Prirodzené a umelé autorské návraty k slovenskej histórii

Documentary drama does not have a real tradition in Slovakia. Many plays from the socialistic times deformed reality to back up ideology. New tendencies, which tried to realistically picture the history, came only slowly. After 1989 we even talk about the stagnation or crisis of Slovak theatre. The theatre lost the contact with political life and lived off the entertaining function. As a paradox, in the new millenium it is young playwrights and directors, who decided to turn back to history and depict historical figures (artistic or political) or historical events. The paper will bring case studies from the point of a spectator / theatre critic on the topic that is brought on stage in contemporary Slovak theatre and how the creators deal with it in terms of preparation of the performance as well as the final perception by the audience. As the „case study“ it uses four performances from regular repertory theatres in Slovakia, some of them as a result of a creative urge of the author / director, some of them as a result of institutionally initiated project.