Theatre
Polnočná omša
Not translated into English
Peter Karvaš · 1959
Synopsis
On Christmas Eve 1944, a few months after the crushing of the uprising, the Kubiš family sits down at table, seeking above all their safety. The son, Marián, commands the local guard, the daughter, Angela, falls for the German major Brecker who is lodging with them, and her husband Paľo wants to keep out of everything. During this evening vigil the youngest son appears, a wounded partisan who is being hunted, whose presence threatens the whole house and forces everyone to face their fears and their secrets.
Context
Written by a veteran of the 1944 Slovak National Uprising, the play, a drama in three acts and a prologue, appeared in 1960 with Slovenský spisovateľ. It sets the Christmas idyll against fascism and lays bare every character. Jiří Krejčík made a film from it in 1962, shot in Banská Štiavnica, Bratislava and Prague, which won a joint medal at Karlovy Vary and which the Slovak Film Institute has restored. Staged with success in Germany under the title Mitternachtsmesse, it was revived in 2022 at the Jozef Gregor Tajovský Theatre in Zvolen.
Who it is for
A dense, tightly knit play, which reads like a family chamber piece set over a single festive evening.
Prizes and reception
A play still performed today, and the starting point of a film awarded a medal at Karlovy Vary in 1962.