Two characters from "A Bright Room Called Day" (source: Spare Parts theatre)
Tomáš Eštok never planned to run a theatre company - until he realised the one he needed did not exist.
As the founder of Spare Parts, Bratislava’s newest independent theatre troupe, he is bringing English-language theatre to a city where concerts and stand-up comedy thrive, but dramatic performances in English remain rare. This March, his troupe returns to the stage with Tony Kushner’s "A Bright Room Called Day", offering audiences a final chance to see the production at Nová Cvernovka.
Eštok began his acting journey in his hometown of Michalovce, eastern Slovakia. After moving to Bratislava to study at Comenius University, he found his place in the theatre, joining ActofKAA, the university’s English-language student theatre group.
You can see the final 2025 re-run of "A Bright Room Called Day" on March 9 in Nová Cvernovka. Tickets and more info here.
But his sights were set higher than taking part in productions. “After a while, I ultimately became the manager there. But then graduation came around, and since ActofKAA is a student project, I decided it was time to let the newer generation take over and learn the ropes.” Still, he needed theatre in his life - and so, Spare Parts was born.
But why start and English-language theatre group?
“Slovakia has no shortage of independent theatres, so when we were establishing the troupe, we looked for a gap in the market - and we found it in English language theatre. You can go to concerts here, and the stand-up scene is quite substantial. There’s obviously ActofKAA, but when it comes to other forms of theatre, there was nothing, really.”
