City Theatre

City Theatre (The Pavol Országh Hviezdoslav Theatre - DPOH) is an arts scene with its own repertoire, a place of important cultural and educational events and an open space for inventive artistic projects.

The DPOH programme structure consists of its own theatre titles, which are complemented by performances prepared in association with visiting theatres. The DPOH cycle offers drama and puppet theatre performances for children, as well as theatre plays for young people.

From September 2021, DPOH also provides its premises to the Arena Theatre over the period of reconstruction of their home stage.

History

• The Pavol Országh Hviezdoslav Theatre (DPOH) is located in the former Slovak National Bank building on the corner of Laurinská and Štúrová Streets, built in 1943 - 1947.
• When the building was assigned to the Slovak National Theatre (SND) in 1948, it began its transformation to a theatre. The mosaic windows in the foyer were created by the prominent Slovak painter Janko Alexy. Construction was completed in 1955 and in the same year SND drama moved from the impracticable historical building to a brand new theatre of its own.
• In 2007, the Ministry of Culture sold the building to the City of Bratislava, with the city undertaking to continue its use for cultural purposes.
• Following a resolution of the Bratislava City Office, since 2010 the DPOH building was leased to the Bratislava Cultural and Information Centre on a ten-year lease. The theatre thus became a part of the BKIS Memorandum of Association.

New DPOH

In early 2020 the City of Bratislava announced that a key part of the BKIS restructuring would be delimitation of the DPOH from the activities of the organisation. This includes not only the demarcation of premises, assets and staff, but also guidance of the entire process.

At the June council meeting, the city of Bratislava decided to extend the lease for a further two years. This period is perceived as a transition period in order to try and test new approaches and formats that would help to open up the theatre as much as possible to diverse projects and make it as accessible as possible to the public. (Tento odstavec a aktuálnejšiu informáciu som mala z tlačovej správy – prosím, skontrolujte, či je to takto v poriadku)

See the theatre's current repertoire and programming offerings ↗︎