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DAGMAR KROCANOVÁ
exchange between a stage and an auditorium. On the part of the "stage", there
was no tradition of professional theatre and no theatre professionals in Slovakia.
Slovaks only had a tradition of amateur theatre in the 19" century but this was
developed in towns other than Bratislava. Besides, as previously mentioned, the
troupe ofthe Slovak National Iheatre consisted of Czech actors combined with
several Slovak actors who either had some experience from amateur theatres
or studied acting at the State Conservatory in Prague." On the part of the
audience, the feeble theatre tradition in Slovakia was also related to sociological
factors. Slovakia lacked an aristocracy and bourgeoisie, and it did not undergo
the processes of urbanization and modernization in the 19" century. Instead of
the situation in which nations develop a theatre tradition and eventually found
national theatres, in the Slovak case, theatre was established as an institution
that was also supposed to contribute to nation-building. Ihe Slovak National
Theatre was thus burdened with a double task: political/ideological on one side,
and artistic/aesthetic on the other side.
1he story of the Slovak National Iheatre, however, was mostly related to
Bratislava. Iheatre in Bratislava was originally either in German or Hungarian.
Establishing the Slovak National Iheatre in the town was a step towards a forced
emergence of the national culture combined with the forced Slovakisation of a
city. In the 1920s, a separate Propagation troupe of the Slovak National Theatre,
established in 1921 and called Mars among its members, held performances
in other Slovak places. Another Czech company, known as a Rural troupe of
the Slovak National Theatre and directed by Otokar Novak, also travelled in
Slovakia. In 1932, a separate Slovak troupe of the Slovak National Theatre in
Bratislava was founded. Between 1932 and 1939, two troupes — a Czech anda
Slovak one — performed in the theatre. The Czech troupe was dissolved in 1939.
In other Slovak towns, such as Kosice, Trnava, and Nitra, entrepreneurs took up
theatre activities throughout the entire interwar period but these only lasted a
few years. Regular theatres were only established in Nitra, Presov and Martin
in the late 1930s and early 1940s; the development of theatre culture in this
period coincided with the cultural policy of the autonomous Slovak Republic.
Speaking of the relation between theatre and national identity developing in
history, we can also mention that a conservatory was founded in Bratislava in
1919 but university education for theatre professionals only became possible in
1949 (after the Communist coup d’état) when the Academy of Performing Arts
was established in Bratislava.
The evolution of theatre is connected, of course, with the concept of space,
including its concrete form. The Slovak National Theatre in Bratislava took
over the premises of the Municipal Theatre, built in 1886 and designed
® Among the pioneers of Slovak acting were Andrej Bagar, Jozef Kello and Gaspar Arbet, who
had experience from amateur theatre, and Jozef Boroda¢, Orszaghova-Borodaéova and also
Hana Stykova who studied in Prague.
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