The play presents an array of intimate, public, amorous and mysterious confessions of souls whose fates have affected our present time.

Europe in Correspondence brings to life the authentic testimonies, confessions and secrets of Europe’s leading personalities. During their lifetime, all of them became icons of scientific, political or artistic life who called this continent home since mid-19^th century until the present day, for instance Èmile Zola, Marie Curie Skłodowska, Hannah Arendt, Martin Heidegger, Winston Churchill, Maria Faustyna, Tomáš Garrique Masaryk, Milan Rastislav Štefánik, Jiřina Šiklová, Svetozár Hurban Vajanský, Dežo Ursiny, Július Satinský and many others.

Each of the five parts of the production is dedicated to five historical epochs represented by five actual episodes of European history.

In the first part entitled I ACCUSE the audience is acquainted with the famous open letter of the same name by French writer Èmile Zola. He wrote the letter in 1898 and addressed it to the President of France, condemning the unjust indictment, incarceration and imprisonment of Captain Alfred Dreyfus on the charges of treason. Thanks in part to the letter, Dreyfus was released from prison after five years and fully rehabilitated in 1906.

Under the name THE BANALITY OF EVIL, the second part is rooted in the work of German philosopher Hannah Arendt who contemplates the origins of evil provoked by the genocide perpetrated on the Jewish population during World War II. The secret love correspondence between Arendt (who was a student at the time) and German philosopher Martin Heidegger (who was her teacher at the time) recounts the course of events primarily in the Nazi-era Germany but does not leave out other parts of Europe. Based on authentic victims’ letters, denouncements by their neighbours, administrative decrees issued by authorities and other documents of the period, the chapter presents an unsettling account of historical events in France, Ukraine, but also Slovakia.

The third part bearing the name RADIUM… POLONIUM… brings to life the fate of prominent chemist Marie Curie Skłodowska. The audience learns about background details on her affection to her colleague and fellow chemist Paul Langevin. After their love correspondence leaked to the public, it led to a scandal that not only provoked official hostile letters from Skłodowska’s friends and colleagues at the Sorbonne but even managed to sway the opinion of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences regarding Skłodowska’s laureateship of the Nobel Prize.

The fourth part entitled CALVARIA explores the bizarre stories of three women who fell victims to discrimination and injustice: Sister Saint Maria Faustyna, a mystic and visionary who was canonised in April 2000; Senior Lecturer Viera Petrášová whose litigation against the National Forestry Centre recently received a lot of media attention; and finally Mrs. Gombíková, a character inspired by numerous published cases of discrimination against women in the workplace.

The chapter 1918 – 2018 delves in the circumstances of Czechoslovakia’s emergence and the constant and continuous struggle of different generations of the Czech and Slovak nations over the orientation to eastern or western powers. It is based on the authentic correspondence of Svetozár Hurban Vajanský, Tomáš Garrique Masaryk*, Milan Rastislav Štefánik, Winston Churchill, Josif Stalin, Dežo Ursiny, Július Satinský and many others.

* English letters written by T. G. Masaryk are quoted in the original version (Source: Correspondence between TGM – MRŠ, the Masaryk Institute and the Archive of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, 2008).

Libretto: Iveta Horváthová
Direction & Stage design: Marián Pecko
Dramaturgy: Iveta Škripková, Monika Tatarková
Music: Róbert Mankovecký, guest artist

Cast: Eva Dočolomanská, Ivana Kováčová, Marianna Mackurová, Alena Sušilová, Jozef Šamaj, Mária Šamajová, Filip Štrba, Anna Zemaníková, Martin Frank, guest artist

Photo: Nicol Urbanová

Premiere: November 17, 2017

This stage adaptation was supported from public funds via the Slovak Arts Council as well as funds raised by Culture on the Crossroads, a public fundraiser organised by the Open Society Foundation.