A series about the productions within the main Festival programme of international and Slovak theatres is put together in collaboration with curator Miro Zwiefelhofer. From the start of the Festival, we shall be introducing individual productions. In Responses, part Two, you will read a text by Miro Zwiefelhofer on how the theatre in the city of Martin treated an ancient myth by contemporary Irish playwright Marina Carr. And additional inspiration within this segment is about the thought-provoking call for solidarity brought to the Festival by the Ukrainian theatre Dakh Daughters.
The story of Hecuba, Queen of Troy, is anchored in ancient Greece, a period that represents cultural and political roots of our civilisation. Yet, the contemporary Irish playwright Marina Carr does not tell the story of the glorious victory of the Mycenaeans with Odysseus at their head. Quite on the contrary, she reflects the suffering that military aggression always brings along. Performed by Lucia Jašková, Hecuba personifies the fate of all women who had to, and still have to watch the violent death of their children and husbands, women exposed to sexual violence, physical and psychological abuse. All this happens in a world where not only social and moral rules, but also those of warfare have ceased to apply.
The title of Danse Macabre (Dance of Death) was appropriated for its latest cabaret show by the Ukrainian musical and performative group Dakh Daughters. The group already featured at Divadelná Nitra in 2016 with a burlesque Roses. Six actresses and director Vlad Troitsky created Danse Macabre shortly after the war forced them to leave Ukraine for France. In the production, the customary commemoration of finiteness is a conversation with death that cuts in a country invaded by Russian aggressors. At the same time, it is a conversation at a distance with those who remain in the homeland. The production is a testimony of war and exile, a nostalgic memory of the native land, an indictment, a show, a report and a cabaret in one. Danse Macabre featured at a number of European festivals. Members of the group also performed to a great acclaim in Slovakia at the Pohoda festival in 2015 and 2023.
