The Lights

12+
Première 31. avgust 2020, Bátovce
Running time 1 hour. No intermission. 

Post-performance discussion in English with interpretation into Slovenian. 

Directors Mária Danadová, Monika Kováčová, Ivan Martinka
Libretto, puppets and set designer Ivan Martinka
Artistic collaborator Ivana Macková
Music Mariana Bódyová (cello), Lukáš Kubičina (DJ and sound designer)
Lighting designer Milan Slama
Graphic designer Viktória Jehlárová
Electrical engineer Andrej Novák
IT specialist Ondrej Uhrin
RC modelling supervisor Miroslav Petrík
Puppet making collaborator Peter Rehák
Artistic locksmith cooperation Marek Motloch
Carpenter Ľuboš Horňák
Video technician Peter Paulus
Photographer and artistic consultant Katarína Caková
Producer Monika Kováčová

The performance includes the Lithuanian folk song Eisva mudu abudu (The Two of Us Shall Go Together) and Speranza’s aria from Claudio Monteverdi’s opera L’Orfeo.

Performers 
Mária Danadová, Ivan Martinka, Mariana Bódyová, Lukáš Kubičina

Co-producers Divadlo Pôtoň, Záhrada – centrum nezávislej kultúry, Divadlo z Pasáže, Industra Brno a Ticho a spol

"The harder I look for the light in the darkness, the clearer I feel that darkness is myself. The search for the light that has disappeared is an archetypal, multicultural, intelligible image. Where does the light end, and the darkness begin? Where does fear end, and fascination begin? Where there is shadow, there must be light."
The introductory thoughts of the librettist Ivan Martinka should be supplemented with a short outline of the story, which is relatively common in the genre of puppet theatre, as it is a return to childhood and confronting primary fears. The central figure is a boy haunted by darkness and fear – even though they may both be external representations of anxiety, depression or nightmares. In the play, fear acquires its human form in the ruler of darkness, or the devil, who is confronted by a man. A long table covered with a white tablecloth stretches between the two. A boy walks under the table. Potent symbolism, supported by psychoanalysis, evokes in spectators their own associations, which by resolving their own traumatic experiences (in a dark tunnel under the table) leads to light, to the objectification of their fears and to discovering the strongest light of all – that which gleams in ourselves.

With support from the Slovak Arts Council.