Merlin

“Merlin, the son of the Devil and a nun opposes his father and has decided to help bring people to goodness. He establishes a kingdom governed by a round table, headed by king Arthur, who brings the kingdom to a great fame. But due to inner conflicts and misunderstandings the kingdom is gradually falling apart. Consequently, Merlin sends all the kingdom knights to seek the Haly Grail – “the symbol of love and peace”, but they fail. The disappointed Merlin leaves for the Brocolin forest, where the fairy Vivian magically transforms him into a hawthorn tree. Arthur's kingdom collapses and in a final battle king Arthur dies."

This is generally the story line of this philosophical drama; which the author has dressed up into an epic historical fresco. Its structure, length and extent make it one of the most demanding work s of contemporary drama.

The theatre of Jonáš Záborský has decided to present Merlin in spite of its financial costs and technical problems. There were many reasons for doing so: to present a dramatic work of a contemporary playwright, to allow the director and the art-director the challenge of bringing the difficult text to life, and, through unusual scenes, to stimulate the audience to reflect upon the problems of a man in society.

This is how the Merlin project, one of the most remarkable activities of the season, came about, whose presentation helps to destroy the common stereotypes of the repertoire theatre. What is also remarkable is that this is the work of a recent graduate of the School of Performing Arts. He is a director of the meditative type, whose high standards and, cinematic vision coexists well with the Prešov theatre group.

adaptation and director: Ivan Holub
translation and dramaturgy: Andrea Dömeová
set decoration: Vladimír Čáp
music: Richard Miller, Ján Zach
choreography: Vladimír Blizniak
cast: Jozef Stražan, Milan Antol, Ivan Krúpa, Jozef Fila, Peter Trník, Dušan Brandýs, Igor Šabek, Peter Lejko, Stanislav Pitoňák, Stanislav Kandera, Miroslava Haľková, Kveta Stražanová, Barbara Holubová, Adriana Kudláčková, Jana Pilzová, Zuzana Kúšiková, Ľudmila Dutková, Gabriela Dolná, Mária Ficeriová, Dana Trnčiková, Jitka Krišková, Anna Kúkoľová, Anton Trón, Andrej Šilan, Štefan Servátka, Ján Rybárik, Andrej Belej, Peter Marcin, Róbert Kobezda, Jozef Novotný, Peter Szollos, Ján Kovalčin, Vladimír Kucko, Jozef Baksa, Marcel Forgáč, Jozef Skybjak, Milan Kolcun, Sergej Schewczuk, Stanislav Kofínek, Ján Brejda, Ľudevít Brejda