About the school
The Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava is the oldest educational institution in Slovakia specialized in training students in the performing arts and artistic creation as well as arts management and production. Its three faculties (Music & Dance, Film & Television, Theatre) provide theoretical and practical training in the performing arts and film. The school was founded in Bratislava in 1949. The Academy of Performing Arts (VŠMU) is a present-day-oriented school open to students from the entire world. VŠMU is fully accredited as a university within the Slovak education system, providing complex bachelor’s and master’s study programmes in the Performing Arts.
Spider/Man
Spider/Man (an ancient tragedy) is a contemporary graduation project by director Matej Trnovec and dramaturge Veronika Briestenská. It is a unique adaptation of the Spider-Man comics by Steve Ditko and Stan Lee. The play looks at the pop culture phenomenon of superheroes from the perspective of ancient tragedy, bringing the audience a new interpretation of a notorious, heroic story. The contemporary spectator, like the ancient one, does not come to the theater to find out how the story ends, but how it is staged.
Peter Parker is a typical tragic hero. He is not free and is doomed to pain. He is torn between ethics and desires, between being the spider and the man, the man and the hero. He becomes a dubious hero who faces his own morality and sense of personal responsibility. With great power comes great responsibility. But for whom? For yourself, for others, for everything?
Peter Parker dives into himself and meets the dead whose death he caused. He becomes the worst enemy he has ever faced. The play tells the myth of Spider-Man as a legend about contemporary man.
Directing: Matej Trnovec
Dramaturgy: Veronika Briestenská
Scenography: Matúš Ďuran
Light design: Dominika Katonová, Matúš Ďuran
Costume design: Dominika Katonová
Graphic design: Tomáš Paulen
Music: Tomáš Urík
Management: Simona Baloghová
Photo: Petra Štefancová
Cast:
PETER Ján Cibula
GWEN Anna Dysko
KRAVEN Kristián Baran
HARRY Tadeáš Bolo
MARY JANE Katarína Krajčovičová
SPIDER Richard Maľa
FUGURES IN BLACK Juraj Bolf, Filip Pavuk, Adam Marenišťák, Richard Maľa
BOY Marek Ocilka
