ALEXANDER DUBČEK TWICE – THE (UN)KNOWN SIDE OF HIM

• Authors: Podmaková Dagmar
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

The author, using two visual works, i.e. theatre production #dubček and film Dubček (both 2018), compares two different approaches to and forms of the work with the personality of Alexander Dubček against the backdrop of the reforms and political upheaval in Czechoslovakia, in 1968. Theatre production #dubček (Aréna Theatre, Bratislava, direction Michal Skočovský) has three levels. The first one is acting game having the form of a rehearsal of a new text about the politician Alexander Dubček; its component part is the projection of period archival film shots. The second level involves the actors stepping out of characters and commenting on Dubček’s attitude and on historical events. The third level entails monologue scenes, in which actors reveal their personal attitudes via narrated stories at the time of normalization which had a negative impact on the lives of hundreds of thousands people. In the film Dubček (Slovak-Czech co-production, direction Ladislav Halama), through Dubček’s reminiscing the past, political events interweave with the scenes from the life of Dubček’s family. Although both works employ period image documentary material and fiction, they fail to create a dramatic conflict and they are illustrative for the bigger part.

Keywords

EN

DUBČEK ALEXANDER; PRAGUE SPRING; NORMALIZATION; ARÉNA THEATRE

• Publisher: Institute of Theatre and Arts, Slovak Academy of Sciences
• Journal: Slovenské divadlo (Slovak Theatre)
• Year: 2018
• Volume: 66
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 242 – 265

Contributors

author

Podmaková Dagmar

• Ústav divadelnej a filmovej vedy SAV, Dúbravská cesta 9, 841 04 Bratislava, Slovak Republic

Identifiers

DOI

10.2478/sd-2018-0015