The Man Who Saved the World

The production The Man Who Saved the World, subtitled A Radical Study of Resistance, or Modern European (Puppet) Theater, is a new project by the legendary Dezorz Puppet Theater, the only puppet theater in Slovakia dedicated to adult audiences. The company returns to the stage five years after the premiere of its cult and award-winning live puppet cinema production Dukla – Valley of Death. It returns to the poetics from which it grew, while simultaneously pushing it into new, more radical directions.

The production is based on the true story of Soviet officer Stanislav J. Petrov, who in 1983 did not press the button for a nuclear attack. The world may have survived only thanks to the decision of a single man. On stage, however, this story breaks down into fragments of propaganda, media slogans, conspiracies, and ideological battles. The characters move through a space where everyone has their own truth and reality turns into a noisy theater of opinions. Language becomes a weapon, facts lose their weight, and the conflict slowly shifts from words to reality.

Grotesque, absurd humor, and the poetics of puppetry create a picture of a world that is turning into a theater of ideologies, fear, and manipulation. The hero, who may have saved the world, simultaneously becomes a figure whom no one believes anymore. A simple question hangs over this story: what will happen if someone does press that button after all.

The production was created with financial support from the Fund for the Support of the Arts and the Tatra Bank Foundation.

18+