*1957, Slovakia
Graduated as theatre director from the College for Performing Arts in Bratislava under Miloš Pietor. From 1982 he worked at the State Theatre in Košice, from 1984 at the SNP Theatre in the Slovak town of Martin. The most successful productions from the Martin period represented the Slovak theatre at several international festivals. The productions of Marivaux’s Touching and Connecting (1988) and Brecht’s Baal (1989) were a big success at the Edinburgh Festival and went on to win the Guardian Award. Polák’s 1992 production of Macbeth at the Shakespeare Repertory Theater Chicago was very well received by critics and audiences alike. Since the ‘90s, Polák has been working for TV and directing in the main theatres in the Czech Republic. Since 2006 he is the artistic director at the Drama Department of the Slovak National Theatre where he also directs The Centaurs (2006) is his first play.
Plays:
Kentauri, 2006