P.A.T. and Štúdio 12 /
Sláva Daubnerová (Slovakia)
M.H.L.
Czech Premiere!
This documentary monodrama is inspired by the life and works of the first Slovak professional woman director Magda Husáková-Lokvencová (1916–1966), who for many years was a taboo figure in Slovak history. There were several reasons why information about this important figure was suppressed. First, she was the first wife of the prominent communist Gustáv Husák. She lived with him through the difficult times of the Second World War and his imprisonment in the 1950s, but following his release she divorced him in 1960, and she did not live to see him become Czechoslovak President. Some held it against her that she was Czech not Slovak by birth, others that she pursued a profession that had previously been solely the domain of men – directing. The remarkable author and performer Sláva Daubnerová reconstructs the complicated life of M.H.L in the form of an intimate tragedy, the main theme of which is the silent extinction of love and the emptiness of life in isolation. A well-balanced play on words and movement that diverges from the Slovak staging tradition, Daubnerová uncovers the gripping story of a brave and talented woman whose ambitions ran up against the destructive mechanism of totalitarianism.
Sláva Daubnerová (1980) studied cultural studies at the Faculty of Arts, Charles University, and is currently a doctoral student at the Theatre Faculty of the Faculty of Performing Arts. She began working in theatre on an amateur basis. In 2006 she founded the independent professional theatre P.A.T. as a platform for contemporary theatre, dance, and new media. There she has to date staged the solo project Cells (inspired by the diaries of Louise Bourgeois), the spatial multimedia installation Hamletmachine, and the stage concept Polylogue (an adaptation of Jon Fosse’s novel Melancholy). As an actor and dancer she has worked with a number of directors and theatres, such as the Slovak National Theatre, SkRAT Theatre, Pôtoň Theatre, and Štúdio 12.
In Slovak with English subtitles
(festival BUS 22:45 La Fabrika › ÚLUV)
