Yurga´s Hana

The original for this inspiring production of students of the Drama and Puppetry Department of the Academy of Music and Performing Arts in Bratislava found its author Hana Naglik in the literary message of one of the important representatives of the interwar prose in Slovakia, Ivan Horváth (1904 – 1960). In his not extensive work the writer followed the modern contemporary literary tendencies of the period. Also thanks to his working as a lawyer and solicitor he knew perfectly the world of ordinary people in cities as well as in country about whom he wrote. More than in a social background he was interested in human relationships, emotionality, even impulsiveness. His observations are full of sensual attachment, parables and dreaminess. This is why critics underline his connections to the impressionism, expressionism, poetism, and sometimes also surrealism and dadaism.

The story of Jurga´s Hana comes from Horváth´s prose Two Women of Peter Jurga. By the compositions the author drew a picture of the life of man by the means of contemporary theatre. Director Alena Lelková created a production as a puzzle of expressive scenes by the protagonists whose life submitted to relationship stereotypes. She watches like a relationship of a devoted woman and a randy dominating man gradually lowers to brutal sexuality. At the same time, she examines how children deal with the emotional life of their parents. Jurga´s Hana is a daughter, but also a mother of the same faith that cannot be changed. The power of the production lies in the convincing acting whose effect is underlined by minimalist stage design and delicate historical costumes. The scenes of emotionality and expressiveness of mutual physical contacts are interwoven with poetic passages of attempts for pure emotion and with melancholy and resignation. The director and actors created a piece that, through a seemingly historical genre picture from Slovak country of the first half of the 20^th century, speaks also about our contemporaries.

The material and mental poverty, the desire of the young for a better life somewhere abroad, traditional drunkenness, constant racketeering, coarse behaviour and emotional aridity, and instinctive dealing with problems. The traces of this heritage of the past can be easily find also today.
Oleg Dlouhý