Sometimes fiction can help to reveal the truth. With ToldUntold we collect stories about the communist past that people still find difficult to talk about. By changing their stories into animation or theatre, we can turn the personal into universal stories.

The acclaimed Slowak theatre director and playwright Dodo Gombar wrote especially for our project the monologue The Hangman. It will be performer sunday 13h of March at Jeden Svet by actor Jacob Erftemeijer (from the Svandovo Theatre Company). Dodo has staged over  60 plays including Faust, Three Sisters and Between Heaven and Her. Since 2010 he has been the artistic director of the Svandovo Theatre Company in Prague.

The Hang Men is a light and funny piece, based on a story that was sent to us. It’s about a man who entered the army after finishing his studies to become a veterinarian. But in the army they saw him as a doctor, so he had to work as one. In the army he also played in a band called The Hang Men. The band members convinced their superior that “Hang Men” means “Proletarians” while in reality it reflected their sense of powerlessness.

From The Hang Men:
“In november ’89 I cried, I do not remember anything so strongly, only the fact I was crying. My daughters did not get it, but did not ask either. Although they were small at that time, they were sensitive. That was what that unfree world did with us, it taught us to be more besotted on the one hand, more sensitive on the other.”

More info about the event, click here.