The Slovak National Theater has canceled the planned performance of Prague’s Studio of Heroes – News

Ťapáková justified her move by saying that the contract was to be signed only two weeks before the performance.

“As a member of the legislative body, I am responsible for the entire operation of the institution, it is a number of fundamental contracts and decisions,” the leader of the SND said in a statement, adding that she would definitely not sign contracts two or three weeks before hosting or participating in festivals.

“These are unacceptable things for a theater where things are planned for half a year, a year or two,” she said.

Ťapáková denies that canceling the Prague theater performance is an issue. According to her, it is possible to talk about hosting Studio of Heroes in the future. However, the organizers of the festival see it differently.

“Zuzana Ťapáková refused this production and we have to cancel the hosting of Studio of Heroes, because we have no other venue that meets the technical requirements of her show,” he said. Diary of N Róbert Pakan, director of the Drama Queer festival.

This is an international theater exhibition of productions depicting the lives of LGBTI/Q people. The Švand theater performed at the festival last year, before which the Prague National Theater performed. This year marks the 12th year of the festival.

Pakan announced that the show was canceled as an international scandal. “I personally consider it censorship, it seems to me like discrimination, and what is worse – it is also an international scandal that Czech theater cannot show in the SND,” said the director of the festival.

“Nothing like this has ever happened to us. Homosexuality is definitely a barrier, which I find crazy. Our production is realistic, it doesn’t push sexuality, it’s more like a magical reality, a story about loneliness and solitude,” said Jan Horák, director of Studio of Heroes.

Ťapáková was appointed as the new leader of the SND by the Minister of Culture Martina Šimkovičová (nominee of the Slovak National Party) on 27 August 2024. This happened a few weeks after the dismissal of the previous leader, Matej Drlička. Actors and the public protested against his dismissal.