Blahoslav Uhlár

“There were some issues, but these were mostly being solved through the amateur court, because we performed such a work I prepared with them, which was called ‘So What’. It was quite progressive, pure postmodern art, very aggressive, almost without a text. It won the main prize in Hronov in 1988 and it was the time when communists were already much weaker, they were afraid of Gorbachev. I know that when we went to Martin, they went too. We traveled to the festival Scénická žatva (Scenic Harvest) and near Martin our bus was stopped by police. They found some technical problem and told us to go back home. I think all of this would most likely remember also Laco Bagadaj.” “Can you tell us who is Laco Bagadaj?” “Well, he´s already deceased, so I can. He was a deserved amateur actor leading the ensemble of Ján Chalúpka in Brezno. He used to be an ŠtB agent, an agent Laco, I guess. And they normally wanted to send the bus back home. Another paradox I tell you, there was and still is a very active member of our ensemble Milan Brežák. He came to the police officers and asked them: ‘What’s going on?’ And they replied: ‘It´s none of your business, who are you?’ He said: ‘I am a director of the Political Education House in Trnava,’ what he actually really was. He was a highly placed communist. So the policemen shitted themselves, called to ŠtB in Trnava and their colleagues told them to let us be. So we performed our play anyway. However, originally it was all arranged so that we weren´t allowed to perform. Those were exactly those wars when bastards fought bigger bastards, or the bigger ones fought against the smaller ones. No one can say it was somehow essential. Bagadaj was worried back then we would get the prize, since we had a beat and we shocked everyone. It was still just the nasty settling accounts.”

“I bitched about the communists, but I didn´t get involved in any activities, I wasn´t one of the heroes. Only in 1988 I dared to sign Několik vět petition (A Few Sentences), what was such a [...]. In the Voice of America then they read my name among those who had signed it. We performed the TANAP with amateurs at the first year of the Weekend of Attractive Theatre in Zvolen, what took place in nearby Sliač. It was in 1989 and probably we performed on November 18. On this day Ondrej Mrázek came there, he was supposed to perform with his colleague, but in the end he performed alone. He brought us news what happened the day before in Prague. So when we arrived to Bratislava afterwards, in the House of Artists (‘Umelka’) there was a meeting planned. I was there, although I hesitated if to take my toothbrush along. Just kidding […]. Kňažko was speaking, then Budaj, I don´t even remember it all, but they said we had to make a list of something, and so on. On Wednesday or Tuesday there were so many people present, that the place happened to be too small for such a meeting. The next ones were held at the square. I was very happy it all moved that much. I wasn´t active there, even though, I was aware of the fact, that if I wanted to enter the politics, it was the right time and place to do so. Fedor Gál said to all: ‘If you want, just come and we can work together.’ But I never dared to do politics and I knew it back then. Although, I was truly present at the very first meeting, as well as at the next ones, but never stood on the tribune. I had a great hope it all would change to better. 15 – 20 years it took me to understand that not much can change for real. Marián Ludacký, our theatre psychologist, yet in 1975 told me that it couldn´t change since the people weren´t able to change their minds. I was naive to think that if the regime falls, all the evil disappears as it was only communists who did it. I was completely naive when I expected them to resign from their functions. The same people ruling back then are there till now. And exactly how my father uselessly hoped; for instance we saw it with Čatloš… the spiritual climate that is still present here cannot change. It can gradually modify, but no one can ever change another person. So I ingenuously believed it could become better after the revolution. And there are many things better for sure, I wouldn´t like the regime to be returned, but really, the radical change of spiritual climate never occurred.”