LOVE, DEFIANCE AND DEATH scenic montage of folk poetry. The renowned director, playwright, composer, musician and art theorist Emil František Burian, founder of the avant-garde theatre D 34 and pioneer of choral recitation with musically stylised and distinctly rhythmic speech, called “voiceband”, has often worked with non-dramatic subjects in his productions – for example folk poetry. In his “poetic” theatre, he produced distinctive sound and light productions such as Mácha’s Máj and War, a montage of Erben’s folk poetry. It was the response he elicited that gave František Halas and Vladimír Holan the impetus to compile the anthology of folk poetry titled Love and Death. The collection later became the basis for another stage montage by E. F. Burian entitled Love, Defiance and Death (1946). This folk play forms a thematic arc from the eternal longing of young people of all times for love, through defiance as an expression of man’s pride in the face of humiliation, to a courageous dialogue with death as a fair mirror of human conscience, thus coming close to the well-known medieval morality play Everyman. In Slovácko Theatre’s production, the thrilling love story is performed as a “synthetic theatre”, combining musical, acting and artistic components.
Director Lukáš Brutovský took the musical verses, which charmingly illustrate the fundamental moments in human life, out of their folkloric setting and, in collaboration with set designer Juraj Poliak, set them in a sterile white environment that resembles both a gallery and a morgue. The latter is illustrated by the action in the foreground, where two make-up artists in white uniforms are applying make-up to a woman and a man of advanced age without a single word, while their actions are captured in great detail by the camera. The couple’s wrinkled faces are first rejuvenated by make-up, and with the help of wigs, veils and hats, the bride and groom appear before us. But then the couple take a fast forward through life to the gates of death, to the metal autopsy table. They are accompanied throughout by a chorus of actors and actresses from the Slovácko Theatre, who stand on a podium at the back of the stage and sing impeccably. Their harmony – including the synchronised turning of the pages of the score – has an almost spectral quality. Dressed in white, they resembled a crowd of spirits, ancestors awaiting the arrival of their descendants.
– PETRA ZACHATÁ, Divadelní noviny
LUKÁŠ BRUTOVSKÝ (1988) studied directing and dramaturgy at the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava. He works as a director, translator and author – for his play For Lunch, he won first place in the 2009 Dráma competition and was nominated for Discovery of the Season and Best Director of the Season in the prestigious 2011 Dosky awards. He first appeared on the Czech stage at the Municipal Theatre in Kladno (Flags in the Wind), and then caught the attention of the Brno HaDivadlo with Maryša, for which he won the Divadelní noviny Award. He has also worked at Prague’s Švanda Theatre (The Misanthrope), the National Moravian-Silesian Theatre (My Father’s Diary), the Petr Bezruč Theatre (PS: ...please write back!), Prague City Theatres (The Hussite Trilogy), at the National Theatre in Brno (The Doctor, Noises Off, R/Evolution) and most recently at the Drama Club (The Gamblers). He also directs in a number of Slovak theatres and his production of Karvaš’s Midnight Mass at the Slovak National Theatre was a great success. Since 2015, he has been the artistic director of the Slovak Chamber Theatre in Martin. In 2021, the Divadlo festival welcomed his original production D1 (Working Title), the first part of a loose trilogy, the next part of which, Iocaste, was co-produced by the Martin Theatre and the Prague City Theatres in 2022, and the last part Drain was performed this year by the Slovak National Theatre.
SLOVÁCKO THEATRE has repeatedly demonstrated that its significance goes far beyond that of a regional theatre. Under the artistic direction of Lukáš Kopecký, it invites experienced directors as well as rising stars with a fresh perspective. The alternative dramaturgical line, SloffÁCKO THEATRE, offers contemporary plays in non-traditional spaces (a rock club, a school classroom). It presents its work at leading festivals. Together with the Zlín City Theatre it organises the ZARÁZ festival, at which they present their best productions to a specialist public.
