HRY FRANKA WOLLMANA NA SCÉNE SLOVENSKÉHO NÁRODNÉHO DIVADLA V DVADSIATYCH ROKOCH 20. STOROČIA
FRANK WOLLMAN’S PLAYS STAGED BY THE SLOVAK NATIONAL THEATRE IN THE 1920s

Summary/Abstract: Using new archival material, the study explores Frank Wollman’s plays staged by the Slovak National Theatre in Bratislava in the 1920s. Recognised as a Czech expert in Slavonic studies, he lectured at the Faculty of Arts of Comenius University in Bratislava. In the early years of his professional career, he presented himself as a “manifestly Czechoslovak” dramatist, whose drama Bohokrál (1921) [The Godking] published in book form portrayed Alexander the Great. The ideas of Czech and Slovak togetherness were conveyed through the Great Moravia theme in his historical tragedy Rastislav (1922). His Člun na moři (1924) [A Boat at Sea], a “human grotesque and political utopia” juxtaposing opposing human types, got a particularly keen public response. Overall, Wollman’s dramas reflected on major social conflicts, and by putting emphasis on moral ethos, they were intellectual in nature. They linked expressionist elements with the tradition of classical realistic drama. Even though the plays were not included in the basic repertory of the Slovak National Theatre when first staged, they have remained a witness of the author’s artistic formation as well as of the dramaturgy of SND.

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