Arena Theatre () is one of the oldest theatres in

Bratislava Bratislava (German: ''Pressburg'', Hungarian: ''Pozsony'') is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the Slovakia, Slovak Republic and the fourth largest of all List of cities and towns on the river Danube, cities on the river Danube. ...

. It was established in 1828 on the right bank of

Danube The Danube ( ; see also #Names and etymology, other names) is the List of rivers of Europe#Longest rivers, second-longest river in Europe, after the Volga in Russia. It flows through Central and Southeastern Europe, from the Black Forest sou ...

. In the beginning it served as an open summer

amphitheatre An amphitheatre (American English, U.S. English: amphitheater) is an open-air venue used for entertainment, performances, and sports. The term derives from the ancient Greek ('), from ('), meaning "on both sides" or "around" and ('), meani ...

, hence the name Arena. The current building was built in 1898. From its establishment till the end of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, many Hungarian,

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

n and

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

theatre companies performed there. After the war, the theatre was gradually closed and served as a storehouse for state-owned Slovak Television. The theatre was revived by a group of people around

mime A mime artist, or simply mime (from Greek language, Greek , , "imitator, actor"), is a person who uses ''mime'' (also called ''pantomime'' outside of Britain), the acting out of a story through body motions without the use of speech, as a the ...

artist Milan Sládek, opening performance took place in 1997. The repertoire consisted of several pantomimic performances, an annual pantomimic festival took place there. In 2003, renowned Slovak actor

Juraj Kukura Juraj Kukura (born 15 March 1947, in Prešov) is a Slovak actor. Kukura studied acting at the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava (VŠMU). In 1985, when he emigrated to West Germany, his films were banned in the Czechoslovak Socialist Re ...

became managing director and focus of the theatre shifted to drama. Performance '' The Goat or Who is Sylvia?''co-production with

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

-based The Drama Club was nominated for DOSKY Award 2004 in categories best performance and best director, Juraj Kukura and

Emília Vášáryová Emília Vášáryová, Doctor Artis Dramaticae ( hon.) (; born 18 May 1942) is a Slovak stage and screen actress, whom '' Variety'' and other publications refer to as the "First Lady of Slovak Theater". During a career of more than five decades ...

won the categories for best actor/actress. A year later, monodrama ''Tiso'' was voted the best performance.

Marián Labuda Marián Labuda (28 October 1944 – 5 January 2018) was a Slovak actor. He was born in Hontianske Nemce. In 1964, he graduated from the ''Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava'' (VŠMU). He became a member of the Slovak National Theatre ...

, who was performing

Jozef Tiso Jozef Gašpar Tiso (, ; 13 October 1887 – 18 April 1947) was a Slovaks, Slovak politician and Catholic priest who served as president of the Slovak Republic (1939–1945), First Slovak Republic, a client state of Nazi Germany during World War ...

, won the prize for best actor.

Notes

External links

Official site
{{Authority control Theatres in Bratislava Culture in Bratislava Buildings and structures in Bratislava Theatres completed in 1898