Theater is my lifelong hobby

Divadlo je mojim celoživotným koníčkom

In today's hurried and material times, if someone devotes himself to such a beautiful activity as volunteer theater, then it is rather a rarity. And if someone also invests this positive creative energy in small children just because it makes them happy, they can be considered an extraordinary phenomenon. And such a phenomenon is Alena Demková, the long-time artistic director of the theater troupe for children and youth Materinka from Šaľe, whose personality we would like to present in an interview on the pages of the current issue of Listy magazine.

Can you tell us when and how the Materinka theater troupe was founded?

The theater company Materinky (today Divadlo Materinky) was founded in the autumn of 1977, when several teachers from kindergartens in Šala met and founded a puppet company. The first performances were classic, the actors were hidden behind a screen and the play consisted mainly of puppets and puppets. I remember how the teachers had texts pinned to the back and the sound engineer from the House of Culture ran between them with a wireless microphone, which was quite a decent technical convenience for that time. The first director of the ensemble was the professional puppeteer Ruženka Bóriová, a member of the Puppet Theater in Nitra (today the Old Karol Spišák Theater Nitra.) We gradually started to devote ourselves to open management of puppets, we also tried black theater, and later dramatic fairy-tale plays with songs.

So you've been giving joy to children for 40 years? How did you manage to keep the ensemble members interested for such a long time?

Do you know what is the most beautiful and interesting? That in addition to difficult work - rehearsals, performances, creation of props, creation of the scene, many of us in the ensemble experienced first loves, graduations, weddings, graduations, the birth of children, even grandchildren... There were also breakups and sad departures to theater heaven.. There were celebrations, but also nostalgic sittings with wine and cigarettes. Maybe that's the magnetism that works perfectly and connects us. But the most for us are the glowing children's eyes and heads in the audience.

Are they still the same people or have the cast members changed over the years?

Over 40 years, several dozen wonderful people have taken turns in Materinky. Of course, there are also regulars in the ensemble, without whom we could not imagine our work. Currently, the youngest member is 16 years old and the oldest is 61. Just flip the numbers. This is also one of the highlights of the set. As beauty, youth and unrestrainedness enter the stage with maturity, experience and energy tempered by years. The golden center is made up of our guys. Some are not even 30 years old and some are already over forty....

What exactly is your role in the ensemble and how long have you been working with Materinka?

I have been working with Materinka since the foundation of the group. My role? With Materinka, I play, write scripts, song lyrics, I also directed several plays, sewed and designed several costumes, designed a few scenographic solutions... This is already the case in a non-professional theater. You do everything that comes and is necessary.

So you are actually the creative soul of the group. Do you even have time for anything else?

Theater is my lifelong hobby, but my family comes a little ahead of it. I am lucky that in our country it is fully true that the theater unites us. My son also plays with me in the ensemble. The latter subscribed to information technologies, but he is not absent at any premiere or performance. The husband often helped in the production and realization of the scene, or in the production of props. My two nieces, my brother and sister-in-law are also members of the group. I like to read a good book and watch an interesting movie or attend a theater performance. Honestly? Other than that, I don't really need time...

So theater is just your hobby? Did you never want to do it professionally?

I am professionally engaged in non-professional theater. My great admiration belongs to all professional actors and theater creators. We, non-professionals, volunteers, probably have more freedom and can decide for ourselves about the selection and the way of performing the performances. We can "tailor a theater play."

But sleep with Mothers, has the theater achieved any success in the past?

The Materinky Theater regularly participates in various competitions, parades, and festivals with nationwide scope. But our performances were also seen by the audience in České Budejovice, in Telč, we also played in a professional Slovak theater in Báčské Petrovec, Serbia, or at our friends' in Pivnica, Serbia, or in Hungary. Achievements include awards at regional shows (Where there's a greasy spot, there's no cancer there, Fairy-tale Astrology), National shows Theater and Children in Rimavská Sobota (Scarecrow, Piggy, As a Rabbit Went to Africa) or a nomination for an award at the Central European Festival of Humor and Satire on Kremnické gags (Clowns and carousel).

Well, that's really respectable. Which performances are the most close to your heart personally?

All performances of Materineki are my favorite. Several talented people also took turns directing the performances. Successful performances were directed by, for example, Peter Chrenko (The Little Witch, Scarecrow), Norika Radičová (Knot and Thread at Pletušky), Braňo Pažitný (Thumbnail, Thumbelina's Adventures), Mirko Demín (Devils and Ducks), Viktor Vincze (Fairy-tale Astrology). In recent years, we have had our own court director in the person of Val Kozaňák, who is also the author of the music for the performances of the Mothers. He directed the very successful performances Cirkus Šupitó under the marquee, How a hare traveled to Africa, Where there is a greasy stain, there is no cancer.

And what are you planning with the theater in the near future?

In the period closest to the 40th anniversary of the Materinka Theater and the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Leisure Center in Šala, we are preparing the premiere of a musical fairy-tale show for children, but also for adults. It will be Pinocchio.

Pinocchio is definitely a big challenge. Do you stick faithfully to Carlo Collodi's book template?

We read the stories of Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi, but besides the beautiful story of the wooden puppet and his father, we added the story of the street, we wrote the story of the Fox and the Cat, in addition to the whale, the children will see another beautiful sea creature... I can't reveal more, maybe even that that Valo Kozaňák will be the director of the show and the composer of the music, I wrote the script in collaboration with Vlad Dubeň and Valo For Kozaňák, the stage and costumes are designed by young artists Peter Holík and his girlfriend Mya...

That sounds interesting. When can we look forward to the premiere?

The premiere should be in May 2018. We are now finishing the script, which already has the fifth version, and the creative designs of the scene and costumes. There are already several beautiful songs and musical motifs in the world.

And aren't you afraid that such classic fairy tales will no longer interest today's children?

Children like fairy tales, stories that are magical, magical, mysterious, but also funny or sad. They don't think about whether the fairy tale is classic or modern or timeless. They are very perceptive and sincere. Right from the beginning of the meeting with the child audience, you can feel whether the story and the method of implementation have interested them. Their greatest asset is their amazing imagination and their world in which everything is possible. In one of our last performances, we used only bed sheets, cooking pots, pots and we traveled with them in a flying balloon all over Africa with a brave rabbit, a monkey, a lion, a parrot, a crocodile... In Pinocchio there will be puppets, music, songs, dance , but also elements of black theater. Someone said that theater is derived from the word "to watch". So it will definitely be our effort to interest the children so that they really have something to look at, but that each of them becomes a Pinocchio who aspires to become a real boy.

We'll keep our fingers crossed that it goes well. Are you planning any other performances after the premiere, either in Šala or somewhere else?

Materinky have an average of almost fifty shows per year. After the premiere, Pinocchio and I will definitely go to the children's audience, to festivals or parades.

Finally, I would like to ask what this beautiful and certainly very demanding activity means to you? Is it possible to describe in words why you have devoted yourself to it all your life?

He can't. Or something like this: Everything, nothing, up, down, a lot, a little, yesterday, today, tomorrow and even after that...

The interview was prepared by: Vladimír Dubeň

Back to blog