In September 2024, part of the cultural community entered strike alert. They explained their move as a reaction to deteriorating conditions in culture as a result of political and power interventions by the Ministry of Culture.
In response, Martina Šimkovičová said that among the CIS actors, the closest to the critics of the current leadership of the Ministry of Culture and the initiatives of the Cultural Strike are those “who have jobs outside of the CIS and many theater performances have been postponed, the tickets were sold out there, and they couldn’t play because these actors had activities outside the SND”.
Actors in SND read a statement about the Cultural Strike after each performance. The Minister of Culture commented on their words on the social network. “Supposedly without ideology, without misleading, without censorship. Really? Some of our actors don’t stop harassing the visitors of the Slovak National Theatre,” she wrote in the introduction.
He sees gaps in their statements. “I’m just reminding you that they are employees of the state theater, paid from state money. Interesting that they want to continue receiving salaries. State money, that is, the money of all of us, does not bother them and neither does what they talk about, so obviously not so much that they would give up their income. By the way, there are also opera singers, ballet artists, and orchestra members in SND. However, none of them, except for the actors, bothers the audience after the performance,” she criticized the well-known actors.
She also mentioned former SND director Matej Drlička, whom Šimkovičová dismissed in August. “The paradox is that at one time these actors had to sign the Code of Ethics, which was devised by Matej Drlička, under pressure, which they had a big problem with. However, in the end they gave in and signed it. The code of ethics also contained a ban on commenting on politics. However, after his dismissal, the same Drlička incited his former subordinates to comment on politics. And not only outside the theater, but even right before the performances,” said Šimkovičová.
he thinks that they are exactly the same actors who earn money in the TV series that are currently being broadcast, even on public television. “Then they stand again on the stages of the National Theater and harass the audience with their effusions for months. They serve foreigners. They read what they can get their hands on and pretend to be free beings with their own opinions and attitudes. They talk about censorship, the end of democracy, threats to culture – without any facts. They serve for every regime,” the head of the Department of Culture said to the actors.
