Kocúrkovo in Bratislava

A comedy universe in a new format, where the bride waits in vain for the groom and the author hits the limit of the time.

Kocúrkovo is a phenomenon. Supposedly. It’s even the kind of phenomenon everyone is convinced they know what it means. Supposedly, stupidity, narrow-mindedness, backwardness, pettiness, laziness, a system that doesn’t work, the ills and vices so characteristic of our society…

Already on 7 October you have the opportunity to spend an evening in the company of Ján Chalupka’s satirical-critical play, about which we have been trying to convince ourselves for at least two centuries that it concerns us and does not concern us at the same time.

Ján Chalupka published the first version of his Kocúrkovo in 1830 anonymously. He cleverly assumed that the Enlightenment model of satirical criticism of the ills of contemporary society would provoke a tornado of “hit-goose” reactions. This is surely why its first performance in the amateur ensemble of Gašpar Fejérpataka-Belopotocký in Liptovský Mikuláš literally became a landmark in the history of Slovak theatre in general.

But something else has become essential to our current presence. For Chalupek’s play (and the entire Cats’ universe) is the source of a series of archetypes that also reflect the story of our country, an acute effort to form its own identity and at the same time to define the shadow that it is earnestly and sincerely trying to transcend.

Perhaps this is why Chalupka himself appears on stage, not even alone, and steps out of the anonymity of the observer. He becomes a commentator, an actor playing his Cat and formulating his other observations or satirical barbs, wittily defined through the eyes of an extremely educated, multi-lingual intellectual, who in his time must also have encountered its limits.

Dramaturgical introduction 30 minutes before the performance (Foyer of the Drama Theatre, free admission)

Running time: 2 hours without intermission

Performers: Anežka Petrová Robert Roth Ondrej Kovaľ Martin Šalacha Roman Poláčik Gregor Hološka Jakub Rybárik

Venue: Slovak National Theatre, Pribinova Street, Bratislava

Performance dates:

Saturday 7 October 2023 19:00 h – 21:00 h
Friday 10 November 2023 19:00 h – 21:00 h
Thursday 16 November 2023 10:00 h – 12:00 h
Thursday 28. December 2023 19:00 h – 21:00 h

Admission: 12 – 35 €

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