This performance was set to premiere in December 2020, to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Puppet Theatre in Banská Bystrica. Unfortunately, it did not go ahead as planned because of the pandemic. Back then, we were asking ourselves a slew of questions: what role does theatre play today? Will it survive this time? What will we be like in the after? Will we have changed? Will anything have changed? We contemplated our art, the implications of our anniversary and, eventually, the pandemic and the idea of fairytales. We are, after all, a puppet theatre, which has stereotypically been synonymous with fairytales – and we decided to make this stereotype the genesis of our production for adults. We decided to look at fairytales in a different light. We reached out to Slovak authors in various areas, with different writing styles, and offered them the opportunity to rewrite a classic fairytale into something contemporary, in their own way, using the stylistic and literary devices of their choosing to create while the world was living through the Coronavirus pandemic. Through it, we kept hoping to see our audiences again, to find ourselves again, to feel again. As a poem once said, while we’re here, we’re doing pretty well – but that will only become clear with time.

Authors: Michal Havran, Iveta Horváthová, Jana Juráňová, Laco Kerata, Juraj Šoko Tabaček
Director: Marián Pecko
Assistant Director: Anna Hajduková
Scene: Pavol Andraško a. h.
Costumes, Puppets: Eva Farkašová a. h.
Music: Juraj Haško a. h., Adam Šamaj a. h. (Sleeping Beauty in Isolation), the performance
uses Casta Diva Vincenzo Bellini’s aria from the opera Norma as performed by Maria Callas
and a snippet of the Shania Twain song ‚Ka-ching‘
Videos produced by: Peter Komár, Marián Pecko
Featured in the Videos: Kristína Bubelínyová, Matúš Hollý, Jakub Horničák, Lukáš
Kováč, Tomáš Kováč, Martin Púpala
Photography: Dodo Šamaj

Premiere: September 14 and 15, 2021
Length: 180 minutes (with intermission)

Cast:
Marianna Ďuranová
Ivana Kováčová
Marianna Mackurová
Andrej Polakovič a. h.
Ľubica Pradidová
Alena Sušilová a. h.
Dodo Šamaj a. h.
Mária Šamajová
Terézia Šusteková a. h.
Daniel Žulčák a. h.

For the first time in Slovakia!

Supported by the Slovak Art Fund using public funds.
Realized with the financial support of the Banská Bystrica Self-Governing Region.

This performance is dedicated to the 60th anniversary of the founding of the Puppet Theatre
in Banská Bystrica.