VZOSTUPY A DOZVUKY TVORBY REŽISÉRA VLADIMÍRA STRNISKA NA SLOVENSKÝCH JAVISKÁCH
THE RISES AND WANING IN THE CREATION OF DIRECTOR VLADIMÍR STRNISKO ON SLOVAK THEATRE STAGES

Summary/Abstract: Unquestionably, Vladimír Strnisko (1938) is among the most praised Slovak theatre directors of the latter half of the 20th century. His early works revealed his dramaturgical and directorial method of staging a theatre production, which is based on a thorough text analysis resulting in narrative update. Given the metaphorical images of society, each production aroused strong emotions and provoked to deliberate over a text and its realisation through the actor and the mise-en-scène. The study traces the development of his theatrical vision through selected productions in Divadlo na korze (Theatre on the Promenade) and in the drama ensembles of Nová scéna (The New Stage Theatre) and of the Slovak National Theatre. They are united by a leitmotif of a mirror reflecting the current moral dilemmas in society, which the director often portrays through non-verbal action, by creating tension on stage, by counterpoint, and by a number of details that steer the actors to an accurate characterisation of the characters rendered by them. This holds true of his works prior to November 1989 as well as of his directing projects within a new socio-political situation up until the second decade of the 21st century. The majority of his directing projects in the 1970s and 1980s conveyed a picture of a cynical world, the disintegration of the world, and personal gain. Since the 1990s, after a socio-political turnaround, in his theatrical images, he has not eased off on critical thinking about the development of society, which, however, has not always been well received by the audience.

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