characters are heroes of our time, stripped bare of niceties, oftentimes acting against the backdrop of the older stories of individuals or historical time periods. For instance, the dramatisation of Rozner‘s prose Sedem dní do pohrebu (Seven Days to Funeral) or Klimáček’s plays about Gustáv Husák and the communist era. On the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the Velvet Revolution some drama texts build on an indirect contrast between hope for a change for the better and the current state of society. The first one is about coming to grips with the past by using a form of art documentary of a drama text. The second one is the appearance of sitcom, a television genre, on the stage whereby the text is being created during rehearsals and the authors seek themes and shape their attitudes towards the protagonists of their stories. The project www.narodnycintorin.sk is a good example of this. Here, two worlds meet: the personalities of Slovak history, active literary and political figures, and the personalities of our present time. The third strand of texts builds on corruption in its sophisticated form, involving business companies and political interested parties. The author analyses some productions which may be included in the above streams of new Slovak drama.
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The authoress deals with the theatrical activities of one of the leading representatives of the Slovak revolution 1848/49, Jozef Miloslav Hurban. This Protestant priest (whose wife became one of the first actresses about whom contemporary references in press have been preserved), belonged to the stirrers and supporters of the theatrical activities where he could see an effective way to wake up the national awareness in the wide layers of the population. The fact, that Hurban attributed to theatre a mobilizing function in activation of the national life is documented also by the action he had taken after completing the play The Old Compane in Brezova in 1848 - then he came with the proposal to organize a meeting of the representatives of nearby municipalities to elaborate a national petition. He was using theatre also as a political tribune. Noteworthy is also Hurban's activity of a critic in the Slovak Amateur Theatre, mostly after the Slovak National Theatre of Nitra had originated - in the magazine 'Kvety' (Flowers) (1841, 1842). Hurban by the end of his life - as allegorically expressed by V. Minac - was more Jesuit than Jesuits themselves, even though he was a Lutheran himself: he is evaluating the fire of Vienna theatre 'Musen-Temple' as a means of God's punishment. From Hurban's statement related to this event is following that in the hierarchy of values of a true supporter of nationhood there is religious ethos, duty to serve by all means to the national matter, and art in this sense should be subordinated to this basic function. The authoress is reminding also other Hurban's activities which are related to theatre - in the second half of his life he reflected to the theatrical activities of amateurs, e.g. theatrical activity of Trnava amateurs with whom his son S. Hurban Vajansky was performing, on the pages of the 'Slovak Views' (Slovenske pohlady) which he had been editing, then he dedicated relatively a big space to the issue of the Slovak drama, but also to its theatrical concretizations.
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The paper discusses four plays written between 1945 and 1949 - Karvas' 'Meteor' (1945), two of Barc's dramas 'The Tower' (1947) and 'The End' (1948), as well as Vah's play 'The First and the Last Ones' (1949). The paper notes biblical references and their use in these modern plays. It also argues that the apocalyptic and catastrophic theme has a two-fold character: it relates to a particular historical era, but also expresses the atemporal values and norms. As a result, the paper claims that, on one hand, this theme can be seen in relation to the general instability triggered by World War 2, and the fragile peace after it. On the other hand, it shows that the resulting ethical and emotional disturbances led to a re-evaluation of the past, of guilt, of responsibility, and of the other concepts. All of the plays examined develop the theatre of ideas, but their poetics and ideological implications differ enormously.
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In the spring of 2007 the dramatic troupe of the Slovak National Theatre (SNT) moved from the scene of the Theatre of P.O. Hviezdoslav and 'Mala scena' (Small Scene) into the completed premises of the National Theatre. The building of the Theatre of P.O. Hviezdoslav which had the theatre been provided from (with in) 1955 (opened by Borodac's production of Hviezdoslav's tragedy 'Herodes and Herodias' on 28th May 1955) after a half century lost the status of the local scene of the representative Slovak drama. The author who spent a substantial part of this period in the SNT drama as a dramaturgist, is in his recollection returning back to the most remarkable creative results of the theatre, connected with his activities in this building.
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The production of the recently deceased Slovak theatre and TV director Pavol Haspra is famous for containing a significant share of works of Slovak contemporary and classical drama.The authoress focuses on Haspra's productions of The Women's Law by Jozef Gregor Tajovský. She analyses three productions of the play - two TV productions from 1967 and 1987, and one drama production from 1996. Her analysis focuses especially on the interpretation differences of an identical drama piece, whereby she makes references to the transfer of the original text to a new social context.
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The paper elucidates the early works of one of the most prominent personalities of Slovak drama of the 20th century, the doctor and writer Ivan Stodola. His minute dramatic pieces, written for a student theatre in Liptovsky Mikulas, were put on paper in the early of the 20th century. His early dialogues were affected by Budapest cabarets (he made his debut in 1911, with a sketch 'Who Will be Wearing the Pants in the Family?'). Although the text is short, it shows the young and beginning playwright's gift for putting two distinct conflict-bearing characters against each other, his sense of drama and stage, as well as his sense of gradation and punch-lining. Among the best-known Stodola's minute dramatic pieces belonged 'Elections and Tax Settlement', written in 1920 and staged on a New Year's Eve party in 1920. In 1923, they were staged by members of the local culture society 'Beseda'. The author shares his profound knowledge of all minute dramatic pieces written by Ivan Stodola and their staging.
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This paper analyses the relationship of Slovak dramatic theatre to Slovak drama classics between 1989 and 1994. This paper analyses the issue by discussing the characteristics of the distinctive approaches adopted by notable figures in theatre production and examines the situation through “official” theatre companies. This is done for three key reasons: (a) at the turn of the millennium, the institutional foundations of Slovak theatre still functioned on the basis of inertia, and independent theatres and agencies and ad hoc groupings of theatre makers were still only being established; (b) national classics were practically absent from the season programmes of independent theatre companies until the mid-1990s because until then these companies had presented themselves as “authorial theatres” and as theatres focusing on contemporary works; (c) a number of decentralizing administrative and organizational changes were initiated in the mid-1990s which resulted in the creation of a new model of organizing professional theatre, meaning that developments after 1995 deserve separate attention. The assertion is made that in the analysed period there was an exceptional situation at the Jonáš Záborský Theatre in Prešov due to the productions of Ján Sládeček, which knew how to extract contemporary social messages from the older dramas (e.g. plays by Jozef Gregor Tajovský, Milo Urban and Ján Palárik). By contrast, national classics were not included in the majority of season programmes of professional Slovak theatre companies in the years immediately following the change in political regime.
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The paper is the contribution to important jubilee, the 100th anniversary of the birth of Julius Barc-Ivan, by reflecting on the uniqueness of the creation of this author within the context of Slovak drama. If Barc's plays are staged in the future, even decades on, an impetus for putting his plays on the stage will be the poet's struggle for enlarging the action range of drama by combining reality with fantasy and dream as component part of an artistic image rather than informative, miniature painting and descriptive values. And it is the author's peculiar language, the construction of a laconic dialogue capitalising on literary image, and a completely free approach to the choice of a theme, along with imagery, absurdity, dream creation and virtually an ingenious sense of the artist's constant playing with all these elements which constitute the major parts of his image-creating tool. Barc drew on national and classical examples and on the masters of Slovak and world drama, of which he was not only a disciple and admirer, but, above all, he proved to be an ingenious partner to ingenious masters.
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In her paper, the authoress examines the first ever Slovak feminist theatre play, written in 1997. Thanks to the gender aspect, the play amusingly demythicises the key personalities of the 19th century Slovak national revival. Lindovská interprets Juráňová’s texts as a sign of diffusion of feminist inspirations in the Slovak theatre after 1989. The infiltration of feminism into Slovakia is understood as a component part of the democratization process of society and culture. She analyses the play in the context of the creation and civic participation of Jana Juráňová, and brings to the reader’s attention those features which the play has common with Top Girls by Caryl Churchill as well as its distinguishing features (1982).
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The prominent representative of young Slovak theatrological generation states that the characters of Slovak drama after 1990 represent a whole complex of diverse individuals reduced from dramatic characters to standardized ones. Sometimes there are presented the realistic characters, which are hyperbolized, banal and mock. Another time, they are replaced by a certain 'live' metaphors. Their physical appearance, a visual side of the characters, is not clearly established rather they can be distinguished through their speech. The vast majority of the characters are neutral or negative, while positive figures are the exception. The characters are passive there is not the slightest tendency to change the circumstances which they are experienced. Following the line hero - antihero - non-hero, the authoress believes that most of the characters can be categorized as non-heroes. She defines non-hero as a person who does not want even fight, neither hold pinion or clearly articulate on a position, but is also against anything (that is no longer against something). The authors often put their characters straight into the constructed or pre-set situations that result in further changes, e.g. in the structure, concept, dialogues and the language of drama. Dramatic characters were replaced by ambivalent, non-solid and uncertain types. Uncertainty is often complemented with them fleeing into the virtual or unreal and parallel (sometimes dream) world that these characters merge with reality, or are melt in a different reality. Characters loose confidence in their own being and they loose consciousness of themselves. The loss of context (of history, culture, nation, situation, individual, relationships, language) makes the characters harder to succeed, to find their own way, to communicate and understand, depriving them of the opportunity to make a move.
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The study focuses on dramatic texts inspired by the Slovak National Uprising which were written in 1945 – 1949, i.e. at the time when the theme of the Uprising was not subject to a politically motivated interpretation. The author briefly introduces individual titles (altogether six dramas), but she focuses primarily on the interpretation and analysis of plays by three authors: Ivan Stodola – Básnik a Smrť (The Poet and Death, 1946), Leopold Lahola - Štyri strany sveta (The Four Sides of the World, 1947), Peter Karvaš – Bašta (The Bastion, 1948). She points to the problematic aspects of these plays, as well as to some features which distinguish them from plays by other playwrights writing about the Slovak National Uprising in this period (Rudolf Latečka-Repický, Ján Skalka, Viera Markovičová-Záturecká) and which can be in a sense considered interesting or original. The study also addresses the rise of “the period iconography of the Uprising”, i.e. a set of certain recurrent themes, motifs and methods which occur in works of art depicting the Slovak National Uprising from the period of 1945 – 1949, including film, visual arts and drama.
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Iveta Škripková is known primarily as a director of the At the Crossroads Puppet Theatre in Banská Bystrica, as a director and founder of the first Slovak feminist theatre Studio TWIGA (Theatre - Women - Improvisation - Gender - Action), and the director of the International Theatre Festival Puppetry Bystrica. The study focuses on the work of Iveta Škripková - playwright, which is numerous but underestimated and little known. Her concept of gender-sensitive (or gender-oriented) "gynodrama" significantly extends the thematic and philosophical scope of the contemporary Slovak drama, adding new aesthetic instruments to express the women's experience in the field of drama. Her plays of experimental nature are linked to the work of Jana Juráňová and intentionally follow a line of feminist drama in Slovakia. Slovak theatre and theatre criticism face an urgent task to adopt a feminist discourse and use it as an instrument for analysis of theatre and drama.
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Analyse and comparison of two dramatic texts from actual Slovak dramatists - Karol Horak ('... come your kingdom of God...', 1996) and Jana Juranova (Silver bowls, excellent cases, 2005) are making from Ludovit Stur (1815-1856) the subject of observation. He was the creator of national romantic program and up to this date he has been regarded as a very considerable person of the Slovak cultural history. Both authors come out from principles of alternate theatre and open version. Dramatic texts have controversial character and they open problematic places of collective culture code and conservation of national stereotypes. Horak conceives his drama as intro rehearsal text collage, where model historical situation and national watchword are not constructed. He represented Stur as a character in swirl and chaos of small and big world and in euphoria and despair. Poetics of Jana Juranova comes out from post-modern aesthetics not constructive and feminist ideology. Her 'historical discourse' is more radical and provocative. She presents Stur as lifeless puppet (bust, figurine), which activates his own 'pathetic words'. They are purposely fragmentary and whip away from context as well as from Adela Ostrolucka's discourse, who honestly loved him for many years, but he refused her coldly in the name of higher and greatly national idea.
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The paper discusses three lesser known and less frequently staged plays written by Július Barč-Ivan (1909 - 1953), namely Diktátor (Dictator), Neznámy (The Unknown), and Veža (The Tower). Dictator was supposed to be premiered at the Slovak National Theatre in 1937, but it was removed from the repertoire due to censorship. The Unknown was staged and published as a book in Turčiansky Sv. Martin in 1944. The Tower was premiered at the National Theatre, Košice in 1947, and published a year later. All three plays deal with politics and power, as well as with changes of authority and leadership in different historical settings. In order to discuss Barč-Ivan’s perception of the changes of power in history, the paper analyses motives of social upheavals, coups d’état, and changes of leadership, as well as the portrayal of authorities, leaders, and the masses as dramatis personae in these three plays. It also discusses repartees and dialogues in the respective plays, wishing to show changes in Barč-Ivan’s elaboration of the theme between 1937 and 1947. The paper argues that Barč-Ivan gradually abandons the idea of eternal peace that was a key concept in his play Dictator; and in his play The Tower, he states that “the principle of love” can be only preserved by its counterpart – violence. Whereas in The Unknown the power was shaken but preserved, in both Dictator and The Tower a paradoxical replacement of original contrasting principles happened; and the opponents of the power ended up using the methods they originally rejected. The paper also claims that all three Barč-Ivan’s plays were an alternative to ideologies and politics of the era. They expressed historical pessimism based on a religious concept of history. Barč-Ivan believes that noble ideas inevitably remain contradictory to historical development: if they were applied successfully in societies, they would actually mean the end of history.
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On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the birth of Julius Barc-Ivan, the prominent Slovak dramatist of the 20th century, the author, theatre scientist, reflects on his life and artistic fate. He introduces his theatre plays to the reader, notably dramatic piece 'Dvaja' (The Couple), which is considered to be the best Slovak intimate theatre play and 'Matka' (Mother), the central figure being, which is exceptional for Barc, a powerful female protagonist suggestive of an ancient tragedy. The author of this paper traces the fate of Barc's drama and he notes that, ironically, the most frequently staged piece is the comedy 'Mastny hrniec' (A Pot of Grease), which considered to be a marginal work by its artistic contribution and untypical for Barc. He underlines that some plays by J. Barc-Ivan have not been staged so far, and the production of 'Diktator' (The Dictator) directed by Jan Jamnicky was halted by the Slovak National Theatre shortly before its premiere in 1937, and it has not been premiered ever since. In conclusion, the author makes mention of the recent staging of Barc's plays, such as 'Neznamy' (The Stranger) by Slovak Intimate Playhouse in Martin, '3000 ludi' (3,000 Men) by the Theatre Faculty of the Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts, and 'Cirkus' (The Circus) by Arena theatre company, which is a montage based on the play 'Dvaja' (The Couple) and a short story 'Cirkus' (The Circus).
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The dramatic art of Ivan Stodola shaped and formed Slovak professional theatre. His texts provided one of the key dramaturgical bases in the process of formation of contemporary Slovak drama staging. Actually he was the first who wrote plays systematically in the period of early professionalization of Slovak theatre. On the Czech stages, the situation was different. Humble staging tradition and not always successful interpretations indicate differences not only in dramaturgical issues but also in the issues of different tastes of spectators but, ultimately, significant differences between two independent theatre cultures. Two of Stodola's plays had quite a success on the Czech stages; Tea at Mr. Senator's and Jozko Pucik and his career. Both plays have attracted attention until recently -Tea at Mr. Senator was premiered at the Estates Theatre in Prague on 18th March 2010 (Czech premiere was at Svanda Theatre in Prague in 1934). Dramaturgical selection of this play was to bring the audience a lighter and witty comedy that would point to a parallel with the current state of the society and send the actual message before the upcoming elections. On the 15th April 2010, Slovak section of the Prague Theatre in Dlouha Street performed a stage reading of the play Jozko Pucik and his career. The directorial and-dramaturgical input is principle; 'a satire on false humanism' was staged as the theatre within the theatre. The authoress of this study analyzes both productions and notes that efforts to bring a new life into the Stodola's satire have remained unfulfilled.
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The paper deals with the transfer of the text to the stage. Dramatization of a prosaic work and language translation has an impact on the relations between characters, their nature (character). Modifications of structure of the work brings fundamental often even genre changes which in interaction with other stage elements (staging, playing, scenography and others) substantially influence the final image of the production. The authoress proves the ability of the theatre to speak of the present through word or image using concrete works/productions (Zensky zakon by Tajovsky, HOLLYROTH created from texts by J. Holly, Pustokvet by Vajansky, Tiso created from speeches by Jozef Tiso, and other stage works). The literary work constitutes the basis for the performance text, even though non-text, non-verbal production is created.
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