{"id":542,"date":"2025-05-29T16:42:13","date_gmt":"2025-05-29T16:42:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/31\/?p=542"},"modified":"2025-06-04T17:14:51","modified_gmt":"2025-06-04T17:14:51","slug":"slovak-directors-avoid-intrusion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/31\/slovak-directors-avoid-intrusion\/","title":{"rendered":"Slovak Directors Avoid Intrusion"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Matti Linnavuori<\/strong>*<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nov\u00e1 Drama Festival of Contemporary Drama in Bratislava, Slovakia, 12 to 17 May, 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 21st<\/sup> edition of Nov\u00e1 Drama (New Drama) showed a jury\u2019s selection of ten best Slovakian premieres of the preceding year (2024). One of the productions was a very different realization from the rest, and I will return to it after discussing some others first.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It took me a while to understand that the seeming lack of directorial input was a deliberate artistic choice, and therefore not to be dismissed as inexperience or incompetence. The productions presented a proposal rather than a statement for us spectators to weigh according to our resources, be they moral, intellectual or political\u2014this demonstrates the artists\u2019 respect toward their audiences. The shows shun away from pushing their spectators to conclusions, but instead they offer us material for reflection. Perhaps I misinterpret the political situation in Slovakia, but it seemed that theatre had decided against participation in a free-for-all shouting competition; or perhaps theatre may consider it too risky? It was only after the final applause that actors read a statement in defense of independent arts\u2014which do not enjoy much sympathy from the current government\u2014and received another round of thunderous applause.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The non-intrusive directorial approach was applied across genres, in comedy as well as in high-brow meditative performances and sorrowful horror.<\/p>\n\n\n

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The Life, Miracles, Ecstasies and Apparitions of the Blessed Virgin, Sister Juana de la Cruz<\/em> begins with Anka Sedla\u010dkov\u00e1 shrouded in a white cloth. Photo: Nat\u00e1lia Zaja\u010dikov\u00e1<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
Miracle and Illness<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

The Life, Miracles, Ecstasies and Apparitions of the Blessed Virgin, Sister Juana de la Cruz<\/em> tells the story of a Spanish nun and later abbess Juana (1481-1534), who was a male embryo, but at the request of Virgin Mary God turned Juana into a female at birth, while leaving her Adam\u2019s apple visible to make the miracle concrete. This, of course, suits perfectly to contemporary understandings of gender diversity. Even more impressive, the Batyskaf performing company\u2019s piece was meticulously researched, with bibliographical notes shown at the bottom of English translation surtitles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The sole performer, Anka Sedla\u010dkov\u00e1, is a dancer and choreographer. She also spoke as Juana; in addition there were voice-over narrators. The creators are dramaturg Magdal\u00e9na \u017diakov\u00e1, set designer Juraj Mydla and director Ema Ben\u010dikov\u00e1.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Dressed as a man, Juana (Anka Sedla\u010dkov\u00e1) ran away before she was forced to marry. Photo: Nat\u00e1lia Zaja\u010dikov\u00e1<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

There were magic moments: Juana took a bite from an apple and the sound system looped her munching into a dance rhythm; Juana instructed us how to correctly bend our heads to prayer\u2014medieval piety demanded plenty of time, which gave the show its subdued moment of dare-I-say comedy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The main point was, I believe, that a woman was able to give sermons in the Middle Ages; hence there can be no justification for gender-based restrictions to anyone\u2019s freedom of speech in our enlightened time. Easy enough to agree, but this is seldom delivered with such crystal solemnity.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Da\u0161a Kri\u0161tofovi\u010dov\u00e1\u2019s set and costume design are essential to the sinister look of A Sad Report from a Sad Country<\/em>. Mother (Jana Wernerov\u00e1, left) with her daughter (Michaela Bab\u00e1lov\u00e1, Anna Sur\u00e1kov\u00e1). Photo: Tibor Czit\u00f3<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Likewise, A Sad Report from a Sad Country<\/em> came with a fair amount of research, this time genre-related. Written by Tereza Trusinov\u00e1 and directed by Jana Wernerov\u00e1 for Theatre on the Platform in the town of Ko\u0161ice, it borrowed from Beckett as well as from filmic horror, and commented on its godfathers both lovingly and critically. A son returns to his parental home, where his mother and sister (played by two actresses side by side) run a hotel. They fail to recognize him and proceed to kill him, just as they have treated all their customers. He is drowned in a river, but the production never needs to leave the dark musty room\u2014he sinks into the bed. A pastiche, perhaps, but with irresistible charm.<\/p>\n\n\n

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After the young woman (T\u00e1\u0148a Pauhofov\u00e1) enters the stage of Schwanengesang D957Swan Song<\/em>, singer Peter Mazal\u00e1n retreats to sit next to the pianist Peter Pa\u017eick\u00fd. Photo: Michal L\u00edner<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Schwanengesang D957\/Swan Song<\/em> also dug deep, to real-life emotions its creator underwent witnessing cancer. Originally produced in the Slovak National Gallery, the performance opens with the opera singer, architect and theatrical creator Peter Mazal\u00e1n singing Franz Schubert to the accompaniment of Peter Pa\u017eick\u00fd\u2019s piano. The concert is disturbed by two women leaving the room, and even more annoyingly, leaving the door open behind them. When they return, they take over the stage.<\/p>\n\n\n

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T\u00e1\u0148a Pauhofov\u00e1 and Jana O\u013ehov\u00e1 in Schwanengesang D957Swan Song<\/em>. Photo: Michal L\u00edner<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The younger woman, caregiver to her autistic son, recounts her experiences in breast cancer treatment. In Jana Bodn\u00e1rov\u00e1\u2019s text, this is done in series of beautiful poetic images. I would like to turn away from them because of their calculating literary nature, but must not because of the real-life weight of the events depicted, and cannot because of the intensive yet fragile acting of T\u00e1\u0148a Pauhofov\u00e1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Relationships Comedy<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Happy End<\/em> and Status Quo<\/em> were comedies about gender relationships. Happy End<\/em> was written and directed by Al\u017ebeta Vrzgula for the Uhol_92 company, and Status Quo<\/em> is a translation from playwright Maja Zade\u2019s German original (2019).<\/p>\n\n\n

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He (Peter Ondreji\u010dka) models himself after film cowboys, she (Lenka Libjakov\u00e1) has her own songs. Will they ever reach Happy End<\/em>. Photo: Bara Podola<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Happy End<\/em> appeared to evolve as an improvisation, as if the actors had the freedom to hesitate, pause and negotiate amongst themselves a safe passage in some unspecified direction. In other words, the director seemed to have withdrawn from decision-making. This matched the topic, which was the constant fumbling in a relationship, where one does not know if this actually is a relationship, and is afraid that any unintentional insult may ruin everything. The idea was more intriguing than its realization, a succession of non-committal, lazy mini-conflicts.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Marija Havran\u2019s set design shows how sexual harrasment is a labyrinth visible to everyone, yet a solid power structure. The nice young man is the centre of his employers\u2018 unwanted attention in Status Quo<\/em>. L-R Juli\u00e1na Brutovsk\u00e1, Peter Martin\u010dek, Nat\u00e1lia Fa\u0161\u00e1nkov\u00e1, Tajna Per\u0161i\u0107,  Ada Juh\u00e1sov\u00e1. Photo: Robert Tappert<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Status Quo<\/em> turned gender roles upside down. A cute young man gets bossed around by tough ladies in the office, at home, at work, everywhere. He is also sexually harassed, spoken of with contempt and innuendo. Female spectators recognized the situations only too well and rewarded the performers with laughter. To me, a well-meaning but far too comfort-seeking male viewer, the \u017dilina City Theatre\u2019s production revealed the extent of harassment the other half of humanity is compelled to face daily. Mari\u00e1n Amsler\u2019s direction interspersed the sketches with hit songs, which highlighted rather than hid the situation comedy nature of the text.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Debates with the Party<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Dominik Tatarka (1913-1989) was a Slovak writer and an outspoken critic of the communist regime. D\u00e1vid Pa\u0161ka\u2019s direction Tatarka <\/em>for the Slovak National Theatre merits special attention for its set design, by Julius-Leon Seiler, which uplifts the goings-on concretely and metaphorically: a giant brain plus a Soviet-style poster hang ominously above the stage.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Set designer Julius-Leon Seiler\u2019s Paris in 1938: the old Tatarka (Robert Roth, sitting far right on the table) films his younger self and the people of the boarding house at a meal. Close-ups are superimposed on the giant brain above the stage. L-R Zuzana Fialov\u00e1, Vikt\u00f3ria \u0160uplatov\u00e1, Tom\u00e1\u0161 Ma\u0161tal\u00edr,  Jon\u00e1\u0161 T\u00f3da (the little boy in the background), Ondrej Kova\u013e, Robert Roth. Photo: Robert Tappert<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The production draws from the writer\u2019s autobiographical books to tell the story of life in struggle. The show opens in Paris in the year 1938, where young Tatarka (Daniel \u017dul\u010d\u00e1k) was what we now call an exchange student. While he was becoming romantically involved, Britain and France handed a major part of Czechoslovakia over to Nazi Germany at the Munich conference; political pressure was to be the main character\u2019s destiny from early on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once back home, Tatarka\u2014and the play\u2014get stuck in endless debates with Mataj, the communist in charge of supervising the arts. Tom\u00e1\u0161 Ma\u0161tal\u00edr is excellent as the menacingly good-natured Mataj, whose deadpan verbal twists illustrate Marxist-Leninist logic at its shall-we-say best.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Robert Roth in Tatarka<\/em>. The overhanging brain serves also as a parachute in Julius-Leon Seiler\u2019s set design. Photo: Robert Tappert<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Robert Roth plays the mature and the old Tatarka. He is a remarkable actor, but there are times when he volunteers to carry the entire production on the shoulders of his talent, and he may just present more of Roth than of Tatarka then.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In A Dog on the Road<\/em> Robert Roth\u2019s acting is more disciplined to my eye, possibly because this is the only real director\u2019s work of the festival, and possibly because he shares the stage with three other actors of equal status and task. I already wrote enthusiastically about A Dog on the Road<\/a><\/em>, but on second viewing I understood that Du\u0161an David Pa\u0159\u00edzek\u2019s adaptation and direction from Pavel Vilikovsk\u00fd\u2019s 2010 novel contain more qualities than roaring comedy and satire of narrow nationalism.<\/p>\n\n\n

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In A Dog on the Road<\/em>, Alexander B\u00e1rta, Richard Stanke, \u013dubo\u0161 Kosteln\u00fd and Robert Roth are overshadowed by the superimposed Austrian author Thomas Bernhard. Photo: Robert Tappert<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

In a split second the actors accelerate to full rage, debating the demerits of being Slovak, but the clever adaptation counterbalances this with a plot of equal weight, namely a fledgling love story between two disillusioned middle-aged persons. The four actors take turns in all the roles, which makes this a spectacle of ideas rather than a psychological character development. They wander freely into the minds of those present on the stage just like their idol, the Austrian writer Thomas Bernhard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Witnessing and sharing a home audience\u2019s reception added meaning to my experience: people applaud the sharpness of argument, the witticisms. There is a strong sense that this furious analysis is what Slovakia has been longing for, and, not unexpectedly, A Dog on the Road<\/em> was awarded Nov\u00e1 Drama\u2019s Grand Prix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Earlier visit by Critical Stages<\/em> to Nov\u00e1 Drama:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Crime, But Not Much Punishment in Bratislava<\/a><\/blockquote>