D1 (working title)

As if motorways had the character of national mythology. For instance, we have an idea about the perfection of German motorways and the imperfection of Polish ones. Slovak D1 also represents the second, Slavic, Eastern European group – imperfect highways full of inferiority complex, inciting manifestation of negative qualities, for example, corruption or arbitrariness conduct. For the author of the text and director Lukáš Brutovský, the myth of a motorway became a metaphor for national qualities. The production is a decomposed, post-dramatic work, a performative essay on a documentary basis with elements of poetry, that serve to reveal the identity of Slovaks and Slovak landscape. The ensemble of the theatre based in the city of Martin (Slovakia), one of the most gelled ensembles full of distinctive individuals, plays out the theme as a construction process. The production, which is one of the key original works of recent seasons, won the Grand Prix and the Bratislava Audience Award at the 2021 Nová dráma/New Drama festival.

directed by: Lukáš Brutovský
dramaturgy: Miro Dacho
set and objects design: Juraj Poliak
costume design: Diana Strauszová
video: Matouš Ondra
choreography: Silvia Beláková
collaboration – mannequin animation: Peter Tabaček, Barbora Juríčková
music (selection and collage): Lukáš Brutovský, with songs: Lúka, moja lúka, Večeríček ide, Poludnie, poludnie (vocals: Darina Laščiaková) / excerpts from compositions: Eugen Suchoň: Žalm zeme podkarpatskej / The Psalm of the Subcarpathian Land; Eugen Suchoň: Prvá suita pre sláčikový orchester / Suite No 1 for string orchestra; Eugen Suchoň: Horalská suita, verzia pre orchester / Highlander Suite, orchestral version; Ilja Zeljenka: Musica Slovaca, string quartet version

cast: Barbora Palčíková, Alena Pajtinková, Tomáš Mischura, Matej Babej, Daniel Žulčák, Nadežda Vladařová, Matej Urban, Marián Frkáň

presentation at Divadelná Nitra supported by the Slovak Arts Council, The Creative Europe Programme of the European Union, the Nitra Self-Governing Region, The City of Nitra, SPP Foundation, LITA — authors’ society

This production was co-selected by the Audience Programme Board of the BeSpectACTive! Project.

Lukáš Brutovský (1988) is a stage director, translator, playwright, author of adaptations, and composer. He studied directing and dramaturgy at the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava. As stage director, he collaborated with a range of theatres in Slovakia and the Czech Republic (e.g. The Parasite/ Parazit at The Andrej Bagar Theatre in Nitra, Flags in the Wind/ Vlajočky vo vetre at the City Theatre Kladno, Midnight Mass/ Polnočná omša at the Slovak National Theatre in Bratislava, Misanthrope/Mizantrop at The Švandovo Theatre in Prague). Since 2015, he is director and artistic director at the Slovak Chamber Theatre Martin, where he directed a number of outstanding productions, e.g. Czech Comedy about the Rich Man and Lazarus (Komedie českú o bohatci a Lazarovi, 2019), Biology Politics – Fouché!!! (Biológiu politika – Fouché!!!, 2018), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (2022). He also translates plays, and is author of stage and radio plays, and composes stage music. He won several awards for directing at international university festivals, in 2009 the first place in the Drama competition for the stage text Lunchtime / Na obed and in 2014 the Divadelní noviny Award for directing the production of the Mrštík brothers’ play Maryša at the Brno-basedHaDivadlo.

It is a journey through the history of the construction of a motorway, a cross-section of Slovakia’s post-1989 history, a vicious circle, and, particularly, a long and difficult route: On the one hand, meditative or full of new stimuli, on the other hand bumpy and, at times, tediously unending. The production theme may seem surprising. Yet, directed by Lukáš Brutovský, it layers several contexts related to our peoples, along with original vantage points for artistic statement. Brutovský is not merely the stage director, but also the author of the text D1 (working title). That is indeed the core for the overall production. Brutovský as the author describes the history of the endless process of building highways, whilst also recalling legal concerns related to the construction. The text has a poetic, monologic form. A range of metaphors, allusions and references to Slovak culture, politics and society are organically integrated into the distinctive piece. It is conceived as a poetic essay, though the choice of words and formulations also reminds of biblical myths – stories about the life, origin, demise or essence of man, in this case a Slovak. The imaginary lead character becomes the heart personifying the Slovaks as a nation. D1, in turn, epitomises of all errors, vices and our subsequent disappointments. Thus, Brutovský offers a critical, ironic, yet particularly apt take on socio-political events in Slovakia. The major plus of the piece is that the text is not simplistic, and the form of the text has the potential to draw and captivate even a specialist on the subject. Yet, it is essentially a matter of personal taste, since the form of narration remains unchanged, it does not bring any new information, and the interest in the style or the method of opening individual contexts is essential for the reception of the piece. With the production, Lukáš Brutovský in collaboration with dramaturge Miro Dacho continues the line of critical insight into Slovak society, though now they step beyond the framework of traditional drama.

Diana Pavlačková: The One Thing Slovak Heart Desires – the Completion of D1 [Slovenské srdce túži len po jednom – dokončení D1]. In MLOKi [online]. 12. 6. 2021. Available at: https://mloki.sk/slovenske-srdce-tuzi-len-po-jednom—dokonceni-d1/