Sikora, Roman
*(1970)3.7. 1970
Roman Sikora got his PhD in dramaturgy and authorial drama from Janacek Academy of music and Performing Arts in Brno, under the guidance of Professor Bořivoj Srba. He has worked at lots of various fields, e.g. in a steel factory or as a night shift receptionist at the Municipal theatre in Brno. He has been writing theatre reviews for a number of newspapers such as Literární noviny or Lidové noviny, as well as for Czech Radio and Svět a divadlo magazine. At the moment he lives in Prague and works as an editor for a newspaper called Referendum.
He is the author of a number of political and cultural essays and short pieces which can be designated “nonsense dramas”, and of plays for the theatre, some of which have been performed both at home and abroad. In 1998 he received second prize in the Alfréd Radok Awards for his play Sweeping Up Antigone. His play Confessions of a Masochist, which was written within the residential programme of the Centre for Contemporary Drama organized by the theatre Divadlo LETI, has been translated into several languages and successfully performed in Berlin and Paris.
Sikora can be characterised as an Angry Young Dramatist. His antipathy towards the totalitarian tendencies of the market system and subjection to the ideology of material bliss and all-embracing technology is built on the stirring strength of the word, which he often uses in provocative, surreal and unusual combinations. His approach as an author is expressed in the title of his key essay, New Definitive Quality, thanks to which – unlike Post-Modern verbosity, lack of certainty and chaos – he achieves a precise designation of the state in which we find ourselves.
List of plays (selection):
- Manžel Dituš, 1994
- Kočka na mráčku, 1994
- Sodomagomora, 1995, première 5.2.1996 Studio Marta, Brno
- Balada pro jednoho kance, 1995
- Tank, 1996, première říjen 1996 Východoslovenské divadlo, Košice, Slovensko
- Černá noc, 1996
- Smetení Antigony, 1997, première 6.4.2003 Studio Marta, Brno
- Vlci, 1997, première 17.12.1997 Divadlo Husa na provázku, Brno
- Krásná hra s jarními květy, 1997
- Sibiř, 1997
- Aut mori, 1997
- Nehybnost, 1998, première 12.12.1999 Divadlo Promiňte, klub Amfora, Praha
- Rozrazil 3/99, 1999, première 17.11.1999, Divadlo Husa na provázku, Brno
- Holomek z Prasnic, 1999,
- Opory společnosti, 2000, première 11.11.2001 Divadlo Na zábradlí, Praha (staged reading)
- Jitro kouzelníků, 2003, première 29.1.2006 Studio Marta, Brno
- Největší básník, 2004
- Včera to spustili, 2004
- Smrt talentovaného vepře, 2010, première 10.11. 2010 Drama-Panorama, Berlin (staged reading)
- Zpověď masochisty, 2011, première 26.1. 2011 Divadlo LETÍ a Švandovo divadlo, Praha
- Zmatek nad zmatek, 2011, première 24. 9. 2011 Divadlo Polárka, Brno
- Pohřbívání, 2012, première 6.6. 2012 Divadlo Feste, Brno
- Snídaně s Leviathanem, 2012
Translated plays:
- Smetení Antigony - Antigone weggefegt - German
- Zpověď masochisty – The Confession of a Masochist - English
- Zpověď masochisty - Bekenntnis eines Masochisten - German
- Zpověď masochisty – Confession d´un Masochiste - French
- Smrt talentovaného vepře – Tod Eines Talentierten Schweins - German