Slovak-Russian Relations in the Field of Drama And Theater. The First Half of the 20th Century

The article traces the history of Slovak-Russian relations in the field of drama and theater, starting from the moment of their emergence in the second half of the XIX century, and pays special attention to the period of the 1900s–30s (before the beginning of the Second World War). The influence of Russian playwrights (first of all, N. Gogol, A. Chekhov and M. Gorky) is clearly visible in the dramatic works of J. G. Tajovsky, T. Vansova and V. H. V. (Vladimir Hurban Vladimirov). After the opening of the Slovak National Theater in 1920 and the arrival of the actor and director J. Borodač, a big admirer of the Stanislavsky and Russian theater system, more and more Russian and Soviet plays appear in the repertoire of this and other Slovak theaters. The influence of the Moscow Art Theater school began to manifest itself in the director's manner of Borodač, while another prominent Slovak director of that time, J. Jamnicky, was clearly influenced by the Russian avant-garde.