216
UDC 82.09-2:792.071.2.027  
UDC 792.071.2.027:82.09-2  
DOI 10.51937/Amfiteater-2022-1/216-232
The article discusses the role of the playwright in contemporary site-specific drama and 
the role of the director of site-specific performance. The study aims at three main areas: 
the author’s drama based on the recent history of the 20
th
 century; the performative 
potential of the commonness and of oral history; and contemporary site-specific drama. As 
a playwright, the author focuses on the memories of witnesses and socially taboo topics. 
As a theatre director, she examines approaches for transforming into theatrical language 
the memory of place, the collection of data from oral history and burning issues. She looks 
at the relations between playwrights and site-specific performance. She observes the 
links among the topic, communication means and non-theatrical places.
This qualitative longitudinal art research is based on experience from theatre practice, 
analysis and comparison of theoretical knowledge. The author gives examples of authorial 
plays and reports on their productions, specifically stating these dramas: Midnight in the 
Borderland (3. /4. 5. 1950, a monastery), Three Chairs (Alzheimer’s disease, a retirement 
home), From Majdalenka to Madla (World War II, cellar), Hotel on the Corner (1932–1989, 
old theatre building).
The study emphasises the need for a creative and attentive approach by the author, 
playwright, dramaturg and director to create a whole new world from the duality: ordinary 
and taboo. It turns out that the combination of a strong theme, an unusual place tied to 
the topic of the drama, and the participatory role (active/passive) of the audience can be 
an effective strategy and even “tactic” in strengthening the role of the author in drama 
after the year 2000.
Keywords: playwright, author’s drama, site-specific drama, oral history

217
Hana Strejčková graduated from the Prague Academy of Performing Arts, majoring in 
dramaturgy and directing at the Department of Drama Theatre. She studied physical 
theatre at the Jacques Lecoq International Theatre School in Paris and graduated from 
the Pascale Lecoq Scenography Studio L.E.M. She is currently a doctoral student and 
teacher in the Department of Nonverbal Theatre at HAMU in Prague. Her dramatic work 
builds on memories of the 20
th
 century, based on oral history with witnesses. As a theatre 
director, she collaborates with the National Theatre in Prague (Laterna magika). She is 
a co-founder of the FysioART art association, which aims at reminiscence theatre and 
interactive nonverbal theatre for children and young people, including theatre for early 
years. As a researcher, she collaborates with the Theatre Institute in Prague. She is a 
member of the Committee of the Czech Centre ASSITEJ, a full member of the Association 
of Czech Theatre Critics and the Association of Theatre Teachers.
kozova01@st.amu.cz 

218
Site-Specific Author’s Drama
1
Hana Strejčková, 
Department of Nonverbal Theatre, HAMU, Prague
The study focuses on the syncrèse of site-specific performance, authorial theatre and 
oral history. After an introduction to the socio-historical context and terminological 
definition of the area, it expresses the basic questions that serve as pillars of the 
mind map of the investigated phenomenon. The terms are elaborated on examples 
of specific site-specific performances – authorial theatrical, dramatic projects, i.e., 
site-specific dramas. It turns out that the dramaturgical-spatial symbiosis benefiting 
from the transcendence of the traditional theatrical framework has the potential to 
deepen the audience experience, especially thanks to the decomposition of the theme 
into many layers and subsequently their synthesis on a new scale, with different 
depth and focalisation concerning a particular place. The text does not infer universal 
rules or templates for site-specific drama but points to processuality, the breadth of 
multidisciplinary range, and creative possibilities.
About the Author’s Approach
Since the 1960s, the forms of action art, happenings, performances, body art, land 
art, situationism, para-theatrical events and other related activities in atypical 
environments, industrial spaces or in nature began to appear in Czechoslovakia 
mainly on the initiative of artists and theatre-makers to develop the concept of a total 
artwork. Artists spontaneously left institutional galleries, followed people into the 
streets, parks and courtyards of apartment buildings, searched for abandoned spaces 
and paid attention to the openness of art. The artist Vladimír Boudník in the early 
1960s, for example, had a major influence on the development of the happening in the 
Czech Republic. His actions on the streets of Prague were significant when he showed 
passers-by that art is all around us for every ordinary thing. He drew attention to 
abraded plaster, to peeling places where he saw new shapes. He also used the frames 
he placed in public places to make their poetics visible. In the 1980s, for example, 
a key event in the informal art scene in Prague was the Malostranské dvorky event. 
These site-specific installations, art interventions in public space or non-plot theatre 
1 This study was created at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague (HAMU) with the support of specific university 
research provided by the Ministry of Education and with the support of the Theatre Institute in Prague in 2021.

219 projects were close to the then young generation of artists and sculptors (e.g., Jiří 
Sozanský, Eva Fuková, (Čestmír Suška, Kolotoč Art Theatre, etc.). Not only did they 
exhibit works of art, but they also worked with masks and puppets, experimented 
with shadows, and generally approached the space in completely unique ways. 
The tendency to restructure and redefine the arts grew stronger from within, and 
initiatives of this type, including theatrical and experimental forms, visibly began to 
break out of the established frame of reference. Alternative theatrical concepts were 
formed. The relationships to shared experience and collective creation were also 
renewed in the sense of the importance of the participatory role of the spectator, that 
is, the interaction with the audience, and to purist physicality, that is, a strong physical 
presence, experimentation was carried out at the limit of mental and physical forces. 
Originality was developed as a search for the distinctiveness of theatrical language; 
the textual structure was loosened with the aim of touching authenticity. Kazimierz 
Braun theoretically unified efforts to grasp the reformation of artistic territory in the 
publication The Second Reform of Theatre. On the articulation of space, he argued that 
it is desirable to perceive space and examine it not only as a tool for the realisation 
of our theme but, above all, so that the space itself initiates us on how to grasp it 
and “what” to put into it. Theatre researcher Andrzej T. Wirth introduced the term 
postdramatic theatre in 1987, and Hans-Thies Lehmann published his book of the 
same name at the end of the 1990s. Erika Fischer-Lichte called the transition to a 
non-narrative and non-staging event a performative turn. With the developing 
tendencies of European theatre, freeing itself from ordinary conventional spaces 
and the domination of the text, a wave of authorial approaches grew. Czech theatre 
researcher Jan Císař called this wave the creation of an autonomous reality of the 
stage (9). “Thus, since the 1990s (and more broadly since the 1960s), there has been a 
‘reteatralization’ and de-literalization of theatre and its connection with performative 
forms of dance, music and physical theatre” (Augustová 13). Dramaturg Miloslav 
Klíma believes: “In the last century, the development of dramaturgy in accordance 
with the development of the theatre as a whole can basically be characterised as a 
transformation from the dramaturgy of titles to the dramaturgy of themes” (37). The 
initial dramaturgical motif for artistic activity can be the space itself, the identity of 
the place and the issue of the locality.
In the past, the authorial theatre was usually a type of theatre that worked with 
original texts. There was not much distinction between literary/dramatic authorship 
and the authorship of the production. According to professor Císař, the term “author” 
meant the personal attitude of an actor, performer or dancer. “Everything they 
perform is only their own, most personal manifestation” (106). Nowadays, however, 
the term authorial theatre can also refer to the fact that “this theatre is an expression 
of a distinctive, unique opinion and attitude of its creators to more general issues of 

220 social events or a certain feeling of life” (Kovalčuk 6). However, it does not necessarily 
have to be a generational statement, political theatre, “devised theatre”, or the 
abovementioned pure personal acting, but above all, an equalisation of all staging 
components, the origin of which can be not only the author, playwright, dramaturg 
but also a collective of artists of various professions who, with their creative approach, 
are looking for new starting points to grasp the chosen topic. “ And he doesn’t have 
to have literature [as a dramatic text] at all if it comes down to it, or he can treat 
it completely arbitrarily” (Císař 9). Contemporary authorial theatre in the context 
we are examining may not, but it can still return to the word, situation and dramatic 
principle. Moreover, it also returns to the text, even to drama, and its interpretation, 
dramatic situations and role-playing.
The position of a dramatic text within the aforementioned theatrical systems 
can change through circumstances, from the superior to the equal to its complete 
marginalisation. For example, in some instances, great emphasis is placed on 
movement scores as metaphorical parallels to the source text, i.e., the transformation 
of a word or text source into a non-verbal, non-linguistic means of expression is 
continued. Theatre researcher Josef Kovalčuk stated: “One’s own scenic creativity 
brings more independent, artistically distinctive values that are independent of the 
text level (which were not and could not have been at the level of the text) – which is 
related to the emphasis on the development of non-verbal means of expression and 
procedures connected with the search for new aesthetic possibilities of theatre and 
also with the search for distinctive theatricality as a means of new messages” (10). In 
this way, the text, the literary source, or even the drama can be put on an equal footing 
with the physical expression: see Jerzy Grotowski’s “poor” theatre or the teaching 
method of the theatre pedagogue Jacques Lecoq. After all, we actually perceive 
space primarily through corporeality, movement and senses. Whether we stand still 
or express ourselves physically, we create tension, form a relationship and create a 
certain quality. The theatre researcher Jan Hyvnar broadened the concept of drama 
so that it was not “understood as narrowly specialised for the genre of drama and 
dramatic theatre, but rather as a basic existential category. We suppose that there is a 
tension between two forces, between necessity and freedom, between ‘I am acted’ and 
‘I am acting’” (102). Drama is generally a symbiosis of epic and lyrical, or objective and 
subjective, approach to a structured work, the prototype of which can be (and usually 
is) a story or narrative with a link to human history or universal existence. We can 
perceive drama as a sequence of situations, as a dramatic situation, or figuratively as a 
path that generates symbolic levels, reveals metaphorical images, acquires a mythical 
dimension and makes archetypal images may come to the surface. According to Jean-
Paul Sartre, who focuses on action and, within it, free choice, theatre is supposed to 
present “a simple, human situation and a free individuality in this situation, choosing 
what it wants to be” (Sartre 43). From the theatre, he demands a universal and extreme 

221 situation in which he rejects psychological motivation and fatefulness, but which 
encourages action, active search for solutions (by acting in a situation) to freedom 
and thus unifies the space of characters and spectators who become witnesses of the 
given situation. In his reflections on theatre, Jan Císař mentioned that he sees the 
essence of authorial theatre in an uncovered, naked and demonstrated distinctive 
approach to the world, art and people and characterises the author’s principle as a 
demonstration of his own relationship to a specific life situation.
Who, then, is the originator of “authorship” in contemporary authorial site-
specific theatre, and where does drama have its place? The director or dramaturg 
as creators of theatricality in its complexity? The author of the masterpiece in the 
sense of the author of a text, or a written structure as a “scaffolding” of the work, or 
a description of the movement libretto, or “only” an ideological delimitation of the 
area based on a memory, object, situation, etc.? A character acting in a situation or 
an actor dressed in a role (character, type, representative of the community, etc.)? 
The performative personality: is it a performer or a spectator? “The spectator can be 
alone, he can change the entire dramaturgy, initiate or take over the role – become 
the originator” (Václavová, Žižka 109). That is, the spectator as a self-agent, as well 
as the creators responsible for action, development and solving the situation in 
the space and in relation to it and the others. In authorial theatre, the hierarchy of 
creative approaches and expressive elements is naturally reorganised, but this does 
not necessarily eliminate the functional division of traditional roles and their content, 
such as the author, director, choreographer, composer, scenographer, performer, 
etc., nor does it disrupt the relationship to the dramatic text. With openness then 
inevitably comes the necessity of defining one’s own conception of theatricality 
and drama, distinctive poetics, and a unique artificial reality in which the individual 
components not only complement each other but are able to further relate and point 
to other circumstances and levels.
About Space
In the past, the theatre space was generally created to communicate the 
performance. “Postmodern theory focuses on space, place and status. Recall that 
Gilles Deleuze, for example, speaks not of a space as an area but of a spatia that carries 
an ordinal meaning. It is a space determined by relationships, and they always come 
from a place that belongs to a person in a position. […] In contemporary theatre 
and drama, more than ever before, the space and the position occupied in it become 
the bearer of meaning and its raison d´etre” (Gajdoš 101–102). The conventional 
division into stages and auditoriums in the abovementioned history, but especially 

222 from the 1960s and more dynamically since the 1990s, is disrupted by new scenic 
situations and by searching for unusual scenography solutions. The experienced 
phenomenon of the interdisciplinary character of site-specific performance is not 
perceived today mainly as an artistic, architectural, scenography intervention in 
space generating an aesthetic experience but as a comprehensive view of place 
(memory of place), people (beings) and things connected or related with it. It strives 
for uniqueness, artistic quality and appealing dimension in the social (historical, 
political, activist, etc.) context and relations in general. In the Czech environment, 
this type of theatrical production is also described as a theatre in a public or non-
traditional space. For example, the conquest of space is discussed in connection 
with Jerzy Grotowski’s concept. However, it was not until the 1990s, also following 
the example of the foreign ensembles Beweth, Dogtroep or Gob Squad, that 
the theatre became an organic part of the public space. Outbreaks took place in 
industrial localities, such as the ČKD hall in Prague, a former printing house, sewage 
treatment plant or factory hall, and in non-functional schools or at the railway 
station in Pilsen and elsewhere. In Prague in 1996, on the initiative of artists and 
active theorists in the field of site-specific performance, the 4 + 4 Days in Motion 
festival was established and soon became the flagship of alternative art forms 
in a non-theatrical environment. Each year of the festival is related to a specific 
place, such as the building of the former Federal Assembly, a sports stadium or the 
Prague Zoo and many others. In a collective monography devoted to the theatre in 
a non-traditional space, Roman Černík believes that site-specific in theatre theory 
“indicates theatre, theatrical path, a methodology that wants to be consciously 
in contact with a specific environment with all its qualities, uniqueness, but also 
with its history and conflicts. The site-specific approach is based on exploring the 
possibilities of a specific environment (place, building) through artistic creation” 
(Václavová, Žižka 88). In these cases, there is often a purposeful spatial solution, 
in which a defined area for play and a separate seating area for spectators do 
not automatically arise. Often the boundaries (traditionally perceived theatrical 
ramp) are blurred, and watching the action from a standing position, in walking 
or from close to intimate proximity is often related to the poetics of the work, 
i.e., they are an integral part of the concept and subsequently play a key role in 
creating an artistic experience. The creators consciously work with the properties 
of space, such as mutual distance, the direction of the observer’s view, thermal and 
olfactory comfort, and visibility, because both the theme, the action and everything 
that surrounds the spectator and what touches him (metaphorically and directly) 
becomes one of the primary levels of the author’s approach to the communication 
of the topic and shapes the observer’s perception. “In non-traditional spaces, there 
is an emphasis on the chosen topic and its articulation about the specific addressees 
of a particular place. Associativity, decomposing the original source based on even 

223 free associations, forms a new composition. This is necessary, especially in non-
traditional spaces, in the variant of searching for topics, the essence of the place and 
social, cultural and other contexts” (Klíma 47).
Paradoxically, even with countless reruns or longitudinal concepts, site-specific 
performance is a unique event in many details and respects and in every moment, 
even while attempting to strict adherence to the structure of the work in all its 
components. “Site-specific unites everything – the interest of artists in the outdoor 
space in which they live, in archaeology and environmental history, in their own 
body, activating the spectator, relativizing the division of space into auditoriums 
and stages, uniqueness and authenticity, mixing disciplines, using new technologies, 
etc.” (Václavová, Žižka 98). The situation includes not only the performer-actor but 
also the visitor, observer, participant, observer fit into the position of a witness of 
events, an executor of the will of the creators, a self-deciding actor in the intentions 
of the format. There are specifics here, including the so-called extra-theatrical 
theatricality, which is related to scenology, the monitoring of phenomena that are 
expected to be scenic and dramatic (Valenta 81). The spectator, who observes what 
is happening around him actively or only from a distance, creates other relationships 
and connotations with his presence and sometimes even engagement. The theatre 
researcher Július Gajdoš reflects in more detail on the role of the spectator 
in postmodern theatre: 
In this type of theatre, the spectator becomes the protagonist. Its place inside is part of 
the show and is one of its components. The theatre of the event requires from him full 
participation and personal acceptance of the principles of the given direction. He thus 
becomes an actor of mundaneness, so that in everyday life he may discover its uniqueness, 
authenticity, and ultimately its essence, and thus its holiness (Gajdoš, Postmodern 21).
About Memories
A qualitative research method of oral history appeared in the domestic environment 
in the 1960s. However, we can talk about the broad-spectrum use of the method only 
from the post-revolutionary 1990s, especially after the turn of our millennium. Of 
course, the transmission of memories, stories and records of historical events has 
taken place since the ages. However, just as book printing significantly helped to 
spread the written word, in the second half of the 20
th
 century, the invention of the 
tape recorder developed the principles of oral history. Suddenly, the availability of 
recorded speech, which humanises historical events, proved to be absolutely essential 
– it more easily conveys the atmosphere of the time and draws attention to the 
importance of individual experience. The pioneer of oral history as a socio-historical 

224 discipline in the Czech Republic is professor Miroslav Vaněk. As early as 1990, for 
example, he showed an interest in archive recordings from the Velvet Revolution and 
actively sought out witnesses, as not all archives and documents from the previous 
period were available. Interviews with narrators complemented and even replaced 
many sources. 
I perceive the memories of the witnesses for the author’s theatrical work – the 
dramaturgical line of the reminiscence theatre – as a fundamental impulse and 
subsequently a source of inspiration as well as space, often in a direct relationship 
between space and the witness. Narrating memories carries emotions, recalls 
motivations for behaviour and actions and focuses on essential details of the reality 
of that time, character-forming aspects and the socio-historical context.
In 2016, when we were preparing the production titled From Majdalenka to Madla, 
it turned out that compared to the historical facts about the suffering of abandoned 
children during World War II, more telling were the objects and photographs used 
either directly from the witnesses or the placeholder objects inspired by their 
stories and the place of performance. The old wooden spools that resonated most 
in this production were, on a symbolic level, the unfolding thread of the story, the 
torn umbilical cord, the wires of the concentration camp, even the handlebars of the 
bicycle, etc. The story’s main heroine was a baby (depicted on a symbolic level just 
by a thread spool) that the mother spontaneously put away in the house after the 
Gestapo called on the family to transport. We situated the creative process in the 
dilapidated building of a former village inn. Then we staged the performance not only 
there but also in cellars, abandoned industrial spaces, in the ruins of the castle, in 
the chapels. The choice of space for reruns had to be closely related to the narrative, 
always with one of the places that provided the child with temporary protection (a 
house, a monastery, a country farm, etc.). The audience watched the life journey of the 
child and their rescuers, i.e. the journey for life, and gradually they could join, share 
bread, warm up by an actual fire, darken the windows with us, etc. With the audience 
participation, we assumed (offered) involvement on the level of belonging. Our goal 
was not to confront the opposing sides in the war but to expand the circle of helpful 
people (out of compassion, conviction, faith, etc.), or at least actively present what they 
themselves thought about their own motivations to help and the courage to risk their 
health or life to save someone else’s life. Thus, the dramatic situation in its classical 
form took place not only on the stage but also significantly among the audience.
A year later, we focused on the history of a place in the Czech-German-Polish 
borderlands. The production Hotel on the Corner was based on a collection of 
stories of witnesses connected with the town of Varnsdorf and their belongings, 
including clothes, photographs and building materials from 1932 to 1989. The 

225 border zone still copes with the stigmas of history, such as the mutual displacement 
of the Sudetenland, the post-war decay of buildings and the theft of property, social 
decline, crime, national discord, poverty, etc. Therefore, the performance was 
situated in the local unreconstructed theatre building from the 1950s. The reason 
for choosing the theatre building took into account the fact that the original hotel 
on the corner succumbed to demolition. The main guides to the events became the 
hotel receptionist, maid and reporter of the daily newspapers. Through them, space-
time was transformed, history progressed chronologically, and the spectators, like 
all other actors, became guests of the hotel or local residents. They were put in 
situations, usually socio-political, such as leaving the place due to the expulsion of 
German residents or whether to participate or refuse to participate in the strike and 
watch the nationalisation.
During the same period culminated the process of preparing a performance, which 
used artistic means to approach the individual phases of Alzheimer’s disease. The 
playwright’s work here involved not only collecting memories (from clients and 
their relatives, informal caregivers and workers, especially direct care workers in a 
residential facility) but also, above all, participating in observing and communicating 
with clients and in training in caring for a person suffering from memory 
impairment. As part of this qualitative research survey, I became a part-time employer 
in a home with a residential service and developed a concept in direct contact with 
clients. The production Three Chairs has been staged more than fifty times in many 
places in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Most often, these were specific spaces in 
residential facilities where the authenticity, proximity and comprehensibility of the 
communicated levels were guaranteed. At the same time, it blurred the distinction 
between actors, caregivers and clients. In addition to the emotional impact and 
aesthetic experience, the theatrical form served to break down barriers for a moment 
and fundamentally influenced the view of the disease and the care of a person losing 
cognitive abilities.
In 2018, as the author of the project, I participated in creating a collection of memories 
of witnesses to the past century. The publication entitled 222 and 2 Stories of the 20
th
 
Century became an inspiring basis for subsequent dramatic work. The mention of the 
persecution of nuns and clergy in the 1950s became the core of two productions: 
The Nuns and Midnight in the Borderlands. The production of The Nuns was created 
in accessible monastery premises in the Hoješín area in the Vysočina Region. On the 
timeline of one human life, it elaborated the fate of the Franciscan spiritual order 
under the domination of totalitarian systems. The reruns, usually realised in sacral 
spaces, did not force audience participation based on a relationship with the Church 
but appealed to a moral civic (human) attitude.

226 In the case of the production Midnight in the Borderland, which premièred in 2019, 
the performative potential of the actual events of 1951 was developed by classical 
staging procedures with the director’s authority in collaboration with the dramaturg 
and composer. However, even in such a tight work, there was room for the author’s 
contribution of all participants, witnesses and creators. The piece Midnight in 
the Borderland became a turning point in the repertoire of the theatre of reminiscence, 
as it was a symbiosis of the memory of the place (Monastery in the Loreto complex in 
Rumburk), oral history (testimonies of witnesses and historians), taboo (evacuation of 
the monastery by Secret Police and the issue of displacement of Czechs and expulsion 
of Germans from the border). The original material for the two main characters of 
the drama was taken over. The other roles crystallised through a synthesis of details 
from chronicles, archives, memories and own feelings from the place itself. After 
preparatory, synthetic-analytical work with the collected data, the dramatic text 
was written in the monastery cloister and the church. The original drama was 
created in which each of the characters solves his dramatic situation against the 
background of a cold environment (literally, a church, cloister, chapel of the Holy 
Steps / metaphorically, the period after World War II), of relentless night time – 
seventy minutes remain until the evacuation of the monastery premises (nationwide 
disruption of monasteries and arrests of clergy). 
At the same time, the dichotomy of morality and ego of individual characters is 
revealed. Like the author who originally wrote there, the spectators are placed in 
church pews and become witnesses of the events, while the plot takes place not 
only in front but all around them, below and above them, even in parallels. Spatio-
temporal intertwining sharpens perception, diversifies attention, and increases 
the level of emotional experience. It continuously and unevenly disrupts intimate, 
personal and public space. The degree of participation – active observation – is then 
individual but, of course, undemanding. Drama – a dramatic situation is constantly 
mixed with dramatic events. In front of the spectator, whether demanding “art” or an 
occasional one, there is a complicated but also complex and, at the same time, action-
packed view of a section of history and human destinies brought to them under the 
circumstances in one place at the same time. And yet, as with outdoor productions, 
there is an opportunity to leave the area. In this situation, the spectator’s decision 
can turn into the actions of a witness of the event or a participant in the story. The 
spectator has the right to intervene – to stand up to a theatrical convention and 
act in the interest of his moral convictions, whether to defend the character or the 
space itself. The site-specific drama thus clearly enhances the role of the follower in 
the active observer. However, the follower can also take a passive, observational and 
even dismissive attitude of one’s own free will. The reruns of the production Midnight 
in the Borderland took place both in the original space and in “foreign” churches and 
monasteries at the request of festivals and organisers. The paradox of the project is 

227 that these events took place not only in Catholic stalls but also in evangelical or Old 
Catholic churches, not only in the Czech environment but also in Germany in German 
translation and with a mixed cast.
Conclusion
In my study, despite the mention of the importance of processuality and creativity, I try 
to confirm the hypothesis that the combination of genius loci – a space with charisma 
and the resulting strong theme – a close connection with the local community and 
the participatory role (active/passive observer) can be an effective strategy (tactics) 
in strengthening the role of the author in dramatic production after the year 2000. 
Therefore, the basic preconditions are an open creative approach through which 
the author or author team breaks stereotypes and seeks new solutions emanating 
from space, grasps the topic initially and encourages text in direct relation to place and 
creators. Therefore, empathy for the space, a generally burning problem and a strong 
feeling for the emergence of a distinctive symbiosis of all components of theatrical 
form are important, whether we call it site-specific drama, event or any other way 
differently. Thanks to the aspects described above, the site-specific author’s drama 
has a demonstrable potential to appeal to such audience groups for whom a visit to a 
classical theatre or a production based on a dramatic text is unthinkable. “It offers an 
alternative to those who do not go to the theatre or exhibitions, either because they 
are bored with current cultural events or do not like the conventional ones in theatres 
and galleries. Site-specific-art will come to them on its own – in the square, in vehicles, 
in their jobs, in their streets or villages, in their homes” (Václavová, Žižka 87).
Moreover, such a spectator can often decide for oneself whether to receive 
such type of communication (art) or whether to interrupt one’s monitoring or 
participation. The attractiveness of the format also includes the question of the 
spectator’s freedom. A specific theatricality characterises such an event, i.e., 
ideally, a new visual-auditory language, a world created in the original (natural) 
environment, whether as an illusion of its reality or reality itself. The space and 
its theme, magnified under a magnifying glass, can make taboo areas accessible by 
artistic means as well as a theatrical art in general, generating new knowledge, an 
aesthetic experience, activating impulse. The territory of contemporary drama in 
the context of site-specific performance is very open and, simultaneously, limited, 
like its creators, space, audiences and their mutual relations.

228
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specific: současné tendence [Theatre in non-traditional space, performance and site 
specific: current tendencies], edited by Václav Cílek and Radoslava Schmelzová, 
AMU, 2010, pp. 37–47.
Kovalčuk, Josef. Téma: autorské divadlo [Topic: author’s theater]. JAMU, 2009.
Sartre, Jean-Paul. “For a Theatre of Situations.” Modern Theories of Drama, Oxford, 
1998, p. 43.
Václavová, Denisa and Tomáš Žižka. “Site-specific – hledání jiného prostoru” [Site-
specific – search for another space]. Divadlo v netradičním prostoru, performance a 
site specific: současné tendence [Theatre in non-traditional space, performance and 
site specific: current tendencies], edited by Cílek, Václav and Radoslava Schmelzová, 
AMU, 2010, pp. 87–109.
Valenta, Josef. Divadlo nebo život! aneb Metafora divadla jako prostředek poznávání. 
[Theatre or life! Or The Metaphor of Theatre as a Means of Cognition]. KANT – AMU, 
2019.



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Prispevek obravnava vlogo dramatikov v sodobni ambientalni drami ter vlogo režiserjev 
ambientalnih uprizoritev. Raziskava se osredotoča na tri poglavitna področja: na avtorsko 
dramo, ki temelji na novejši zgodovini dvajsetega stoletja; na performativni potencial 
skupnosti in ustne zgodovine ter na sodobno ambientalno dramo. Kot dramatičarka se 
avtorica osredotoča na spomine in družbene tabujske teme, kot režiserka pa raziskuje 
pristope, kako spomine na kraje, zbirke podatkov iz ustne zgodovine ter pereča vprašanja 
preoblikovati v gledališki jezik. Preučuje razmerja med dramatiki in ambientalnimi 
uprizoritvami. Opazuje povezave med temo, sredstvi komunikacije in negledališkimi 
prostori. Longitudinalna kvalitativna umetniška raziskava temelji na izkušnjah iz gledališke 
prakse, analizi in primerjavi teoretskega znanja. Avtorica navaja primere avtorskih iger 
in poročil o njihovih uprizoritvah, konkretno gre za naslednje drame: Polnoč v obmejnem 
prostoru (3./4. maj 1950, samostan), Trije stoli (Alzheimerjeva bolezen, dom upokojencev), 
Od Majdalenke do Madle (druga svetovna vojna, klet) in Hotel na vogalu (1932–1989, stara 
gledališka stavba).
Raziskava izpostavlja potrebo po ustvarjalnem in pozornem pristopu avtorjev – dramatikov, 
dramaturgov in režiserjev – da lahko iz dualnosti običajnega in tabujskega ustvarijo 
povsem nov svet. Kombinacija močne teme, nenavadne lokacije, povezane s temo drame, 
in participativne vloge (aktivne/pasivne) občinstva se lahko izkaže za učinkovito strategijo 
in celo za »taktiko« krepitve avtorjeve vloge v drami po letu 2000.
Ključne besede: dramatiki, avtorska drama, ambientalna drama, ustna zgodovina
Hana Strejčková je diplomirala na Oddelku za dramsko gledališče na Akademiji scenskih 
umetnosti v Pragi, smer dramaturgija in režija. Na Mednarodni gledališki šoli Jacquesa 
Lecoqa v Parizu je študirala fizično gledališče in diplomirala v Scenografskem studiu Pascale 
Lecoq L.E.M. Trenutno je doktorska študentka in predavateljica na Oddelku za neverbalno 
gledališče na prej omenjeni akademiji v Pragi. Kot dramatičarka dela gradi na podlagi 
spominov na dvajseto stoletje, ki temeljijo na ustni zgodovini prič. Kot gledališka režiserka 
sodeluje z Narodnim gledališčem v Pragi (Laterna magika), je tudi soustanoviteljica 
umetniškega združenja FysioART, ki se posveča reminiscenčnemu gledališču ter 
interaktivnemu neverbalnemu gledališču. Kot raziskovalka sodeluje z Gledališkim inštitutom 
v Pragi. Je tudi članica odbora Češkega centra ASSITEJ in polnopravna članica Združenja 
čeških gledaliških kritikov ter Združenja gledaliških učiteljev.
kozova01@st.amu.cz

231
Ambientalna avtorska drama
Hana Strejčková 
Oddelek za neverbalno gledališče, Akademija scenskih umetnosti, Praga
Raziskava se osredotoča na sinkretizem avtorskega gledališča, ambientalnega 
uprizarjanja in ustne zgodovine. Še posebej obravnava tri področja: avtorsko 
dramo, ki temelji na novejši zgodovini dvajsetega stoletja; performativni potencial 
skupnosti in ustne zgodovine ter sodobno ambientalno dramo. Globinsko pretrese 
vlogo dramatikov v sodobni ambientalni drami ter vlogo režiserjev v ambientalnih 
uprizoritvah. Odpira tudi vprašanja o tem, kdo pravzaprav je dramatik in ali je to ista 
oseba kot režiser ali dramaturg ali pa gre za avtorski kolektiv – ustvarjalno ekipo.
Kdo je vir »avtorstva« v sodobnem avtorskem ambientalnem gledališču in kako se 
v ta okvir umešča drama? Je to režiser ali dramaturg kot ustvarjalec gledališkosti v 
vsej njeni kompleksnosti? Ali avtor mojstrovine v smislu avtorja besedila ali napisane 
strukture kot »ogrodja« dela ali opisa gibalnega libreta ali »zgolj« ideološke omejitve 
področja, ki temelji na spominu, predmetu, situaciji itd.? Prispevek opisuje tudi 
razmerja med avtorstvom, interpretacijo besedila ali kako drugače estetsko obdelanim 
gradivom, v dobršni meri pa osvetljuje tudi dramaturško-režijski koncept glede na 
specifično prizorišče. Razvija idejo, ki že vse od šestdesetih let prejšnjega stoletja, bolj 
dinamično pa od devetdesetih let, razbija konvencionalno delitev na oder in avditorij 
s pomočjo novih prizorišč in z iskanjem novih, neobičajnih scenografskih rešitev pa 
tudi neobičajnih krajev, kakršni so na primer tovarne, zapuščene železniške postaje, 
kleti ipd. Avtorica v raziskavi zagovarja tezo, da prostorsko-časovno prepletanje izostri 
gledalčevo zaznavo, diverzificira pozornost in poviša raven čustvenega doživljanja. S 
tem nenehno in nesomerno prekinja intimni, osebni in javni prostor.
Po uvodu v družbenozgodovinski kontekst in terminološko definicijo področja 
prispevek navede osnovna vprašanja, ki služijo kot temelji za miselni vzorec 
preučevanega pojava, omeni povezave med temo, sredstvi komunikacije in 
negledališkimi prostori. Termine nadalje natančneje pojasni s pomočjo primerov 
določenih uprizoritev, vezanih na konkretni prostor – avtorskih gledaliških in 
dramskih projektov, se pravi ambientalnih dram. Longitudinalna kvalitativna 
umetniška raziskava temelji na izkušnjah iz gledališke prakse, analizi in primerjavi 
teoretskega znanja. Kot dramatičarka se avtorica osredotoča na spomine ter 
družbene tabujske teme, kot režiserka pa raziskuje pristope, kako spomine na kraje, 

232 zbirke podatkov iz ustne zgodovine in pereča vprašanja preoblikovati v gledališki 
jezik. Pripovedovanje spominov je nabito s čustvi, spomni pa tudi z motivacijo 
za določeno obnašanje in dejanje, osredotoča se na pomembne podrobnosti iz 
resničnosti tedanjega časa, na vidike, ki oblikujejo značaj, ter na družbenozgodovinski 
kontekst. Avtorica navaja primere avtorskih dram, ki temeljijo na ustni zgodovini, in 
poroča o njihovih uprizoritvah, posebej navaja naslednje ambientalne drame: Polnoč 
v obmejnem prostoru (nanaša se na datum 3./4. maj 1950, umeščena je v samostan 
in cerkev), Trije stoli (obravnava čustvene pasti Alzheimerjeve bolezni, umeščena je 
v dom upokojencev), Od Majdalenke do Madle (nanaša se na drugo svetovno vojno, 
umeščena je v klet) in Hotel na vogalu (nanaša se na obdobje med letoma 1932 in 1989, 
umeščena je v staro gledališko stavbo). V besedilu omeni tudi povezane performativne 
in filozofske posledice, pri čemer se sklicuje na dela nekaterih najpomembnejših 
teoretikov (npr. Kazimierza Brauna, Jean-Paula Sartra, Hans-Thiesa Lehmanna, Erike 
Fischer-Lichte idr.) in poroča o razvoju performativnosti in fenomena ambientalnega 
gledališča v Češki republiki ter potemtakem tudi v nekdanji Češkoslovaški. Med 
lokalnimi teoretiki in praktiki navaja Jana Hyvnarja, Jana Císařa, Denisa Václavová, 
Tomáša Žižko, Romana Černíka idr.
Izkaže se, da dramaturško-prostorska simbioza, oplemenitena s preseganjem 
tradicionalnih gledaliških okvirov (se pravi dramskih situacij, ki se nenehno mešajo 
z dramatičnimi dogodki, preseganjem konvencionalnih meja itd.), ima potencial, da 
poglobi gledalsko izkušnjo, še posebej zaradi razgrajevanja teme na številne plasti 
in posledično sinteze na neki novi ravni, z drugačno globino in žariščem v odnosu do 
specifičnega prostora. Besedilo ne podaja dokončnih univerzalnih pravil ali šablon za 
ambientalno dramo, temveč kaže v smeri procesualnosti, širine večdisciplinarnega 
razpona in ustvarjalnih zmožnosti. 
Raziskava poudarja potrebo po ustvarjalnem in pozornem pristopu avtorjev – 
dramatikov, dramaturgov in režiserjev – da lahko iz dualnosti običajnega in tabujskega 
ustvarijo povsem nov svet. Kombinacija močne teme, nenavadne lokacije, povezane 
s temo drame, in participativne vloge (aktivne/pasivne) občinstva se lahko izkaže za 
učinkovito strategijo in celo za »taktiko« krepitve avtorjeve vloge v drami po letu 2000.