My brother and I

Family history

28/10/1791 – Ján Chalupka’s date of birth. Horná Mičiná, family of evangelical pastor Adam Chalupka. 1805 – 1809 – Ján studies in Levoča where he absorbs the German language like his own and gets his first experience as an educator. After that he starts teaching at a college in Prešov, then Radvaň and Vienna.
27/2/1812 – Sam Chalupka is born. His brother Ján is twenty one years old.
1816 – After making some money, Ján finishes his philosophical and theological studies at Wittenberg and Jena in Germany. He visits a famous theatre in Weimar, where they play performances by J.W. Goethe and F. Schiller.
1818 – He accepts a job from Kežmarok Lýceum , where he works for six years as a professor of rhetoric and poetics, astonishing everyone, even his rector, by his knowledge of language. He meets Barbara Elisabette von Wieland, daughter of an aristocratic family. Sam was by then his student.
1824 – Ján leaves Kežmarok for Brezno, where he stays until his death and works as a preacher. He marries the daughter of superintendent Ludvika Lovichová. Their son, Adam Ján sadly dies very young.
1827 – Sam, after his studies in Gemer, Kežmarok and Rožňava comes to the famous Bratislava Lýceum , where Ľudovít Štúr joins him three years later. He was part of the set up of Czech-SlavSociety.
1830 – Sam took part in the Cadet Revolution in Poland in 1830, during which he sustained a life-long injury.
1833 – Sam continued his theological studies at the University of Vienna.
1837 – He marries Eufrozína Thuránska, but they remain childless.
1840 – After the death of his father, Sam takes the position of a pastor in Horná Lehota until his death.
1848 – 1849 – Ján and Sam are active supporters of the revolution, their fight is for the recognition of the Slovakian nation. They were both active in the creation of the Memorandum of the Slovakian Nation and establishment of the Institution of Matica Slovenská. After the revolution Ján had to work through some family tragedies. His eldest daughter Ema died not long after she split up with her partner. Her younger sister Ľudmila died quickly after that, she was unhappily married to Rudolfa Méheš, assistant at Banská Academy in Banská Štiavnica. His wife Ludvika was addicted to morphine, according to records she was argumentative. Before the end of his life, Ján rewrote his works into Štúrovčina.
1868 – Samo’s work is published under the title Spevy.
15. 7. 1871 – Ján dies at the age of 80 in Brezno. He wanted to see the portrait of Babette von Wieland, it arrived after his death.
13. 1. 1881 – Samo’s wife Eufrozína dies. Towards the end of his life Samo was nearly blind. He kept bees and wrote his verses in charcoal on his furniture.
10. 5. 1883 – Samo dies at the age of 70 in Horná Lehota. He asked to have this quote engraved on his tombstone – „I lived in truth, I fought injustice and dutifully loved this nation.“

Most famous works

Ján: Kocúrkovo, Trasorítka, Starúš plesnivec, Trinásta hodina, Všetko naopak (comedy)

Sam: Mor ho!, Likavský väzeň, Branko, Turčín Poničan

Production team

Director: Renáta Jurčová
Screenwright: Lucia Mihálová
Stage design: Dorota Volfová
Costumes: Dáša Veselovská
Music: Michal Kinik
Production: Zuzana Bilská

Actors

Him: Matej Babej
Her: Viktória Petrášová

Set up of the bulletin: Lucia Mihálová
Graphics: Dorota Volfová

Technical requirements

• Performance area with a window, ideally no smaller than 7m x 6m (could be adjusted with prior agreement)
• Lighting: full colour striplights (purple, red, green) two spotlights, strobe light (can be adjusted by prior agreement)
• Music: a musician is part of the combo, microphone and a stand
• Set up about 2 hours