Contemporary Slovak Drama of the Current Generation

Dária Fojtíková Fehérová

After the establishment of the independent Slovak Republic (1993), the search for a new identity was also reflected in Slovak drama. It took some time for the theatres and their repertory to recover from the changes and accept the new political and social reality. Slovak drama had almost disappeared from theatres, except for the decades-tested plays that are part of the school curriculum as cultural heritage. Gradually, several projects were created to motivate theatre makers to devote themselves to contemporary drama. Some projects continue within the Theatre Institute to this day. Since 2000, the Drama Competition has been open to authors writing in Slovak and Czech. The winning plays (and those competing) are rarely staged, however. The winners of the Drama Competition have a chance to be staged on the radio; Radio Devín, as a regular collaborator, offers the prize of a full performance recorded as a radio play. The competition itself also works as a kind of “incubator” for new talents: it supports and helps to establish new, unknown names. The Festival Nová dráma/New Drama has existed since 2005. Initially, it was meant to motivate theatres to seek out contemporary drama. In the last decade, the trend has been reversed: more and more theatres stage contemporary plays that reflect the current situation in Slovakia and fewer theatres offer classical plays of Slovak and world drama. The playwrights usually write at the request of a given theatre, according to the needs of the dramaturgical concept of the theatre season.

Viliam Klimáček (1958) has been one of the most active authors since he established his theatre Gunagu in Bratislava, writing two or three plays for the theatre every year. An excellent observer, Klimáček usually depicts current issues via a small group of characters, often family, friends or people from the same milieu, in part because Gunagu’s small stage cannot accommodate large casts. In plays like Influencers; Barbie Looking For Ken (about a dating site) and Low-Fat Life (set in a weight reduction clinic), he addresses the current phenomena of the times. From broader social issues inspired by national anniversaries that are often painful for our country (such as those associated with socialism, or 1968), to intimate family dramas, he approaches his topics with humour.

Playwright and director Iveta Škripková (1960) also writes primarily for the theatre she runs, Puppet Theatre at the Crossroads in Banská Bystrica. Occasionally, her plays are also performed in other theatres and they are almost exclusively directed by Marián Pecko. Thematically, Škripková’s plays can be divided into two main categories: Škripková depicts the fates of important Slovak women and also writes politically oriented plays; these themes intertwine and influence each other. Through the biographies of female heroines (Love Variations; T.V. Recipes), she describes the history of Slovakia and expresses her views on the role of women in society through fictional stories (Dumb Queens; Fetishists).

The middle generation of active authors is predominantly male. The director Ján Šimko (1976) uses documentary drama and deals primarily with themes related to the historical memory of the city of Bratislava. In his latest projects as author-director, he also focuses on youth. These plays primarily highlight the problem of bullying (Tangle; Network of Lies; Generation Z: Zombies) in both real and online environments.

Playwright and dramaturg Peter Pavlac (1976) is the author of many successful adaptations of Slovak classics. In his work, he deals with the lives of individuals who were close to influential authorities (such as the women around Leonid Brezhnev or Albert Einstein in Red Princess and Einstein’s Wife). The plays are based on his own research, available documentary materials and published books. Thematically, he concentrates on Slovakia’s painful history, especially the 1950s.

Miklós Forgács (1973) is a playwright and dramaturg who writes in both Slovak and Hungarian. His texts sit at the intersection of poetry, philosophy and essay, working with metaphors, repetition and the rhythm of words and sentences. Most Slovak playwrights base their work on specific Slovak realities or are tied to the poetics of a certain director, making their plays untransferable or difficult to stage elsewhere. Forgács’s plays have a strong literary basis and are able to function independently.

In the last decade, Valéria Schulczová (1973) has made a name for herself in theatre, both as a director and a playwright. She was the first to react to the war in Ukraine by preparing the original production 24 (referencing the date when the war started) for the Slovak National Theatre. Currently, she is working on plays about Bratislava’s history as a metaphor for the history of Slovakia or Europe to draw attention to recurring situations in Slovak history, the history of the city and Slovak memory and identity (Pressburger Fight Club; Pozony Dance Club; Bratislava Porn; Bratislava’s Heart).

Michal Ditte (1981) has written most of his plays for the Pôtoň Theatre, where he has long formed a creative couple with the director Iveta Ditte-Jurčová. His work as an author is preceded by the long-term collection and processing of documentary materials related to specific events in the history of Slovakia. He has repeatedly returned to themes such as home, migration and personal and national identity (Terra Granus; Shepherd’s Symphony). He transfers the documentary material into new plays that quote the collected documents and testimonies of the inhabitants. In sequencing and selecting them he shapes each play’s distinct artistic quality, which communicates both through its documentary character and through metaphors.

Lukáš Brutovský (1988) primarily works as a director, but started attracting attention with his plays while at university. Gradually, he developed into an author who creates text as a flowing monologic poem, open to pictures, imagination and interpretation. Layering various associations, he creates seemingly illogical and unrelated parallels; through bold condensation of text, he deals with strong paradoxes and tragicomic images (D1 (working title); the myth about motorway; Drain).

Veronika Malgot (1988) also belongs to Brutovský’s generation. She is a director who works on her own texts, sometimes with other creatives in a given production. She primarily deals with themes related to femininity and the role of women in society, recently using femininity as a bridge to approach more universal themes (Fragility; Vanity; Prosperity). Lenka Garajová (1988), who writes plays for the Petr Mankovecký Theatre, is a member of the same generation. Her last play, Amateurs (2023), deals with contemporary problems of the young generation and presents a utopian world in which artificial intelligence grants people everything they wish for. Michal Belej (1985) deals with phenomena that concern him or his immediate surroundings. His last play Bs (2024) is about second-class status and the desire to be the best. His production Emily (2023) toured various festivals and is based on the fate of Emily Davison, a feminist who died under the hooves of a horse.

The youngest generation of active authors is represented by Alžbeta Vrzgula (1992). She writes primarily for her theatre Uhol_92, which represents the 1992 generation’s point of view. She deals with (religious) fanaticism, forms of manipulation, dubious healing practices and the clash between freedom and family happiness (Toni Wolff Finds Out She’s Lost Millions; Happy End).

Playwrights, especially of the youngest generation, stage their plays in their own theatres. Because of the specificity of their themes, as well as their generational statement, they are hardly transferable to another artistic collective. The Theatre Institute, as a professional institution, occasionally prepares translations of selected authors into a foreign language, but these are not actual staged plays.