Žilina Town Theater: Táto izba sa nedá zjesť

Terezka was looking for someone who would understand her, who would be like her, who would be to her liking. She found such a person in Ivan. She feels special, she feels listened to, she feels beautiful and wise to someone. A relationship develops between Tereza and Ivan. Only, Tereza is twelve and Ivan is her fifty-year-old art teacher. There can be no question of violent abuse of the little girl. At first glance. Táto izba sa nedá zjesť (This Room Can’t Be Eaten) isn’t about love, and it isn’t even about sick love. Behind the “consent” of a child are benefits that are not free. And that is not love.

Táto izba sa nedá zjesť is a dramatization of Nicol Hochholczerová’s novel of the same name about a teenage girl’s relationship with an older man. The author drew on her own experience and shocked with the frankness with which she reveals the intimate topic of sexual abuse. After the production of Naše fotky, director and playwright Eduard Kudláč continues to open up and spread the topic of child sexual abuse. He has treated the text by Nicole Hochholczerová as a monodrama in which the actress Iveta Pagáčová becomes the narrator or guide in the story of the relationship between the little Terezka and her fifty-year-old teacher. Tereza cannot yet realise that she has found herself trapped in an illicit relationship with a manipulator. Iveta Pagáčová guides the viewer through Tereza’s adolescence from the age of 12 to 18. She explores the toxic relationship from falling in love to gradually re-reading and comparing the relationship to other boys. She follows the entire story objectively, revealing Ivan’s manipulative behaviour and conveying to the viewer the words of each character in the story. Tereza may change over the course of six years, but is there a way back from this toxic merry-go-round?

Supported using public funding by Slovak Arts Council and Bratislava City Foundation.