Hatred and love are separated by a very fine line. This epic puppet drama for adults transports the audience to the late Wolrd War II and a divided society through a suggestive filmic optic and video-projections in the manner of ‘puppet live cinema’. Directed by: Gejza Dezorz. Audiences 15+.

directed by: Gejza Dezorz
cast: K. Kollárik, A. Maďar, M. Mitaš, H. Turba, M. Bódyová, P. Kadlečík
scenography: Von Dubravay
music: M. Hasák
light desing: G. Dezorz
camera: G. Dezorz, I. Krempaský

Gejza Dezorz (1978) graduated in puppet theatre directing and dramaturgy from the Theatre Faculty, Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava in 2001. He is considered an experimenter in his dramaturgy and approach to puppet theatre traditions. His originality manifested early on in his career, when he rehearsed productions of his own dramatic texts at the Puppet Theatre in Košice, drawing from folk theatre, fairy tales and folklore, as well as pop culture (Piatko and Pustaj, 2000; Momo from Mars, 2001). After founding Dezorz Puppet Theatre, he continued his provocative search for new possibilities and methods of appropriating historical puppeteering techniques. He works with a stable team of collaborators and puppeteers, with whom he created e.g. the acclaimed horror ‘morality play’ Desperanduľa (2006), the heroic adventure Perun, Thunder of the Godless or Pogrom Slavia (2008), which freely handles old Slavic mythology, or the original musical parody Sandokan – The Tiger Returns (2012).

“Agda Bavi Pain’s and Gejza Dezorz’ text approaches conflict in the Dukla Pass through the character of Wehrmacht officer Kurt Schreck and the Romani musician Dylo. Still, I would refrain from calling them protagonists. These are, in fact, death and terror. Above all, Dukla is a piece about massive and anonymous terror and violence. From the very introduction, featuring historical footage from a German film journal reporting frontline events to the public, through hanged convicts in downtown Košice, burning tanks, to a bomb that goes off in Schreck’s family apartment.” (Miro Zwiefelhofer, mloki.sk, 20 May 2021)