Author, director, actor and conceptual artist Sláva Daubnerová blends authenticity and documentary techniques with fiction to pose fundamental questions about the limits of humanity and the position of an outsider.
Daubnerová’s monodrama Solo Lamentoso, premiered in December 2015, has been inspired by the real-life story of a woman in the small town of Štúrovo in southern Slovakia, who barricaded herself in her house and terrorised her neighbours by playing the same aria from La Traviata sung by Placido Domingo through low-quality speakers from six in the morning to ten at night in an endless loop for 14 years. The artist turns the confession of a disturbed woman into a device for exploring timeless topics such as the ambiguity of truth and the fight of an individual against society, suggesting that growing discord among people is how extremism is born.
Nominated for the 2016 Tatra Banka prize and the 2016 Dosky Theatre Awards for best direction and best play of the year.
Student Jury prize at the New Drama Festival 2016
Solo lamentoso is a true blending of the original idea with eloquent choreography, expressive music, dynamic lighting and attractive performance. Daubnerová has created another original show on the boundary of documentary, physical and visually stylised theatre. At the same time, she has brought to the stage the story of the “lamenting” Eva N., giving her a chance to tell her version of events. By doing so, she has exposed issues such as the relativity of truth and the subjective view that shifts the scale of justice and, in particular, the issue of an individual’s right to revenge. If society can terrorise an individual, why couldn’t the opposite apply too? However, what is the point of this kind of revenge – and any revenge, for that matter?
KATARÍNA CVEČKOVÁ
Based on available documentary material, lighting and music, Sláva Daubnerová has created an unusual show. As all her plays, this one also captures the audience with its aesthetic approach and perspective of the issue. Rather than presenting an clear-cut opinion, she lets the viewers piece together their own picture out of fragments, and arrive at their own conclusions. Unlike the endlessly repeated aria, instead turning into an annoying, hackneyed tune Solo Lamentoso is an engaging work that amuses but also sends shivers down your spine.
ZUZANA ŠNIRCOVÁ MLOKi
At the beginning the lights of little paper houses are visible up close but soon Daubnerová takes them behind the curtain and turns their lights off. Now she dominates the scene, bringing her own house, which is larger – she hides underneath it, stretches her legs and stands upright on her heels, carrying the house on her back like a snail, the box covering her head and body down to her waist. The artist references Femme Maison by Louise Bourgois, her 2006 show The Cell being inspired by the work of the French-American artist
Taneční zóna
In partnership with Fond na podporu umenia (Slovak Arts Council), Embassy of the Slovak Republic to the UK
Slava Daubnerova Website / @SlavaD FB / @SlavaDaubnerova IG
Click here to see our upcoming theatre events
