Ján Chalupka published the first version of his Kocúrkovo (Gotham City) in 1830 anonymously. He smartly assumed that the Enlightenment model of satirical criticism of the flaws of contemporary society would provoke a tornado of the-pot-calling-the-kettle-black kind of reactions. This is probably why its first performance at the amateur ensemble of Gašpar Fejérpataky-Belopotocký in Liptovský Mikuláš literally became a milestone in the history of Slovak theatre in general. But something else has also become essential for our immediate presence. Chalupka's play (and the entire universe of Kocúrkovo (Gotham City)) is the source of a series of archetypes, also reflecting the story of our country, the acute effort to form one's own identity and at the same time to define the shadow, which one is sincerely and earnestly trying to transcend. Perhaps that is why Chalupka appears on stage, even more than once, and he steps out of the anonymity of an observer. He becomes a commentator, an actor playing his Kocúrkovo (Gotham City) and formulating his other observations or satirical jabs, humorously defined through the eyes of a highly educated, multilingual intellectual, who in his time must have encountered its limits.

 

Running time: 2 hrs no interval