Svetozár Sprušanský
Profile
Svetozár Sprušanský graduated in theatre studies from the Department of Drama and Puppetry of the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava. He also studied cultural studies and aesthetics at Faculty of Philosophy at Comenius University in Bratislava. During 1995 – 2017 he was an in-house dramaturge and later also worked as a director and an artistic director of the Andrej Bagar Theatre in Nitra. There he helped stage several successful productions and he was co-creating image of this theatre. He frequently worked as a guest director for numerous Slovak theatres (Alexander Duchnovič Theatre in Prešov, Jonáš Záborský Theatre in Prešov, the New Stage Theatre in Bratislava). He won the Literary Fund Prize for the direction – in 2000 for The Seagull and Fireface, in 2003 for Three sisters, in 2010 for The Magic Flute. He also got The Literary Fund Prize in 2009 for dramaturgy of monothematic season The Family Silver.
In 2003 he became laureate of the prestigious critical Dosky Award in the Best Direction of the Season category for his production of Three Sisters.
A theatre scholar, active dramaturg and director, Svetozár Sprušanský is considered by theatrologists as a director with a distinct style and pronounced dramaturgical interest. He is a director who likes returning to Russian drama classics (The Proposal – The Bear, Seagull, Three Sisters, Uncle Vanya, The Cherry Orchard, The Lower Depths, The Marriage, The Inspector General) or to established works by international authors (Hamlet, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Hedda Gabler). Besides classical drama, Sprušanský frequently chooses (mostly in his home Andrej Bagar Theatre in Nitra) contemporary international texts which he approaches with a modern directorial lens (Fireface, Dark Play, D.N.A., Orphans, The Golden Dragon, Hamlet is Dead (Weightless)). However, he does not eschew even so-called tabloid-like “blockbuster” comedies or commercial musicals in which he applies a detailed and concentrated approach to the structure of the texts and focuses on the relations between characters.
Sprušanský’s perhaps most outstanding and inspirational production was Chekhov’s The Seagull (1999) presented in his own translation and adapted for the purposes of a very unconventional staging. The play was produced at the Andrej Bagar Theatre in Nitra and presented the story as taking place in the environment of Slovak theatre in order to reflect the current situation in theatre culture. Using unique dramaturgy, it substantially changed the structure of the original play and, thanks to strong acting stylization, departed from psychological acting, thus accentuating the means of expression that are not typical for this type of drama. The production used strong imagery and metonymy to offer the audience an individual and current view of a classical work.
Svetozár Sprušanský’s productions often introduce an evident polemic between the prototext and the final production form. In both the classical and modern texts he tries to find a message for the current times, uncover hidden contexts and anticipate problematic social phenomena. In arranging the stage setting, Sprušanský makes use of a broad spectrum of acting methods and stage instruments (pronounced stage constructions, playful lighting, most recent information technology). His productions are based on strong, resourcefully structured stories that are developed slowly and gradually in order to divulge the individual layers of the plot. He penetrates the psychological worlds of the characters and, at the same time, maintains necessary distance and often ironic detachment. Sprušanský’s goal is to create a new reality on the stage, a reality whose smallest details are bared to involve as many spectators as possible.
- 1998 / Andrej Bagar Theatre, Nitra / Anton Pavlovich Chekhov: The Proposal – The Bear
- 1999 / Andrej Bagar Theatre, Nitra / Lenka Lagronová: Little Theresa
- 1999 / Andrej Bagar Theatre, Nitra / Anton Pavlovich Chekhov: The Seagull
- 2000 / Andrej Bagar Theatre, Nitra / Marius von Mayenburg: Fireface
- 2001 / Chapter Arts, Cardiff, United Kingdom / William Shakespeare, Tom Stoppard, Vladimír Holan: Hamlet – Variations
- 2001 / Andrej Bagar Theatre, Nitra / Bertolt Brecht: A Respectable Wedding
- 2002 / Andrej Bagar Theatre, Nitra / Milan Uhde: The Collector
- 2002 / Andrej Bagar Theatre, Nitra / Petr Zelenka: Stories of Ordinary Madness
- 2003 / Andrej Bagar Theatre, Nitra / Anton Pavlovich Chekhov: Three Sisters
- 2004 / Andrej Bagar Theatre, Nitra / Ingmar Villqist: The Anaerobs
- 2005 / Andrej Bagar Theatre, Nitra / Igor Stravinsky, Peter Zagar, Svetozár Sprušanský: The Rite of Spring
- 2005 / Andrej Bagar Theatre, Nitra / Andreas Sauter, Bernhard Studlar: A. Is Someone Else
- 2005 / Alexander Duchnovič Theatre, Prešov / Anton Pavlovich Chekhov: Uncle Vanya
- 2006 / Andrej Bagar Theatre, Nitra / Dana Łukasińska: Agata Is Looking For a Job
- 2006 / Alexander Duchnovič Theatre, Prešov / Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol: The Inspector General
- 2007 / Andrej Bagar Theatre, Nitra / Henrik Ibsen: Hedda Gabler
- 2007 / New Stage Theatre, Bratislava / Paul Pörtner: Shear Madness
- 2008 / Jonáš Záborský Theatre, Prešov / Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol: The Marriage
- 2008 / Alexander Duchnovič Theatre, Prešov / Maxim Gorky: The Lower Depths
- 2008 / New Stage Theatre, Bratislava / Nikolai Robertovich Erdman, Nikolai Budashkin, Július Selčan: Jack Frost
- 2009 / Andrej Bagar Theatre, Nitra / Anton Pavlovich Chekhov: The Cherry Orchard
- 2009 / Slovak National Theatre, Bratislava / Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: The Magic Flute
- 2010 / Andrej Bagar Theatre, Nitra / Stefan Lindberg: LAVV
- 2010 / New Stage Theatre Bratislava / Peter Quilter, Martin Sarvaš, Peter Uličný, Miroslav Jurika, Marián Brezáni: Boyband
- 2010 / Alexander Duchnovič Theatre, Prešov / Mikhail Yevgrafovich Saltykov-Shchedrin: About Two Generals (Fantasia)
- 2010 / Alexander Duchnovič Theatre, Prešov / Daniil Gink: Katarina Ivanovna
- 2010 / Andrej Bagar Theatre, Nitra / Leslie Ayvazian: High Dive
- 2011 / Jonáš Záborský Theatre, Nitra / William Shakespeare: A Midsummer Night’s Dream
- 2011 / Andrej Bagar Theatre, Nitra / Tennessee Williams: The Glass Menagerie
- 2011 / Andrej Bagar Theatre, Nitra / Carlos Murillo: Dark Play
- 2011 / Andrej Bagar Theatre, Nitra / Neil Simon: Sweet Charity
- 2012 / New Stage Theatre, Bratislava / Kristof Magnusson: Male Creche
- 2012 / Andrej Bagar Theatre, Nitra / Dennis Kelly: Orphans
- 2012 / Andrej Bagar Theatre, Nitra / Dennis Kelly: D.N.A.
- 2012 / Andrej Bagar Theatre, Nitra / Dennis Kelly: Love and Money
- 2012 / Jonáš Záborský Theatre, Prešov / Carlo Goldoni: The Little Square
- 2013 / Alexander Duchnovič Theatre, Prešov / Maxim Gorky: Vassa
- 2013 / Andrej Bagar Theatre, Nitra / Truman Capote: A Christmas Memory
- 2014 / Theatre on Dlouhá Street, Prague, Czech Republic / Laco Kerata: Bugs in a Box – Drops
- 2014 / Andrej Bagar Theatre, Nitra / Arthur Wing Pinero: The Magistrate
- 2014 / Andrej Bagar Theatre, Nitra / William Shakespeare: The Taming of the Shrew
- 2014 / Andrej Bagar Theatre, Nitra / Roland Schimmelpfennig: The Golden Dragon
- 2015 / New Stage Theatre, Bratislava / Richard Bean: One Man, Two Guvnors
- 2015 / Andrej Bagar Theatre, Nitra / Ewald Palmetshofer: Hamlet is Dead (Weightless)
- 2015 / Andrej Bagar Theatre, Nitra / Arnold Wesker: Wild Spring
- 2015 / Alexander Duchnovič Theatre, Prešov / Kozma Prutkov: Fantasy
- 2016 / Andrej Bagar Theatre, Nitra / Mika Myllyaho: Panic
- 2016 / New Stage Theatre, Bratislava / Danielle Navarro, Patrick Haudecoeur: Mint Tea or Are You Lemon?
- 2016 / Alexander Duchnovič Theatre, Prešov / Venedikt Yerofeyev: Moscow-Petushki
- 2017 / Andrej Bagar Theatre, Nitra / Laco Kerata: Dobro (Goodness)
- 2017 / Theatre of Comedy, Bratislava / Fred Apke: Hot Shower
- 2017 / New Stage Theatre, Bratislava / Simon Stephens: Punk Rock
- 2017 / Theatre of Comedy, Bratislava / David Greig - Gordon McIntyre: Midsummer
- 2017 / New Stage Theatre, Bratislava / Benny Anderson, Björn Ulvaeus, Catherine Johnson: Mamma Mia!
- 2018 / Theatre of Comedy, Bratislava / Ulrich Hub: Penguins
- 2018 / Alexander Duchnovič Theatre, Prešov / Anton Pavlovich Chekhov: Room No. 6
- 2018 / Theatre of Comedy, Bratislava / Elżbieta Jodłowska: Menopause… so what?
- 2018 / New Stage Theatre, Bratislava / Janne Teller: Home (… and Where’s Yours?)
- 2018 / Theatre of Comedy, Bratislava / Mike Bartlett: Cock
- 2019 / Karol Spišák’s Old Theatre, Nitra / David Greig: The Monster in the Hall
- 2019 / Slovak National Theatre, Bratislava / Svetozár Sprušanský, Daniel Hevier: A Tale About a Happy Ending
- 2020 / Alexander Duchnovič Theatre, Prešov / Vasily Sigarev: Lie Detector
- 2021 / New Stage Theatre, Bratislava / Peter Quilter: The Hill
- 2021 / New Stage Theatre, Bratislava / Svetozár Sprušanský, Daniel Hevier, Gabo Dušík: Jánošík
- 2021 / Alexander Duchnovič Theatre, Prešov / Robin Hawdon: Volcanic Eruptions
- 2022 / Andrej Bagar Theatre in Nitra / William Zandt: Love, Sex, and the I. R. S.
- 2022 / New Stage Theatre, Bratislava / Radu Macrinici: The Electric Angel
- 2000 / Literary Fund Prize for direction of The Seagull and Fireface
- 2003 / Dosky Award in the Best Direction category for the production of Three Sisters
- 2003 / Literary Fund Prize for direction of Three Sisters
- 2009 / Literary Fund Prize for dramaturgy of monothematic season The Family Silver
- 2010 / Literary Fund Prize for direction of The Magic Flute
- 2017 / Literary Fund’s Annual Prize for the dramaturgy of the single theme-based theatre season of the DAB Theatre in Nitra, and the production of original contemporary Slovak authors, taking into account the dramaturgy of the original Slovak musical Occupation: Pope, and the direction of the comedy Mint Tea or Are You Lemon?