POSTSOVIETSKE DIVADELNÉ PARALELY

The study is a comparative reflection on the development of performing arts in Russia and Slovakia at the turn of the millennium. Understanding the peripheries of post-Soviet transformation of Russian theatre deepens the knowledge of social and aesthetic contexts regarding the transformation of Slovak theatre at the turn of the 21st century. The disintegration of the Soviet Bloc in the late 80s and the early 90s of the 20th century changed the situation in the world and launched a major transformation in the post-communist countries. Along with the economic and political system, culture was changing also inevitably. Privileged status of Russian culture has become a thing of the past. In the following years, Slovakia has become the independent state with parliamentary democracy and market economy and joined the EU. Russia has undergone its own path of development. Despite a different orientation of the two countries at the turn of the millennium, both the Russian and Slovak theatre experienced in many ways analogous situation: the decline in social status of performing arts, opening to the world, the introduction of so-called new drama, transformation of directing and acting, etc. When approaching breakthrough processes in Russian theatre, the study is based on the author's personal knowledge of Russian theatre and on the publications written by Russian theatre critics Marina Davydova (End Theatrical Era) and Anna Vislova (Russian Theatre at the Turn of the Millenium