Czech Theatre 19

Jan Tska as King Lear, William Shakespeare, King Lear / Prague Castle 2002 / Directed by Martin Huba / Set
by Jozef Ciller / Costumes Milan orba

>Photo Viktor Kronbauer
Contents
Editorial
Theatres over the Water? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2

Marie Zdekov
Czech Stage Design Reflected in the Prague Quadrennial . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5 Theatre of Pictures. Interview with David Marek, curator of the Czech Exposition at PQ 2003 . . . . . . . . . .17 The Floodwaters Receded... ...and Viktor Kronbauer Photographed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23
Jitka Sloupov and Jana Patokov
Theatres under Water . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27

Marie Reslov
The National Theatre (still?) at the Crossroads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33

Ivan ek
Wilsons Fate: a Happy Encounter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .39

Marie Reslov
There Are No Small Theatres. Miroslav Krobot in the Dejvice Theatre . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .45
Jan Csa
Chekhov for the Czechs. Vladimr Morveks Chekhov triptych in the Klicpera Theatre in Hradec Krlov . .49
Marie Reslov
Footprints in the Sands of Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .53

Nina Malkov
Puppets, Shadows and Video . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .55 Notebook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

CZECH THEATRE 19
Issued by Theatre Institute Prague Director / Ondej ern Responsible editor / Marie Reslov Editors / Kamila ern, Jana Patokov, Jitka Sloupov Translation / Barbara Day, Joanne P. C. Domin, Don Nixon Cover and graphical layout / Egon L. Tobi Technical realization / DTP Studio Hamlet Printed by / Tiskrna FLORA, trboholsk 44, Praha 10
May 2003 Editors e-mail: editio@divadlo. cz Subscription: Divadeln stav, Celetn 17, 110 00 Praha 1, Czech Republic fax: 00420 2232 6100, e-mail: publik@divadlo. cz 2003 Divadeln stav Praha ISSN 0862-9380 Leo Janek, Fate / Nrodn divadlo, Praha 2002 / Conducted by Ji Blohlvek / Directed by
Robert Wilson / Set and light design Robert Wilson / Costumes Jacques Reynaud >Photo Oldich Pernica
Theatres over the Water?
THEATRES OVER THE WATER?
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Theatres over theWater?

| Editorial |
Since the beginning of the 1990s, when after the fall of Communism Czech society and with it the Czech theatre opened its doors to Europe, a process of recognition has been going on. Unfortunately this has been a little one-sided. Through the open doors into the Czech Republic flows the usual, established conditions of European democracy: political plurality and with it, corruption; a predominantly consumer life-style; information; fashion; social conflicts; currents of thought and at the same time spiritual erosion. To a greater measure than it could previously, the Czech theatre woke up to the European context and absorbed it. There have been theatre festivals, guest appearances of European companies, active translators and theatre journals; thanks to these, contemporary dramatic work (mostly of British and German origin) at last penetrated Czech theatre, its themes dealt with in a specific Czech way. The rising generation of directors also discovered (though slowly) new stage media and technology. Unfortunately, the Czech theatre with the exception of opera, dance and puppetry has up to now scarcely been represented abroad. In the 1990s the powerful generation of directors (Lbl, Morvek, Pitnsk, Nebesk), which had emerged from the amateur and alternative stage at the end of the 1980s, brought to the Czech theatre a new, very visual poetics of staging and a strongly subjective vision of the dramatic text. Today (with the tragic exception of Petr Lbl) they all work in the major theatres. These were the directors who, in the course of the decade, harvested the appreciation and interest of theatre critics. Their productions, responding primarily to a powerful individual imagination and a personal experience of the themes, were a major influence on theatrical thought of that time. Their productions still belong to the most interesting in Czech theatre, in spite of the fact that all three directors have more or less successfully replenished their previously invented, tried and experienced procedures. Last year Vladimr Morvek brought to an end his three-part Chekhov cycle Chekhov for the Czechs in the Klicpera Theatre in Hradec Krlov with a production of Uncle Soleny,
" William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet / Nrodn divadlo Praha,
2003 / Directed by Vladimr Morvek / Set design Jan M. Chocholouek Costumes Zuzana Krejzkov >Photo Viktor Kronbauer
and continues with his radical adaptations of Shakespeare (Romeo and Juliet in the National Theatre [Nrodn divadlo] in Prague). Jan Nebesk temporarily abandoned his beloved Ibsen and in cooperation with the dramatist Egon Tobi developed somewhat hermetic inward-looking themes of faith, love, guilt, truth and human existence the production JE SUiS (after Georges Bernanos) and Je na ase, aby se TO zmnilo (Its Time for IT to Change, after mile Ajar). J. A. Pitnsk continues to wander around Czech, Moravian and Slovak theatres with his sweeping visions: he directed an adaptation of Vladislav Vanuras Markta Lazarov for the National Theatre in Prague, as a monumental collage in drama, movement and music; David Harowers Knives in Hens in the Theatre on the Balustrades (Divadlo Na zbradl); and Dostojevskys Brothers Karamazov in the Moravian Slovak Theatre (Slovck divadlo) in Uhersk Hradit. There have been interesting staging experiments by Miroslav Krobot (some of them of his own work) in the Dejvice Theatre (Dejvick divadlo) The Three Sisters, Syrup. The Drama Club (inohern klub) again staged several above average premieres, the most interesting of them being the work of the young Czech actor and director Ondej Sokol The Lonesome West by the Irish dramatist Martin McDonagh. For several years now the straight theatre in the Czech Republic has been lacking the kind of striking production which provokes intense discussion and arouses unexpected and strong albeit contradictory reactions (as did those of Lbl in the 1990s). Neither have there been productions which have been overwhelming simply by their exceptional professional quality. Contemporary plays, originating both in the Czech Republic and internationally, represent hope for the Czech theatre. Their production is a natural way of forcing theatre creators to formulate eternal themes in new circumstances, inspiring them to search for and express the dramatic tension of society, its transformations and conflicts. It forces them to look for a way by which these often formally very unusual texts can enter into dialogue with the public. Some directors who didnt start working until after the end of Communism (for example Ji Pokorn) as well as some theatres (the Drama Studio [inohern studio] of st nad Labem, HaTheatre [HaDivadlo], Goose on a String [Divadlo
4/
THEATRES OVER THE WATER?
Husa na provzku], the Dejvice Theatre, the Drama Club and now even the National Theatre in Prague) have in the last few years systematically staged contemporary plays and consciously searched for adequate means to stage them effectively. It shows moreover that work with a contemporary dramatist enlivens the work of the company on classic texts. There has also recently been an appreciable increase in staged readings and one-off productions of contemporary stage plays (Eliades Library [Eliadova knihovna] at the Theatre on the Balustrades, the Drama Studio of st nad Labem, the Casper Company [Spolek Kapar] and others). The generational change in the leadership of the drama company at the National Theatre is also hopeful. From the beginning of the 1990s the theatre staggered along in some sort of crisis of perplexity between innovative ambitions and security of the repertoire; from embarrassing productions of rock-bottom contemporary plays (Podivn ptci [Strange Birds], Den potom [The Day After], Ptk Ohnivk [The Firebird], Rodinn sdlo [Family Seat], vejkv vnuk [vejks Grandson]) through the more or less successful repertoire of the classics (A Servant of Two Masters, Hadrin z ms [Hadrian of Rheum]) to somewhat comically staged pseudo-experiments ( Twelfth Night , Hamlet). The tension between a company of stars and the newcomers from the alternative theatre which arrived on the premier stage during the 1990s, not to mention the lack of understanding and poor communication between the leadership of the drama company and the actors, had the effect not so much of extreme crisis but more like some sort of blurred consciousness of the Czech Republics premier stage. The partial success of some productions (Miroslav Krobots staging of Rok na vsi [A Year in the Village], J. A. Pitnsks Marya ) often sunk in a general muddy
impression of undefined and uneven direction of our national drama. In mid-2002 Michal Doekal (b. 1965) became head of the drama company at the National Theatre. He intends to overcome to a certain measure the provincial nature of the work and theatrical thought on this stage, and strengthen awareness of the European context. The possibility that, in favourable circumstances, the plan can be achieved, is given credence by the work of the opera company of the National Theatre which, over the last five years, can pride itself on unforeseen results in the production field. Czech theatre directors and leading foreign directors make an appearance: David Radok, David Pountney, Robert Wilson. Operas from this house confidently assumed first place in the critics rankings in 2002, and they have three times carried off the highest Czech theatre award the Alfrd Radok Prize for the best theatrical production of the year. The contemporary Czech theatre has more or less come to terms with changes in the financing of theatres and the pressures of the market environment. Evidence of this is the fact that small new theatre groups are coming into existence, capable (albeit with extreme effort) of covering their expenses from small grants or sponsorship. The financial situation of the permanent repertoire theatres is povertystricken but stable. Further evidence of the relative health of the Czech theatre system is also the fact that it has honourably overcome the consequences of last years floods; although several theatres have to work on temporary stages, not one of those companies has dissolved and not one theatre has gone under. On the contrary, those theatres that were devastated by the floods will, after repair, end up in a better technical and aesthetic condition than before. And the theatre in the Czech Republic has one more great cause for hope in the future; audiences continue to increase.
| Marie Reslov |
Theatres over the Water?
| Marie Zdekov |
Czech Stage Design

Reflected in the Prague Quadrennial
PQ 1967, Leo Janek, The Makropulos Secret

Divadlo Oldicha Stibora, Olomouc 1958 Design design Frantiek Trster >Photo archives
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CZECH STAGE DESIGN REFLECTED IN THE PRAGUE QUADRENNIAL
The Prague Quadrennial, the competitive international festival of stage design and theatre architecture, began in 1967. Designers and architects from Europe, America, Asia and Africa gather in Prague every four years, competing for the big prize the Golden Triga as well as gold and silver medals and other awards. But the chief reason is to meet each other and their work. For as long the Czechs and Slovaks lived in one state they exhibited jointly. The specific Czech and Slovak styles were considered as natural variety within one common home. Beginning with PQ 95, the Czechs and Slovaks have exhibited independently. To start with Czechoslovakia, as the host country, did not participate in the international competition. That did not change until 1991, the first PQ after the velvet revolution. Apart from sections for national exhibits and for architecture, the PQ has a schools section (theatre schools and art schools where stage design is taught), and a comparative section, an opportunity for individual countries to prepare work on a common theme (for example, Mozart operas, the plays of Shakespeare and Chekhov, freely assigned themes such as Homage to Stage Design at PQ 99).
The Czech Exhibit at PQ 99 to Success through Highlighting

In 1999 the Czech Republic won the big prize at the PQ the Golden Triga. Being aware of a fundamental conflict in the traditional installation of stage works, when a creation intended to be seen in time and space is, at an exhibition, limited to the flatness of photographs and time squeezed maximally to a video showing, we decided to capture the idea in its process of development from inspiration to realisation, thus allowing its information to be perceived more exactly and a comparison offered of the intentions and aims achieved. We approached eight contemporary designers with experience of film and television as well as the theatre, and whose work often extends into other related fields. (In the end there were only seven; one of them, architect Jindich Smetana, was at that time preoccupied with the project for the Elizabethan Globe Theatre, a few hundred yards from the Palace of Industry the site of the PQ.) This intention, presented by the commissars and scriptwriters of the exhibition Simona Rybkov and Michal Caban in the PQ catalogue (the quotation above), was not realised in its ideal form, but nevertheless, the exhibit was both effective and successful. To remind ourselves of the context, we have to look back. The PQ has grown hugely since its establishment. As early as the 1970s some voices (experts amongst them) said that the exhibition was almost depressingly extensive in the information offered. Even though the members of the international jury were expected to have an intensive interest and expert erudition, in light of the fact they had to choose from a huge number of exhibits in a limited time, even they confronted a surfeit of material. Both the lay and the expert visitor to the PQ welcomed any kind of innovation in the method of presentation which highlighted it, made it special, since this welcome change brought a revived ability to perceive. To begin with there were installation experiments, evoking the world of a particular production (the installation of the West German exhibit at PQ 83 represented a parched field of stubble the landscape of Janeks Ka Kabanov). Later there were installations which to some extent set themselves adrift from the portrayal of concrete artistic acts and represented a particular aesthetic style. When, at the PQ 87, the Golden Triga was awarded to the USA by an entirely Czechoslovak jury, not international, I might have suspected the award was the outcome of the Czechoslovak dream of America. The installation was made from a hyper-realist macquette of a life size design
#The Czech Exposition, PQ 1991 >Photo archives $The Czech-Slovak Exposition, PQ 1991 >Photo Vojtch Psak $$The Czech-Slovak Exposition, PQ 1991 / J. A. Pitnsk, Matka
Design Tom Rusn >Photo archives
$%The Czech Exposition, PQ 1999 >Photo archives
(scenographic) studio, both attractive and provocative in its promotional razzamatazz of the western style. Individual designs and photographs were understandably lost in it, or served only as somewhat subdued but essential fragments in an intentionally confused three-dimensional mosaic. The form (the installation) unambiguously suppressed the content (the design itself). It became a theatre: the visitor/audience member could seem like a second actor, made special by a stage dcor prepared just for him/her. For a long time the Czech (and Slovak) method of presenting stage design avoided experimentation. It was only with the last joint Czech-Slovak exhibit at PQ 91 (the first after the velvet revolution) that a theatrical concept of exhibiting theatre was tried, even having the formulated theme production. The authors and scriptwriters Vra Ptkov (theoretician, Czech Republic) and Milan Ferenk (stage designer, Slovakia) set our theatrical activity of forty years with an opening to hope in high dark palisades, reminiscent of the keel of a ship, underpinned by a simulated pavement (there had been street demonstrations in living memory). However, the Czech and Slovak macquettes seemed a little lost, like discarded objects in this monumentalising space which evoked both a voyage and the isolation of working in the communist prison. The spectators attention was drawn more by the view of Prague Castle through a glass wall. A certain kind of feeling, in touch with contemporary production vision, was induced by Tom Rusns object situated in front of the exhibit casts of old womens hands creeping over the surface of a moderately over-sized chair (J. A. Pitnsk: Mother). In its result, the Czech exhibit at PQ 99 did not fulfil its commission; however, after a lapse of time (only architecture was exhibited at PQ 95) it did open itself to
""/ The West German Exposition, PQ 1983 / Leo Janek, Katya Kabanova / Design Jrgen Dreier >Photo archives "The American Exposition, PQ 1987 >Photo archives
contemporary stage design. To a large measure its success was owed precisely to the fact that it was a direct answer to the exhausted visitors need to find some space, a highlight, to let him/her be gradually surprised and absorbed, and thus to accept his/her own role in the installation as a whole. The creators called their stand a building site. They isolated it from its surroundings by corrugated iron, thus creating a promise of something hidden from the public because it was unfinished, because something was still going on (the process). However, inside the visitor/actor entered a completely finished space, irregularly divided into segments
inhabited by different designers. Most of them exhibited finished work (photographs, models, costumes) particularised by a framework/environment and the method of presentation. The entrance to the exhibition and the hall was decorated by Petr Matseks puppets and the Arcimboldo-style Mannerist costumes of Simona Rybkov (a crinoline made of a fruit) which as finished artistic artefacts contrasted with the working envelope of the exhibit. The chambers on the first floor were more closed and intimate, as though the individual designers had invited the visitor in privately, then were hiding in a corner, waiting to see what he/she thought of it.
PQ 199
The Czech Exposition, PQ 1999
Costumes Simona Rybkov >Photo archives
Photographs of the purist, but in their own way effective, sets of Ondej Nekvasil were exhibited in a white tunnel whose narrowing perspective provided the visitor with a pleasant feeling of tension with a flavour of sci-fi mystery. Daniel Dvok on the other hand chose a black cabinet in which small slides of intensely coloured sets had the effect of brilliantly coloured butterflies pinned on black velvet. Kateina tefkov made a nest for her work in a boudoir. The stylised furniture, as though from a theatre props room, created a pleasing museum-style composition with costumes variously hung and draped around as in a theatre dressing room. The walls were decorated with framed, toned black and white photographs in which actors in costumes posed on the model of archaic cabinets. The spirits of Emma Destinn and Sarah Bernhardt floated in the air, although there was no other indication of them than the fulsomely decorated style of the costumes. The whole arrangement was reminiscent of the stylistically decorated foyer of the designers home theatre the Prague Theatre on the Balustrades (Divadlo Na zbradl) and above all a concept of the theatre (in particular backstage) as a cult place. Black and white photographs created the atmosphere of a cubby-hole for Jana Prekov (Gold Medal for costumes), filled with blue X-ray lighting. Photographs of actors in costume hanging on the walls were stylised into the portraits of lonely lost souls. Their anxious and grief-ridden existential haze inspired one to look through the photograph albums on the table (how much willingness and patience do visitors to the PQ usually have for looking through photograph albums?) The unmistakeable lens of Bohdan Holomek had captured the simple, decorative and stylistically costumes of Jana Prekov in productions from the kindred Comedy Theatre (Divadlo Komedie). The studio of imon Caban, in which in the middle of a colourful working disorder he had portrayed himself with a TV screen in place of a head, was strongly reminiscent of the American exhibit at PQ 87. Only in this case one could speak of the creative process, captured of course in its
superficial display through a key hole. What is more important is that this chaotic, in its way attractive, environment evoked the demonstrative inclination towards superficiality by which the Baletn jednotka Ke (Ballet Unit Spasm, an amateur group with the ambitions of perfectionist professionals founded by Caban and Rybkov) had under the totalitarian period of Communism upset the written and unwritten obligation for a work to have thought content. And moreover, was cheekily seduced by the superficiality of western consumer society. Almost all the exhibiting designers came from what was under Communism the alternative culture or from the alternative (opposition) stream of the official culture. Dvok, Caban and Rybkov were later successful in voyaging into the waters of the big theatres and showbusiness, without essentially veering from their own style. Their Post-modern orientation is just as acceptable at the National Theatre as it is for advertising clips and occasional irregular events. The theatricality of the Czech exhibit was not unique. The ambition and creative desire to base an exhibit on an installation which could function as a highlight of PQ 99 expressed itself very powerfully. Even the content of some exhibitions, documenting actual productions, betrayed an inclination towards spectacle (Spain-Catalania). If we look at the matter from another, more serious side, we can note an interest in a strikingly visual theatre, in the visualisation of the whole staged project (the award-winning designer and director Achim Freyer PQ 99). As though they were soughtafter, the cases when set design plays the main role in the production.
a b c d $The Czech Exposition, PQ 1999 / Designers: a.Ondej Nekvasil / b.Kateina tefkov c.Jana Prekov / d.imon Caban >Photos archives
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99
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"William Shakespeare, Hamlet
Divadlo Komedie, Praha, 1994 Directed by Jan Nebesk / Set Josef Bernek Costumes Jana Prekov
>Photo Bohdan Holomek
%Pedro Caldern de la Barca, Daughter of the Gale

Divadlo Komedie, Praha, 1998 Directed by Jan Nebesk Set and costumes Jana Prekov
PQ 1999
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The Case of Czech Stage Design or, What We Saw and Did Not See at the PQ
Czechs and Slovaks did not participate in the international competition at PQ 67, but they did compete independently against each other. They entered this first year with laurels from the International Biennial of stage design in Sao Paulo in Brazil: an independent honorary section of the exhibition was demarcated for the laureates Frantiek Trster, Josef Svoboda and Ladislav Vychodil. The two Czech and one Slovak designer had given Czechoslovak stage design added confidence. measure in major theatres abroad) could not adequately be squeezed into the framework of a surface design, even a three-dimensional macquette could only suggest in rough outlines rather than express the work as a whole. This could better be shown in high-quality photographs of productions, for a long time sorely missing. Svobodas influence on international theatre and set design was so strong (and recognisable in some foreign stage designers) that there was no need to push his work for exhibition. The participation of Svoboda and Vychodil at the PQ was repeatedly understood as a guarantee of the quality of our set design (the Gold Medal at PQ 87 for lifetime achievement).
Trster, in his retrospective (designs from the 1930s) appeared as the true founding personality from whom developed what was essential in modern Czech stage design, even though the work of a successor does not at first sight show a direct and apparent connection with his work (for example, Jaroslav Malina who did not exhibit until PQ 71 set out on a completely different journey, in spite of the fact that in his work he respected his teacher and his feeling for the three-dimensional dramatic quality of space). Trsters designs are both set designs and pictures; their evidence of the dramatic charge of space is eloquent even on a restricted surface. Some of them are effective in their expressive abbreviation the deformation or the angle of view in an almost aural way: like shrieks. Ladislav Vychodil combined a grandiose concept of space with a view of the stage as a visual picture containing metaphoric signs. Svoboda developed Trsters legacy vigorously to the full; a dynamically mutable architecture thinks about the basic peripeteia of the dramatic actor, on the placing of the actor in space, the arrangement, the light. Svobodas magic, realised with the help of the most modern techniques (to a large
#"PQ 1967 Jean Cocteau, The Knigts of the Round Table / Nrodn divadlo,
Praha, 1937 Design Frantiek Trster
#PQ 1987 Richard Strauss, Die Frau ohne Schatten

Grand Thtre de Genve, 1978 / Design Josef Svoboda
$PQ 1987 P. I. Tchaikovsky, Eugene Onegin

Sttn divadlo, Brno 1982 Design Ladislav Vychodil
>Photos archives
#PQ 1975 / Giordano Bruno, Il Candelaio / Divadlo F. X. aldy,

Liberec 1971 / Design Jaroslav Malina >Photo archives
%PQ 1987 / Antonn Dvok, Armida / Nrodn divadlo, Praha 1987

Design Vladimr Nvlt >Photo archives
The world of the productions of other Czech stage designers (Vladimr Nvlt, Zbynk Kol, Vladimr rmek, Milo Tomek, Kvtoslav Bubenk) whose work reigned supreme in the first years of the PQ (1967, 1971) fitted onto a flat surface without too much distortion. These designers did not neglect the use of space; they used architectural elements of a form of spacial collage, but their concepts were founded on a view oriented from the auditorium towards the picture anchored in the frame of a proscenium arch. The creativity of these stage designers relied on the dividing up of abstract shapes, the rhythmic articulation of the floor (architecture) or on the composition of metaphoric details (picture), and largely a combination of the two principles. Two set designers exhibited at the first PQ who, in the context of their cooperation with directors of the younger generation (Jan Kaer, Evald Schorm), brought a new aesthetic opinion, if not a new concept of space. In the work of Lubo Hrza (Silver Medal 1967 and 1971) and Otakar Schindler we could observe the elements of a later development, chiefly a liking for non-theatrical, raw, sometimes worn or patinated material and for ordinary
#PQ 1967 / Niccol Machiavelli, La Mandragola / inohern klub,

Praha 1966 / Design Lubo Hrza >Photo archives
$PQ 1975 / Edward Bond, Early Morning / ASP, Warszawa 1974

Design Marta Roszkopfov >Photo archives
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"#PQ 1987 / Eugene ONeill, Long Days Journey into Night

Jihoesk divadlo, esk Budjovice 1983 / Design Jan Duek
>Photos Viktor Kronbauer
$PQ 1983 / Aristophanes, The Birds / Pozorite mladich, Sarajevo 1980

Design Miroslav Melena >Photo archives
things being made strange on stage. Libor Fra, a designer inspired by the inter-war avantgarde (Surrealism) but at the same time a careful observer of contemporary developments in the fine arts and the inventor of the Czech version of action scenography (Ubu roi 1964) was naturally not exhibited for political reasons (his work was only briefly referred to in the thematic section in 1987). Action scenography as a principle of staging (not only set design) developed fully on the Czech stage in the 1970s and held its own there well into the 1980s. The stage space was no longer perceived as a closed unit, was no longer understood as architecture or a painting, not even as a sculpture. It became an open system in which individual details (from neutral objects through to concrete objects stolen from life changed their configuration, their concrete and metaphysical meaning concurrently with the dramatic action, most often through the actor. It is worth mentioning that the leading creators of this trend Jaroslav Malina, Jan Duek, Marta Roszkopfov and Miroslav Melena, later Jan Konen and Jana Zboilov were never awarded prizes at the PQ (Melena received a Silver Medal for his other activity architecture at PQ 95). Some of these designers exhibited at PQ 71, but by PQ 75 were understood as part of a striking generational trend which developed and defined itself faster than the method of presentation of stage design. The problem of how to exhibit set design, dependent on movement in space and time, was not adequately resolved even at later PQs. And so Malinas plastic use of material (for example, drapery), Dueks feeling for the variability of ordinary things, Roszkopfovs bleakness of sets and
costumes capable of metaphor, and Melenas architecturally structured playfulness were in their full measure intelligible more to those who were already in touch with their lively work. That did not mean that their designs did not have independent visual value, that for example the expressively precarious, potentially dramatic stylisation of the drawings by Marta Roszkopfov or the witty macquettes of Miroslav
%PQ 1987 / The House Full of Spectres / Divadlo na provzku, Brno
1985 / Design Jan Konen >Photo archives
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Melena were not attractive and inspiring as exhibits. However, they were hints rather than evidence; the essence of action scenography to a fair degree remained concealed behind the walls of the theatre. At the same time, it was very interesting to try to represent the poetics of some theatres and teams with which the individual designers were connected (Jaroslav Malina and the era of director Karel K
in the F. X. alda Theatre in Liberec, Marta Roszkopfov and the dramaturgically challenging activity of the the Petr Bezru Theatre in the industrial city of Ostrava, Jan Konen and the auteur team of the HaTheatre (HaDivadlo) in Brno. The presentation of the set designs of Jozef Ciller (Gold Medal in 1975 and 1983, Silver Medal in 1987), turned out relatively well. Ciller, a Slovak designer who enriched the stages of the Czech theatres (and not the only Slovak designer to do so) was particularly successful with works which strove for a non-traditional concept of space (Theatre on a String [Divadlo na provzku] in Brno). With a macquette of an arena confined within a cage and surrounded on every side by benches for the audience Ciller indicated the essence of a staging principle founded on the openness of the relationship between the audience and the actor (Peter Scherhaufer: Eleven Days of the Cruiser Potemkin , PQ 75). The antithesis of action scenography was presented during the PQ by the designer Jan Vanura, a loner in contemporary Czech stage design. He began to exhibit in 1979 (at that time an open stage and costumes inspired by industrial design for Karel and Josef apeks Insect Play). Independent of the older generation he innovated and reappraised the painted type of set design. His hyper-realist, attractively coloured designs which one is tempted to hang on the wall at home, could not be overlooked (nobody had to cudgel their brains about how to exhibit them). The inclination towards romantically painted flats (conceived of course in space and with a measure of contemporary stylisation), the decorative fantasy of the costumes, a liking for harmony and order and some sort of retro delectability functioned well for both the visitors and the jury, and were pleasantly refreshing in the labyrinth of the PQ (two Silver Medals in 1979 and 1983, one Gold Medal in 1991). This designer unwittingly demonstrated his independence of the trends of the period and anticipated the new tendencies which broke out in force at the turn of the millennium and became evident at the Czech exhibition PQ99: emphasis on spectacle and immoderate visual quality of set design with an inclination to quote elements of historical styles.
##PQ 1987 / Italo Calvino, Il barone rampante

Mstsk divadla prask, Praha 1985 / Design Jaroslav Malina
>Photo Dalibor imnek
#PQ 1975 / Peter Scherhaufer, Eleven Days of the Cruiser Potemkin / Divadlo na provzku, Brno 1972
Design Jozef Ciller >Photo archives
$PQ 1987 / W. A. Mozart, The Magic Flute / Sttn divadlo F. X. aldy, Liberec 1986 / Design Jan Vanura >Photo archives
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A View of the Thematic Section

The comparative sections at PQ 79, 83 and 87 introduced themes close to Czech stage design. In 1979 the theme was the puppet. The Czech puppet has behind it a rich craft tradition which its creators were able to use with contemporary stylised dispassion. The wooden actors of Petr Matsek, Pavel Kalfus and Frantiek Vtek (Silver Medal in the thematic section) make their effect by their own expressiveness and look like beings waiting to be brought to life. However, at the PQ the Czechs presented an essentially traditional concept of the puppet, whilst some countries took a less charming but more forceful attitude to the subject, and used the ability of the lifeless figurines to play out the impersonal or deformed nature of human existence (West Germany, Great Britain). Stage design for music theatre works by Czech and Slovak authors was the comparative section theme for PQ 83. In this section the Czech Zbynk Kol won the Silver Medal for a sternly sombre spacial solution for the Slovak composer Jn Cikkers opera The Resurrection . It was interesting that most countries from abroad exhibited productions of Leo Janeks operas; productions full of interest and understanding, such as for example West Germany, winner of the Golden Triga, one of the first to create a theatrical installation in the form of an effective life-size dcor. The theme productions of plays by Chekhov in 1987 provided an opportunity to make public the strong
#PQ 1979 / Jnok / Vchodoesk loutkov divadlo DRAK,

Hradec Krlov 1975 / Puppets Frantiek Vtek >Photo archives
$PQ 1987 / A. P. Chekhov, The Seagull / Hrvatsko narodne kazalite, Zagreb 1976 / Design Otakar Schindler >Photo archives
relationship Czechs and Slovaks have with the dramatist from their oppressor country, who paradoxically brought freedom to their work by his incorruptibly critical spirit. Otakar Schindler, Jozef Ciller and others showed off in different ways that they knew how to listen to and understand the world of Chekhovs dramas. They demonstrated a particular confidence in staging and an unencumbered dispassion in style.
"PQ 1983 / Jn Cikker, The Resurrection / Nrodn divadlo, Praha
1962 / Design Zbynk Kol >Photo archives
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Before PQ 2003
The success of the Czech stage designers at PQ 99 did not mean they had definitively solved the problem of how to exhibit. It would be splendid if at PQ 2003 their exhibit is not just full of ideas of staging, but really tries to capture tendencies and directions which are worth attention in the contemporary state of Czech stage design. The visual side of the production is more and more dependent on the director (we could even speak of visual direction). Stage design originates through the close cooperation of the director with his/her kindred designer (Jan Antonn Pitnsk Tom Rusn, Jan tpnek; Jan Nebesk Jana Prekov; Vladimr
Morvek Ale Votava, Martin Chocholouek; Michal Doekal David Marek, Zuzana Krejzkov; Ji Pokorn Petr B. Novk). In some cases (Morvek, Doekal) the visual concept of the director is dominant. The durability or looseness of these teams varies. The more the director is a scenographer, the wider the circle of stage designers with whom he/she works (Morvek). Post-modern multifariousness freed a wide range of expressive media which in the context of one production can be structured by a theatrical personality into a certain order and style. In some productions Baroque spectacle proliferates (guided and controlled), in others the visual expression is more modest and muted; for the most part however (in truly fundamental staging initiatives) it shares decisively in the purport and meaning of a production.
Joseph Roth, Jobe / HaDivadlo, Brno 1996 / Design Tom Rusn

>Photo Martin Vybral
Vladislav Vanura, Markta Lazarov / Nrodn divadlo, Praha 2002 Design Jan tpnek >Photo Hana Smejkalov
Czech Stage Design Reflected in the Prague Quadrennial
Theatre of Pictures
Interview with David Marek,

curator of the Czech Exposition at PQ 2003
What led a successful stage designer and architect to make an application for the selection proceedings for author of the Czech Exposition at PQ 2003? For some time now it has been obvious that in Czech stage design there exists a trend or tendency which is represented by a group of artists whose work cannot be overlooked in the theatre but which has not so far been presented in the appropriate context. Perhaps this is also because stage design has had less opportunity in recent years to present itself to the public Stage Design Salons, for instance, have ceased to take place. PQ is the ideal opportunity for formulating and expressing this feeling. When I look back at past years of PQ, I was always most taken by those exhibitions which demonstrated a clear opinion concerning stage design and the theatre. Perhaps only as a sector of the wide range of stage design in one country or another. It is this which I would like to attempt. Naturally I have also considered whether it would not be more correct to leave this work to the theorists, whether it is right for an active artist to exhibit his colleagues, whether this is not overweening self-confidence Unfortunately there was nobody to leave the work to as no theorist was ready to take it on. This may be because nobody younger has taken systematic interest in stage design recently.
Could you introduce us to the group of stage designers concerned by this restricted concept of the work? This is a group of people who express themselves in a similar manner, even though their actual work is sometimes very different. It is not restricted with regard to generation or to study at a specific school or to the influence of some personality. Specific to this group of stage designers is chiefly the way of working, the way of considering the text of a play and co-operation with a certain group of directors. From this there emerge varying teams which are linked by similar perception of the pictorial side of the theatre. In Bohemia some time ago there was a group of stage designers defined in this manner which was represented, for instance, by the names of Melena, Malina, Duek and Matsek. Strong personalities with whose influence we are actually still coping today. In connection with their work we talk of socalled action stage design. Typical of this was work with
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THEATRE OF PICTURES
INTERVIEW WITH DAVID MAREK, CURATOR OF THE CZECH EXPOSITION AT PQ 2003
Peter Handke, The Strange Woman / Divadlo Komedie, Praha 1999 / Adapted by J. A. Pitnsk and Marek Horok Directed by J. A. Pitnsk / Set Tom Rusn / Costumes Zuzana tefunkov and Alena Pivoka >Photo Bohdan Holomek
plastic elements in space and in time, the dynamics of the sign in the theatre, etc. The stage designers I decided to exhibit at this years PQ are more interested in the symbolic aspect of theatre, its visual poetry. They try to designate the individual scenes or appearances poetically, with a picture. They are not interested in the continuous construction of the production as transformations of a single space. The individual pictures sets of the production are found alongside one another in linear fashion and each of them, so to speak, gives its own view of the text. And it is, in fact, beside the point whether the artist uses architectural means for this or perhaps real objects drawn into the play. These stage designers do not want to become visual artists presenting their own handwriting in the conception of the scenic space. They think more of the composition of the individual scenes of the production and of the preparation of situations which almost suggest reality. You are saying that the exhibited stage designers work with the picture, with the atmosphere of the situation, with the poetic designation of the individual scenes, with the expression of subjective feeling arising from the text or a certain part of it which is actually made substance in the design of the sets. Part of this design of the sets must therefore necessarily also be the actor and his arrangement. This means that the co-operation of the stage designer with the director must be very close. Definitely. The mise-en-scene is in fact a kind of composition. There is no central stage object here which starts up and changes in significance. It is more like a score. In form it comes close to the film scenario. These pictures
cannot, of course, function without the actions of the players. And they also represent the handwriting of the director. This is why at PQ I want to display teams: director stage designer possibly also the costume designer. Without the characteristic handwriting of the individual directors we could never put this exhibition together, it would not work. These directors also, so to speak, dissect the text of the play, concentrate on its individual scenes and then put them together as a composition. This is an attempt to create a composition of the production from several different levels and then combine them. Sometimes the individual scenes give the impression that the stage design is descriptive. But the important thing is the whole. And the cooperation of the director with the stage designer has the main say. PQ is a competitive review, the origin of the exhibited works is restricted to a certain period of time. I am limited by this. But the teams which I wish to exhibit display the origins of this creative period perhaps several years earlier. And I would like to document this longer development. The cooperation of Jan Nebesk and Jana Prekov, for instance, has lasted almost twenty years. In this group of artists and directors there also exists something in the nature of typical dramaturgy: these are new views of the great dramas the plays of Shakespeare, Rostand and Ibsen, of classical Czech works and also production attempts at texts hitherto untried in the theatre into which
Mark Ravenhill, Faust (Faust is Dead) / Kabinet mz, Brno 2000
Directed by Ji Pokorn / Set Petr B. Novk / Costumes Kateina tefkov
>Photo Ivan Kuk
the stage designer and the director try to enter purely through pictures. In this connection I would like to exhibit the stage settings from the inohern studio (Drama Studio) in st nad Labem connected with the work of director Ji Pokorn, or those from the HaDivadlo (HaTheatre) in Brno and from the Plze Opera. I asked myself who or what is actually the supporting pillar for this viewpoint of the theatre. Is it the individual theatres? The artists? Undoubtedly it is the directors. Although I cannot imagine directors such as Pitnsk, Nebesk, Morvek, Doekal and Pokorn manifesting their joint view of the theatre anywhere, I nevertheless think that it will prove its existence when I exhibit their productions alongside one another in the Czech Exhibition at PQ, because the way in which they work with the visual side of their production is similar in many ways. Stage designer Jan tpnek, for instance, works with Pitnsk, with Pokorn and lately also with Nebesk.
Iva Volnkov, 22 Anxiety Street / Nrodn divadlo, Praha 2003 Directed by Ji Pokorn / Set Petr B. Novk / Costumes Zuzana Krejzkov
>Photo Martin pelda
William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet / Nrodn divadlo, Praha 2003

Directed by Vladimr Morvek / Set Jan M. Chocholouek Costumes Zuzana Krejzkov >Photo Viktor Kronbauer
In the work of one artist one can easily distinguish the productions of the individual directors. The stage designer is not expected to be an artist with his own handwriting, but rather someone who helps the director to create his vision and pictures, to capture the significant moment. It is actually very difficult to describe the personal signature of the individual stage designers it is easier to speak of the means which they use. These are often absolutely simple popular items are white projection foil, light, colour. Sometimes the effect is even austere. I think that this vision of the stage space is greatly influenced by Bob Wilson. Stage designers try to work more architecturally or, on the contrary in a documentary, visually descriptive fashion. It does not really matter whether it is a hyper-realistic scene where they
use absolutely realistic items, or a white floor with a blue horizon. In this mosaic of situations both may act like a picture and under certain circumstances the means is similar. Popular elements are Perspex or sand. You are saying that on the stage it is actually possible to use anything, that it is difficult to specify the style of these stage designs. But is their common trait not the effort to create through a concrete object, atmosphere or the character of the space a strong emotional stimulus and address more the emotional than the rational memory? The memory of some experience? I often find that I am unable or unwilling to analyse why concretely one thing or another is on the stage,
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THEATRE OF PICTURES
INTERVIEW WITH DAVID MAREK, CURATOR OF THE CZECH EXPOSITION AT PQ 2003
but I perceive how strongly some scenes evoke my memories This way of working has, of course, one danger and that is communication. It depends on how one stretches out. and impressions. Some intimate experience is that strong and intensive, but Yes, this is the idea of the individual scenes. In this case only for some people, individually. It is not generally the link with the action is seen rather from a distance. The comprehensible. But if, on the other hand, they begin to use rational significance of particular connections and means pictures which are generally valid, then the impression is need not always be clarified for us. Each scene is considered, disgustingly cheap and we descend to the level of theatrical as it were, separately from the others. Through the scene we pop. Between these two extremes we move over the entire try to open up, to recognise each situation from within, often range. We consider how far we can go, what language to by evoking concrete circumstances, concrete objects... For select if someone is to be at all able to listen. example: this is the situation where someone misses the last train and sits alone in the cold station What does the co-operation of the stage designer and the director over the text actually look like? Usually we bring one another lots of pictorial documentation things which fascinate us in connection with the text, pictures, cuttings Things which seem to us to capture exactly the atmosphere of a certain situation. This is made up of details, splinters. From personal experience. Naturally we also talk about the idea of the production as a whole, but very often this idea of ours undergoes quite significant changes in the course of the work. We try for the spiritual precision of the description of the situation. In connection with the work of the directors and artists we are talking about something appears which might be termed the humour of subjects or the irony of styles. This has great development. First of all various styles were quoted. Someone said: We will do this scene like Baroque theatre, for instance. This intoxication with the wildness of the pictures and the confrontation of styles is actually quite
William Shakespeare, King Lear / Divadlo Komedie, Praha 1998
Directed by Michal Doekal / Set David Marek / Costumes Zuzana Krejzkov
>Photo Vanda Hybnerov
Alois Jirsek, The Lantern / Nrodn divadlo, Praha 2001 Directed by Vladimr Morvek / Set Ale Votava and Alois Mikulka Costumes Alexandra Gruskov >Photo Hana Smejkalov
Are you now thinking of the King Lear which you did with Doekal? Perhaps. Because I cannot speak for the others. This is an absolutely concrete instance. Or the last scene from Marya by the Mrtk brothers which was staged in the National Theatre by J. A. Pitnsk with Jan tpnek. It looks like an aerial view. The poisoned Vvra is lying in the field. Suddenly the scale changes and the man appears terribly small in the midst of the wheat. It is a view of a landscape which appears in this production on several further levels. It acts as a catalyst this emotional perception suddenly makes other scenes in this production clear to us. And through this one realises: yes, I know this situation.
THEATRE OF PICTURES
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impersonal and this desire to utilise, to abuse some view, to ironise it, has vanished to a considerable extent recently. The theatre wants to be more personal, more intimate, more intense. It wants the feelings it evokes to be more true to life. Irony and sneers, the intellectual withdrawal, are vanishing. It is beginning to be clear that it is important to engage as an artist personally, not to fear emotion, to be more open, more sincere.
Mrtk bros, Marya / Nrodn divadlo, Praha 1999 Directed by J. A. Pitnsk / Set Jan tpnek / Costumes Jana Prekov
>Photo Hana Smejkalov
A. P. Chekhov, Ivanov / Divadlo Na zbradl, Praha 1997

Directed and set by Petr Lbl / Costumes Kateina tefkov
>Photo Martin pelda
INTERVIEW WITH DAVID MAREK, AUTHOR OF THE CZECH EXPOSITION AT PQ 2003
One name has been mentioned as an inspiration Robert Wilson. We met his work at large only last year in Bohemia in the production of Janeks Fate. His work could probably not have been that basic starting-point for a whole generation of Czech stage designers and directors. Where do you yourself see the beginning and the sources of this manner of seeing the theatre and working? That can be precisely analysed better by someone looking at this from outside. But I think that this is connected with the desire to achieve some visual experience, some awakening. Perhaps now there will be a period of greater visual modesty and intimacy. The first half of the nineties was very broken-up emotionally. There were tangles and clusters of pictures. This is the period of the work of director and stage designer Petr Lbl, which I cannot unfortunately include in my exhibition as a whole. His work is, of course, at the beginning of this fragmentation of the mise-en-scene into the individual scenes pictures.
Lenka Lagronov, Terezka / Divadlo Komedie, Praha 1997 / Directed by Jan Nebesk
Set and costumes Jana Prekov >Photo Bohdan Holomek
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THEATRE OF PICTURES
Is it possible to say that he was the first to formulate this vision of the theatre emphatically in the Czech theatre? Theatre as a surprise and at the same time a concrete designation. We entered the theatre at a time when the principle of indication was generally popular. And in addition everything symbolised something. This was exceedingly abstract. I think that this was the source of the desire to address the audience with completely concrete pictures. With a concrete emotion. Not
Edmond Rostand, Cyrano de Bergerac / Nrodn divadlo, Praha 2002 / Directed by Michal Doekal / Set David Marek / Costumes Zuzana Krejzkov
>Photo Martin pelda
a general one. It was often said with enthusiasm how many associations one piece of cloth can evoke This is all very nice, but I am interested in a concrete human situation. It is the same with new theatrical texts: they are concrete, cruel, they address one more directly, they concern one more. Lbl was perhaps the first to express this. He was also uncompromising in the concrete designation: Stroupenicks Nai furianti (Our Swaggerers) in national costume. And all women with handbags. But each of the
directors I have mentioned could rightly object that he achieved this manner of expression in his own way. Now we are again somewhat further on, even in the composition of the pictures. Perhaps too far away. Suddenly one feels from the stage a wave of aestheticism, even mannerism. What is pretty can be beautifully abused and repeated light shines on it, clear and beautiful forms This vision of the theatre matured in the first half of the nineties and could probably already do with new impulses.
Theatre of Pictures
Interview with David Marek, curator of the Czech Exposition at PQ 2003
...and Viktor Kronbauer Photographed
Hudebn divadlo v Karln (The Music Theatre Karln)
"The Globe Theatre, Prague
#The Spirla Theatre
"The Theatre on Dlouh Street
#The Roxy Theatre
"The studio of the renown Czech theatre photographer Jaroslav Krej before the floods
#The same studio after the catastrophy
Jitka Sloupov and Jana Patokov
##Theatre on Dlouh Street dries its decorations #The flooded balcony of the Theatre on Dlouh Street >Photos archives
Nine months have passed

and the most seriously damaged stages in Prague are still wrestling with the consequences of the great flood. How was their season? The consequences of the flooding, out in the open scarcely perceptible today, are that much more serious in the theatres, in that the loss, however temporary, of their own premises (often in basements) pulls the rug from under the feet of the permanent companies. These companies, the traditional basis of the Czech (and central European) theatre world because they work with a long term horizon and create and maintain a rotating repertoire must now demonstrate (apart from artistic abilities) an exceptional physical and psychic stamina. Long tours and moving from one temporary refuge to another, unattractive material conditions, all this has a demoralising effect on companies if the provisional state lasts too long. What can keep them going is a feasible perspective of the future, based on intensive cooperation, practice, adaptation and servicing the repertoire, and above all on the preparation of new productions (and, implicitly understood, the financial security for this activity). Theatres that were only slightly damaged, such as for example the Divadlo Na zbradl (Theatre on the Balustrades), could open the season with only a short delay, and still offer to host other companies. Of those who suffered more, the Divadlo pod Palmovkou (Theatre Below Palmovka) came off best: for the few months the company went on tour, its audience could anticipate a refurbished auditorium by the end of the season, on 14 March. The management of the Divadlo v Dlouh (Theatre on Dlouh Street), whose underground auditorium was eight metres under water, immediately realised that repairs would take a long time and they would have to continue in another locality. So whilst water was being pumped from the auditorium and it was left to dry out, the company went on tour round the whole country, and also started rehearsing. In November they succeeded in opening a new production (Ronald Harwoods The Dresser) on the host stage of the Theatre on the Balustrades, where it continues. Today the company alternates between five different Prague theatres (they perform a revival of their successful production of Grabbes Don Juan and Faust in the intimate Studio of the
The photograph of the yellow inflatable raft cutting across the flooded balcony in the Theatre on Dlouh Street in Prague has become a symbol of the greatest catastrophe to theatres all over our country, the most extensive damage occurring in Prague. Other photographs and information describing the condition of the theatres under water, provide the same dismal impression flooded foyers, warped wood, mildewing walls, saturated seats, destroyed scenery, deposits of smelly mud everywhere in unbelievable disarray. The catastrophic floods which in August 2002 invaded the river basins of all the major Czech rivers, were responsible not only for loss of life, of property, and of heritage sites, but also for damage to theatres and halls which affected the living art of actors, singers and dancers. It was not only the central part of the Prague metro which ended up under water, but also the cellars of the National Theatre and whole theatres, which in Prague are often in the basements of buildings. Fifteen theatres in the capital city were damaged, and the opening of the season postponed. Outside Prague, the inohern studio (Drama Studio) of st nad Labem, the Miroslav Hornek Theatre in Pilsen, the Central European Colony of Contemporary Art in Terezn and the Metropol in esk Budjovice, home to the Jihoesk divadlo (South Bohemian Theatre), were all seriously damaged. Another five theatres in the Czech Republic were partly flooded, but able to open the season in September. In addition to damage to lighting and sound equipment, theatre costumes, properties and sets that could not be moved during the flooding, some theatres have suffered another kind of loss: their archival material and personal collections acquired over decades were also destroyed by the flood water. The DAMU theatre academy in particular lost part of its library collection. The preliminary estimate of damages to the theatres alone is approximately 500 million K, or 16.7 million Euro. The following table gives more detailed information about the extent of the damage to Czech theatres:
"The flooded Archa Theatre ""The Theatre on Dlouh Street
>Photos archives
THEATRES UNDER WATER
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Prague
Archa Theatre
Status The water in the lower theatre spaces reached a height of 4 metres, and remained there for several days. Much of the fixed technology in the space was destroyed. Approximately 95% of the lighting and sound equipment, costumes, archival materials, and computer equipment was salvaged. The Archa Theatre will definitely NOT be in operation in less than 6 months, and is cooperating with the Ponec Theatre as a temporary venue. Donations for supporting the Archa Theatre can be sent to Divadla Archa account number 576745523/0300, variable symbol - 2002 stage, ground floor under water The water from the Vltava reached a height of 75 cm in the theatre foyer. The basement was flooded and air conditioning destroyed, but regular operations of theatre are safe. The theatre resumed its programme on September 11. Both sublevels of the building were completely flooded. Theatre operations will resume at the beginning of the 2003/2004 season. Everything was completely covered in water right up to the level of the stage. The start of regular operations in the large theatre space are anticipated at the end of January. Account Number: 934081/0100 The theatre was flooded; some things were salvaged. The repertoire of the Black Theatre was restored in September. Basement flooded; regular operations of the theatre safe. Damage to the flooded basement, including technical equipment, currently exceed more than 50 million K. Donations for the restoration of the equipment can be sent to: National Theatre Account number: 277705550207/0100 The lower space contained 6 metres of water for several days. Everything, including both bars, chillout, backstage and other spaces attached to the club were completely damaged. Even the stage, the seats, the flooring, and the stucco on the walls have been destroyed. Donations can be made to collections for the restoration of the Roxy: 20001-14934-111/0100 The dressing room was partly flooded. The space was partly flooded; technology was affected; the entire archive with its unique collection was destroyed. Donations can be made: 12141214/0300 It was possible to remove some of the production materials from the Laterna Magika as well as the portable technical equipment from the basement and other spaces of the National Theatre, before the water came in. Laterna Magika began performing again on Monday August 19 - although under temporary conditions. The space was completely flooded and destroyed. The spaces were flooded with the water reaching a height of approximately 2 metres (auditorium, dressing rooms and basement). affected affected The studio space contained 90cm of water, and the heavy humidity delayed the work of the Studio. The water reached the top of the stage; technical equipment still functions, and the theatre will continue to perform. The water from the river Vltava did not reach the theatre, but on August 14 the sewer system could not contain the assault of water from the floods. The theatre was completely flooded up to the height of the balcony (8m) and articles were hauled from the theatre space. More than 1000 costumes were taken to be cleaned. The interior of the theatre looked like the set of a catastrophe film. Damages are estimated at 9 million crowns approximately. The theatre company is hosted by various theatres spaces inside and outside Prague Donations can be sent to: Divadlo v Dlouh, account number 179164418/0300 The water reached a depth of 8.5 metres, 1.7 metres above stage level. The current status of the building has been classified as category B (building with structural problems). Estimated damage - 115 mil. K. The Music Theatre Karln will perform this season at the Congress Centre Prague - it is planned that they will perform here for the next two years while their home is reconstructed. Semafor was flooded. The water has been drained, but building inspectors have forbidden this in the event that additional damage may occur. It is essential to replace the flooring and the plastering completely. The space was flooded to the height of the stage.
Globe Theatre Milnium Theatre Divadlo Na zbradl (Theatre on the Balustrades) Theatre Na Prdle Divadlo pod Palmovkou (Pod Palmovkou Theatre) Ta Fantastika Studio Citadela National Theatre
Roxy Theatre
National Marionette Theatre e loutek (Kingdom of Puppets) Laterna Magika
Klub Lvka Damza Spirla Pyramida vandovo divadlo Ungelt Divadlo v Dlouh (Theatre on Dlouh Street)
Music Theatre Karln
Semafor (Karln) Branick divadlo Auditorium in the Municipal Library
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Outside of Prague
Metropol Jihoesk divadlo (South Bohemian Theatre) ESK KRUMLOV Mstsk divadlo (Municipal Theatre) LITVNOV Docela Velk Divadlo (The Quite Large Theatre) PLZE Divadlo M. Hornka ST N.L. inohern studio
Status
ESK BUDJOVICE The basement was flooded, and the water since removed from the space. The opening of the season has not been Mal divadlo (Small Theatre) affected. The Small Hall was completely flooded and ruined, the foyer in the Large Hall was also damaged by the water (part of the floor has caved in). Damage estimated at 2.5 mil. K. The flooded ground floor contained approximately 60 cm of water. The archive in the basement was completely under water, as well as part of the dressing rooms.
Some technical equipment was destroyed; the auditorium was unaffected.
Gushing rain caused the roof to collapse directly above the props storage in the theatre
The space was completely destroyed up to the 10th row in the auditorium; the stage is also ruined.
The audience area practically did not exist. The theatre saved most of the sets; nonetheless, the expenses of the rebirth of the inohern Studio will not be minimal. Currently they take some of the productions on tour. Donations can be sent to: INOHERN STUDIO, account number: 784593450207/0100 variable symbol 26547929
TEREZN M.E.C.C.A - Central European All spaces were under water to a height of 2.5 - 3 m, ruining all plaster and flooring, stage, seating area, lighting Colony of Contemporary Art and electrical equipment. Damage is estimated at 6,5 mil. K. 2002. Donations can be made to account number: 94-3494880207/0100, Komern banka
vanda Theatre; their most monumental production, an adaptation of Dostoyevskys The Possessed, is being shown on the big stage of the Divadlo na Vinohradech [Vinohrady Theatre]; and other performances take place in the Divadlo Komedie [Comedy Theatre] and the Divadlo v Celetn [Theatre in Celetn Street]). The company had to re-rehearse and adapt most of its productions for new conditions, and rehearse and prepare new productions. The cleaning and drying out of their premises has been completed, and a restored theatre is in preparation (stage designer David Marek). Theyre working hard, and I think well be reopening in late September, early October says Daniela lkov, director of a theatre whose temporary state will have lasted for more than a season. Meanwhile, at least the box office with information is open in the arcade of the building a focal point for the permanent audience. Moral and financial support which crosses borders, together with audiences who follow their theatre around theatrical Prague all this has helped to get the theatres back on their feet.
But it is not always enough; the company of our most seriously affected theatre, the Hudebn divadlo Karln (Music Theatre in Karln), has been less fortunate than the Theatre in Dlouh Street, even though it has displayed tenacity and solidarity. Its home stage (the former Prague Variet, built in 1881 and 1896-98, a pseudo-Baroque edifice to designs by the architect Bedich Ohmann) is one of our largest theatres, but has for a long time been in need of reconstruction, due to start next year. Its capacity and imposing appearance makes it very attractive from the commercial point of view, and from the beginning of the 1990s, private companies which stage big musicals have shown (euphemistically speaking) considerable interest in it. In spite of this, it has up to now held on to its permanent company and repertoire programme, which covers a broad range of music theatre from operettas through musical comedy to American-style musicals. Once it became evident that expensive reconstruction was unavoidable, the City of Prague, which owns the building and manages the company, dismissed the director overnight (without even waiting till the
##The Theatre on Dlouh Street #The foyer of the Jihoesk divadlo (South Bohemian Theatre)
>Photo archives
/31
end of the season, when his contract was due to expire), allegedly for poor accountancy. One of the arguments against the director was that in extremely difficult conditions the company had rehearsed and successfully opened a new production, the musical Chicago, and started to rehearse another musical comedy. At the same time it was clear that their temporary home, the Congress Centre, which also belongs to the City of Prague, was so expensive that the rent swallowed up the larger part of the companys grant. In place of the director, under whose leadership the company had gone from strength to strength (let alone becoming popular with theatregoers), the City without advertising or interviewing installed a theatre entrepreneur linked with exactly the type of private one-off production of extravagant musicals mentioned above: there is no wonder that the idiosyncratic theatre policies of the municipality (which many times made arbitrary decisions on matters of public interest without any clear explanation of its intentions) evoked suspicion that it was trying to get rid of a financially demanding company and at the same time shift the financial burden of the reconstruction (and therefore of future profits) to a private operator. In response to this criticism, the new director stated publicly that the company would be able to return to the restored theatre in the autumn of 2005. The Semafor Theatre, which played on the small stage of the Karln Theatre, was also inundated with floodwater, including its archive. Today it is hosted largely by the Minor Theatre in Prague. Its head, Ji Such, has accepted an offer from the Prague 6 municipal authorities which, unlike the City of Prague, have done all they can to support theatre (evidence of this is the short history of one of Pragues most successful theatres, the Dejvick divadlo [Dejvice Theatre]). A disused hall in Dejvice will be reconstructed for the use of Semafor. The architect is Miroslav Melena, who was responsible for the interior of the flooded Karln Theatre small stage. The most badly affected theatre outside Prague, the Drama Studio in st nad Labem, found a refuge in the Little Theatre Setuza and goes touring. The losses caused by the flooding in this case had to be linked with the reconstruction of the building. These had reached the stage of deciding between architectural plans for a reconstruction. The city has released six million crowns (more than $200,000) and there have been contributions from private sponsors. st theatregoers hope that by autumn they will be back in their own theatre.
The stage of the Drama Studio in st nad Labem >Photo archives
Thank you!
Under the influence of the first photos from the flooded Czech theatres and on the initiative of the Alfrd Radok Foundation, the Theatre Institute, the Association of Professional Theatres of the Czech Republic and the AuraPont Agency, the largest public collection for the help of companies in trouble was established. Eventually the sum of more than two million crowns (nearly $70,000) was collected on the account of the Divadla pod vodou (Theatres under
Water). There were financial contributions from individual donors both at home and abroad, whilst theatres not under water referred the proceeds from benefit performances and the income from advent sales of drowned golden sleigh bells. Above all, thanks to the initiative and contacts of the Theatre and Literary Agency Aura-Pont, substantial contributions from personalities of world theatre the dramatists Tom Stoppard, Patrick Marber, David Auburn and Tony Kushner were channelled into the collections account. Significant help from abroad also came from, among others, the society Amiti franco-tchco-slovaque and colleagues in Finland and the USA. The biggest benefit event, dedicated to the help of culture caught in the central European floods, took place in Hamburg. There, on the initiative of the senator for culture (the Hamburg equivalent of the Minister of Culture), who is Czech Frau Daa Horkov a decision was made to assist in the renewal of its twinned cities, Prague and Dresden. A magnificent evening (according to the German newspapers) took place on 4 October in Hamburg State Opera. As well as collecting a considerable amount of money (tickets cost up to 500 Euro), it provided an artistic experience for the audience: international opera stars Edita Gruberov and Kurt Moll sang Mozart arias, and an improvised ballet, As You Like It, with choreography by John Neumeier was performed with 120 dancers from the Hamburg and Dresden state opera houses. The main roles were taken by the Czech soloists in the Hamburg ballet company, the brothers Ji and Otto Bubenek. The concert proceeds and other financial donations from those attending will be devoted to the repair of the Dresden Municipal Museum and the Semper Opera, the Prague Municipal Library, the Pinkas Synagogue and the flooded Prague theatres. More than three quarters of a million crowns (over $25,000) was earmarked for the Theatres under Water account from the proceeds of this concert. Austrian artists also organised a performance on
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1 December for Prague theatres, galleries, museums and archives which were affected by the August floods. A benefit matine was held in the Vienna theatre Akzent in front of more than 150 people, who as well as purchasing tickets priced from 25 to 40 Euro also contributed to a special flood damage collection. The model of benefit performances was also chosen by the Slovak initiative Theatres above the Water; companies from the flooded Czech theatres were invited by their Slovak colleagues to give guest performances and all the proceeds from these were put directly on their accounts. Semafor Theatre, the Theatre of South Bohemia and the Drama Studio from st all appeared in front of sympathetic Slovak audiences.
Foreign assistance was often directed towards specific theatres

In September 2002 the company from the Theatre on Dlouh Street, which was completely destroyed by the August floods, visited Ld, where their Polish colleagues organised a number of events on their behalf. The theatre received the proceeds from the guest performance, a concert of classical music and an art auction, and a financial donation from the Ld Artists Association. The Theatre on Dlouh Street also became an actor in
It is still possible to send donations to the Theatres under Water account: Account no: 179201477/0300, Contact: Aura-Pont, divadeln a literrn agentura, s. r. o., Radlick 99, 150 00 Prague 5, tel. 5155 4938, 5155 3992, fax: 5155 0207, e-mail: zaplavy@aura-pont.cz, www.divadlo.cz/zaplavy *) We would like through these pages to thank all past and future donors. Jitka Sloupov, Coordinator of the Collection *)Currently, the web pages of Theatre Institute contain the following information: Central Appeal for assistance to Theatres Under Water information
what seems to be the most original initiative in theatre collections. An internet auction in December, in which the prize was the opportunity to be a character in a book by Terry Pratchett, brought the Theatre on Dlouh Street 135,531 crowns (nearly $5,000). That was what the Pratchett fan Ladislav Pelc thought it was worth, to have the hero of the next episode of Pratchetts cycle The Discworld called after him. The world-renowned British author of fantasy literature, who came up with the idea for the auction, devoted the proceeds to the flood-damaged Prague Theatre. Pratchett decided on further support for the theatre as a result of his enthusiasm over their production of his play Wyrd Sisters, staged by the theatre in 2001. The activity of the organisers of the collection Theatres under Water is not of course limited to the gathering of financial means the web pages of the Theatre Institute have become a kind of Exchange and Mart for help from colleagues both here and abroad for the damaged theatres. The account also tries to arrange further financial assistance for privately run theatres damaged by the floods which are forbidden by law to make collections themselves. The account Theatres under Water will be open for contributions to the end of this theatre season (i.e. to 30.6.2003). In the meantime the focus will be on exceptional events such as the Alfrd Radok Award, the Theatre European Regions Festival in Hradec Krlov, and in June, the 10th International Exhibition of Stage Design and Theatre Architecture, the Prague Quadrennial.
for those wishing to make financial donations list of affected theatres with details about their damage during the floods, as well as photo documentation of the catastrophe list of important technical equipment required by the affected theatres list of photographs that can be published as accompanying documentation to promote benefit activities Available is also: videocassette a 20 minute documentary examines the theatre spaces affected by the floods (for those interested in obtaining a full copy, please email: mirka.potuckova@divadlo.cz) CD-Rom containing all information
| Marie Reslov |
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THE NATIONAL THEATRE (STILL?) AT THE CROSSROADS
The drama company of the National Theatre has traditionally held an outstanding position among Czech theatres. But of course it pays in a way for its place in the sun. The guaranteed state subsidy which it receives, relatively high in comparison with other theatres, is purchased at the price of the pitiless gaze of the professional and lay public which follows, evaluates and comments on everything which happens in this theatre, with far more attention than in the case of other companies. The time when the National Theatre symbolised the pride of a small nation and the individuality of the Czech language may now be long past, but something of this sacred symbolism has remained indelibly in the consciousness of the audiences and the members of the company. According to directors newly appointed in the nineties to the service of this theatre, this special stigma and the awareness of responsibility linked to it (and also the bureaucratic operation) tie one down, make
Mrtk bros, A Year in the Village / Nrodn divadlo, Praha 1993 Directed
by Miroslav Krobot / Set and costumes Marta Roszkopfov
>Photo Oldich Pernica
it difficult to work and also complicate the effort to change this theatre from the cautious petrified guardian of classical values into a living organism reacting naturally to the present day. Into a place where the top professionals meet in their work. For the time when Czech actors and directors considered an engagement in the Prague National Theatre to be the indubitable peak of their career is now past. In the last decade it has even seemed that many of them are justified in thinking that the possibility of working here is for them something of a gift horse. The first head of the drama company of the National Theatre after the November Revolution (1990-97), director
Ivan Rajmont, tried to create, with the help of strong personalities from the alternative or studio theatre, a new face for the Czech National Theatre. His attempts at a postmodern revival of the production style here came up against a whole range of difficulties, faults and misunderstanding right from the start. Rajmont started out from his own experience as director and head of a small theatre, the inohern studio (Drama Studio) in st nad Labem, distinctly in opposition to the official, stone-built theatrical institutions. It was not easy and in the period following November 1989 it was not only some Czech theatre artists/practitioners, but also many Czech politicians who were in an equivalent situation to preserve the former independence and at the same time make the transition from critic of the official structures to their representative, albeit in free social circumstances. Among other things it meant making up a certain professional deficit, because in the Czech alternative theatre before November it was often the case that what we say was more important than how we put this over from the stage. Rajmont and his colleagues, whom he brought with him as the new chief from small theatres, sometimes even situated in cellars where the actors were only a few yards from the audience, to the large stages of the two buildings of the National Theatre, had minimal experience of working in such a space. They were accustomed to using their own theatrical language, poetry and dramatic stylisation. To communicating with a specific type of audience. The drama company of the National Theatre at that time did not give the impression of a spiritually close company, but nevertheless it was a group of actors bound by years of working together and there were a number of stars and true masters of their art (for instance Rudolf Hrunsk, Josef Kemr and Josef Somr). The new arrivals had great difficulty establishing a common theatrical language with the old inhabitants. And in addition to this the basic directors of the company Ivan Rajmont, Jan Kaer and Miroslav Krobot (later Ivo Krobot) were quite different individualities. None of the circumstances indicated that it would be possible in the course of one or two seasons to give national drama some kind of more emphatic profile. Also the majority of the productions of the first half of the nineties were accused of eclecticism and lack of unity in style and often, unfortunately, of lack of professionalism. Also connected with the change in the political regime was a change in the dramaturgical orientation of the theatres. Censorship vanished and with it the need for allegorical reflections. Suddenly it was possible to present authors hitherto not presented In the first seasons Rajmont tried to present contemporary dramatists (such as Tabori, Kolts, Mitterer, Havel and Topol). Then, however, there was a rapid drop in contemporary material on the stages of the National Theatre and an increase in the number of classical titles (Shakespeare, Ibsen, Goldoni, but also Miller, Ionesco, Claudel or Pirandello). If there was any experimenting, then it was with a new interpretation of old or less frequently presented
material, with form But these were attempts which for various reasons were unsatisfactorily naive, inconsistent and awkward and their self-respect was sometimes perceived as being on the verge of parody. Pavel Trensk characterised the first three seasons of the National Theatre in the nineties in the magazine Svt a divadlo (World and Theatre) with the words: We find stylistic diversity in almost every production (), the directors concepts fluctuate between empty academism and would-be post-modern outbursts. () what is lacking most is artistic direction which would breathe new life into what appears to be a jaded and perhaps also demoralised theatrical environment. The only truly successful production of the drama company of the National Theatre in this period was the dramatisation of the novel by the Mrtk brothers, A Year in the Village, the production of which was prepared by director Miroslav Krobot. It did not cut new paths, but it utilised the tried and tested procedures on a high professional level and especially with exceptional enthusiasm for the subject matter: several mutually entwined love stories from the Moravian countryside, a simple stylisation of a rural living room and village square in a single space and emotive, dramatically effective psychological portraits In a period of general uncertainty this production showed the dramatic world of the Moravian countryside, where order was linked with natural cycles and with the Christian faith. A Year in the Village won the prestigious Alfrd Radok Award for the best production of 1993. Proof of the fact that the closely watched results of the work of the drama company of the National Theatre were seen to be unsatisfactory on a long-term basis was the fact that the new Board of the National Theatre, appointed by the Minister of Culture, considered ending the leadership of Ivan Rajmont and possibly replacing him. Thus existential
uncertainty was added to the evident fecklessness of the management and dramaturgy of the company. Chaotic attempts were made to see if the situation could not be resolved by someone from outside. Martin Porubjak, who was active for many years in the Slovak National Theatre, was engaged as dramaturge of the drama company of the National Theatre in Prague. Slovak directors Vajdika and Polk were invited to work in Prague as guests. And shortly after them there appeared in the National Theatre the first Czech directors of the youngest generation, Hana Bureov (Caldern de la Barca: The Wonder-Working Magician) and Michal Doekal (James Joyce: Exiles ). It was their productions which brought the National Theatre further nominations for theatre awards. It was as though this
"William Shakespeare, The Twelfth Night / Nrodn divadlo, Praha
2001 / Directed by Enik Esznyi / Set Jan tpnek Costumes Andrea Krlov >Photo Hana Smejkalov
(still?) at the Crossroads

#Mrtk bros, Marya / Nrodn divadlo, Praha 1999
Directed by J. A. Pitnsk / Set Jan tpnek / Costumes Jana Prekov
The National Theatre
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the National Theatre has a notable ability to magnify the shortcomings of a dramatic text out of all proportion. His words are, unfortunately, not only precise, but also clearsighted. The National Theatre was to continue this trend of unfailing opprobrium as far as original plays were concerned also under Rajmonts successor Josef Kovaluk. Josef Kovaluk, for many years dramaturge of the Brno HaDivadlo (HaTheatre) and post-November Dean of the Drama Faculty of JAMU (the Janek Academy of Performing Arts) in Brno, began to manage the drama company of the National Theatre in 1997 after having worked there for a year as its dramaturge. He took over from Rajmont a company whose work was described by Zdenk Honek in the magazine Svt a divadlo in an article entitled The Era of Insipidity in the National Theatre with the words: This is not what is popularly referred to as a crisis. A crisis is a situation on the cutting edge which forces a solution and is therefore activating. Drama in the National Theatre is stagnating. It has settled down in its tame, genially sedate environment, not having the strength or perhaps even the desire to change the status quo. To the stormy atmosphere of the social situation, full of movement, disorder and excesses, it reacts with a strange mixture of tepid romanticism without inflamed romantic sensibility and strong emotions, an escapist attitude without the pure transcendental, here sentimentally cheery, there as critical as a cottager and at the same time of equally tepid professional pragmatism which wishes to balance the lack of spirit with skill in the craft, of which it also does not really have a surplus. Kovaluk began his dramatic practice bewitched by the ability of the theatre to express the vital attitudes and emotions of the audience in the seventies, at the time of the most severe communist censorship. The HaDivadlo, where he was working, was one of the so-called studio theatres. The
"Zdenk Jeceln, Family Seat / Nrodn divadlo, Praha 2002 Directed by Ivo Krobot / Set Tom Rusn / Costumes Jana Zboilov
#Edmond Rostand, Cyrano de Bergerac / Nrodn divadlo, Praha 2002

Directed by Michal Doekal / Set David Marek Costumes Zuzana Krejzkov >Photo Martin pelda
theatrical institution were calling out for a strong transformation by younger people, untrammelled by sentimentality and the fear of failure. After a long period of fasting there appeared on the stages of the National Theatre in the middle of the nineties two original Czech plays: Steigerwalds Nobel and Mas Strange Birds. The ambition of these texts was clear: they both wished to hold a mirror to the confused and in many ways irritating post-November period which seemed to have robbed everyone of the certainty of previous values and was not yet able, in its boundless pragmatism, to offer them any others. The dramatic possibilities of both texts, however, turned out to be dubious and their productions were unsuccessful. Theatre critic Zdenk Honek made the following comment on the premiere of Strange Birds: the monumental space of
company withstood the normalisation measures (like other theatres of this type) with authors productions, the startingpoint of which was most frequently collective work on a selected theme, not a finished dramatic text. These theatres, speaking a special metaphorical language, thus gradually became a sort of replacement for a political tribune and also to some extent the conscience of society. When he took up his function Josef Kovaluk astonished with his ideological concept of the future direction to be taken by the drama company of the National Theatre. He spoke of the strengthening of the Czech identity, the perceivement of, respect for and the promotion of certain, especially moral, ideals and values, of the return of man to himself, of his essential determination, of the search to get the present under ones skin, how to name and shape all the
"Sarah Cane, 4.48 Psychosis / Nrodn divadlo, Praha 2003 Directed by Michal Doekal / Set Alexandr Pukin Costumes Barbora Maliov >Photo Hana Smejkalov $Sophocles, Oedipus the King / Nrodn divadlo, Praha 1996
Directed by Miroslav Krobot / Set Jaroslav Malina Costumes Marie Frankov >Photo Oldich Pernica
doubts and hopes which we carry within us Kovaluk basically repeated in flowery language the premises on which the work of the small studio theatres was built before November. It was as if he had forgotten that the social situation had changed radically, that in an institution such as the National Theatre he no longer had natural allies, that the actors here were far more interested in the dramatic qualities of the text and the role than in the naming and making vivid of the values which in the past formed our society, our nation. Kovaluks dramaturgical plan was reminiscent of
a reading-book: dramatisations prevailed of Czech literary works (Durych: Wandering, Hrubn: Romance for Bugle, Hrabal: I Served the King of England, Vanura: Markta Lazarov) and European classics (Bulgakov: The Master and Margaret , Dostoyevsky: The Possessed ), it continued somehow automatically with the Shakespearean cycle and the presentation of Czech classical dramas. More frequently than before there appeared on the stages of the National Theatre new original Czech plays which at first sight seemed the ideal fulfilment of Kovaluks vision, but over the dramatic qualities of which the critics just shook their heads in disbelief (Antonn Pidal: The Night After , Daniela Fischerov: The Firebird, Pemysl Rut: Olga and the Devil, Arnot Goldflam: The Agreement). The persuasive force of the production results remained very distant from the proclaimed targets. In spite of the strong reservations of the critics Kovaluk stuck to his guns and tried to find ideological support from historians and philosophers for his ideological concept of Czech themes. He began to defend his work uncompromisingly against the public and the
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THE NATIONAL THEATRE (STILL?) AT THE CROSSROADS
Iva Volnkov, 22 Anxiety Street / Nrodn divadlo, Praha 2003

Directed by Ji Pokorn / Set Petr B. Novk / Costumes Zuzana Krejzkov
>Photo Martin pelda
critics. He also had great difficulty communicating with the actors in the company and basically up to 2002, when his sixyear mission in the drama company of the National Theatre definitively ended after a years postponement, he was not able to convince them of his programme. The production results of Kovaluks team were often worse than dubious. Exceptions to this were some productions linked with the guest productions of members of the younger generation (the drama of the Mrtk brothers, Marya, directed by J. A.
Pitnsk, Jirseks Lantern directed by Vladimr Morvek) or, on the contrary, the seniors of Czech drama production (Otomar Kreja directed Bernhards Minetti and Oto evk another of Bernhards texts - Before Retirement). The attempt to put an original Czech text on the stage, which was to have culminated in the presentation of two plays from a drama contest organised directly by the drama company of the National Theatre, ended in a fiasco. The productions of the play by Zdenk Jeceln, Family Seat, and that by Lubo Balk, entitled Schweiks Grandson , were dropped from the repertory after a few performances. In a situation where the National Theatre had almost reached rock bottom its management was taken over by director Michal Doekal (born in 1965). He decided to lead the company out of the enclosed ideological and production mud of the Czech themes by means of radical therapy. He took on several outstanding young actors and he changed the line in dramaturgy. He made it clear to the company that he set great store by the good co-operation between existing members and newcomers. He announced the project of the cycle Forms of Contemporary Drama and launched a strong information campaign about it in the media. He showed that he knew the European theatrical context and wanted the drama company of the Prague National Theatre to become a conscious part of it. After he had been in charge for half a year the plays were presented of Martin Crimp: The Country, Sarah Cane: 4.48 Psychosis and Iva Volnkov: 22 Anxiety St. The new boss, who successfully headed the Divadlo Komedie (Comedy Theatre) for almost ten years, introduced himself with a spectacular production of Rostands Cyrano de Bergerac and his colleague of the same generation, Vladimr Morvek, staged Shakespeares Romeo and Juliet, no less opulent and attractively cast. So far it seems that the new leadership will oscillate between the pragmatic solution of the attendance rates of both large theatres of the National Theatre and a generous programme of seeking out new texts and new ways of staging them. Simultaneously with the change in the leadership of the drama company there was also a change in the post of Director of the National Theatre. The practical lawyer and opera-lover Ji Srstka was replaced by Daniel Dvok stage designer, former head of the State Opera and one of the first Czech theatrical entrepreneurs. Whereas Srstka left the drama company its autonomy, it is possible that Dvok will wish to influence to a greater extent not only its running, but also the artistic profile of the National Theatre as a whole. Whether this will benefit the National Theatre and its drama company only time will show.

| Ivan ek |
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WILSONS FATE: A HAPPY ENCOUNTER
Leo Janek was one of those masters who created spontaneously, from enchantment with the initial inspiration. He did not believe in a too carefully chiselled, deliberated structure, in reconsideration. He always insisted that the first idea is the best because it is the spontaneous welling up of a pure soul. Undoubtedly because the painful searching of the Beethoven type, nourished by a permanent dissatisfaction and carried by an incessant fumbling in the dark, a circling around a thought until it is definitively clarified, was foreign to his creative nature, brimming over with nervous temperament. His Fate is such a work. The work of a sudden strong formulating and inspiring lightning flash. After having worked on Jenfa he had greater faith in himself and wanted, still full of energy from that opera, to experiment whilst it was warm; to go on experimenting more crucially with the dramatic capacity of his rhytmico-melodic patterns derived from speech; to prove its tectonic possibilities. Janek was the kind of self-aware artist who could only move ahead. Maybe it was thanks to this unwavering aspiration that he eventually achieved From the House of the Dead But Fate needed that hindsight.
Almost too many personal emotions play a role in the biographical anecdote linked with Janeks Fate. In the tragic year of 1903, which was, however, illuminated by an enchanting summer in the spa of Luhaovice, the composer pledged Kamilla (the first woman of this name in his life) his passionate vow: I will revenge you, I will write my new opera about you! Janek had no defence against inflamed emotions, not even when in frenzy he drafted the first dramatic sketch of the incident which, with the onset of work and influence of weighty personal events, became more and more the story of his own life. The dramatic shape which grew under his hand is very bizarre and lacking in continuity, perhaps more of a solitary cry of the soul. This shape however had, or could have had, certain interesting, unconventional features. The subject was a contemporary incident from society, from the cream of the bourgeoisie something quite unusual in the Czech opera. The only predecessor was Ludvk elansks opera Kamilla, which had started everything off by drawing such an unflattering picture of the composers acquaintance from Luhaovice. Janek was of
Leo Janek, Fate / Nrodn divadlo, Praha 2002 / Conducted by Ji Blohlvek / Directed by Robert Wilson
Set and light design Robert Wilson / Costumes Jacques Reynaud >Photo Oldich Pernica
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course handicapped by the figure of the misunderstood artist and his conflict with conventional morality a conflict which harmonised with too many events in his own life. The spa of Luhaovice, which he enjoyed visiting every year, certainly played a role. So in the end it turned out that he wrote this promised opera about himself. Kamilla, although woman
of embarrassing or ridiculous kitsch. Janek undoubtedly wanted his Fate to address a certain section of bourgeois Prague society, whose favour and social recognition he was wooing hence such a melodramatic love story from its milieu. Today we can only guess what his attitude really was; whether he was mortally serious, or whether one could sense
who could claim to have had two operas written about her, doesnt come well out of either of them. This time she is not even the central figure of the story, as Janek, somewhat selfishly, shifts the focus to the composer ivn. He didnt do the fate of his Fate any favours by asking the young teacher Fedora Bartoov to put his raw dramatic ideas into verse. Janek was standing a little in the middle of the path here; the contemporary nature of his material cried out for prose. Verse shifted the already excessively sentimentally loaded subject (in some ways unconventional, but with elements suiting the taste of the time) to the border
in the too lofty versifying of the young poetess a certain mutation into parody. In some places an ironic distancing is plain: for example, the figure of Mla is handled with deliberate affectation; but even ivns poetic diction makes us feel a little embarrassed and here one can legitimately doubt an ironic distancing, or any distancing at all, for Janek was enthusiastically drawing his own autobiographical portrait. That is what is missing above all in Janeks Fate: distancing. If he could have returned to his work from 19031906 later, when he was already a confident dramatic master,
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it is clear he would have been able to omit the most torrid texts and the dramatic failings of the libretto. Thus he left us a strange torso in spite of its apparent formal perfection which aroused great embarrassment even during attempts to present it in Prague, and which no one had the courage to stage until 1958. I dont want to repeat the clich about the unjust fate of many a work of art; time has been a strict but just judge this time. It is of course regrettable that Janeks remarkable music had to pay the price: evocative, technically
possible, not even in the case of Fate. Janek could not create any convincing musico-dramatic characters because there were none such in the libretto; there are only lustreless grey reflections of uninteresting characters who do not get into conflicts, and are bereft not only of logic but of any kind of development. Their dialogue is either static, theatrically ineffective, or mawkish and lackadaisical. In the course of three acts we learn virtually nothing about Miss (later Mrs.) Mla, except that she is supposed to be beautiful (and for Janek sometimes even such an imperceptible space is
outstanding, in many places the work of a mature master, which made use of his experience working on Jenfa and created for it an equivalent bourgeois pendant a conversation piece, built of concise, rhythmically pregnant motifs which and this is the specific of Fate acquire a tinge of satire or parody. I will not of course repeat the most banal sentence of Czech opera literature in general that music (once again) proves it can rise above a woefully shabby libretto; because in the theatre such a miracle is simply not
sufficient for substantial dramatic abbreviation!). The composer ivn steps into the story as a malcontent and as such leaves it. Because he did not believe in the strength of their story, Janek populated his stage with plenty of lesser characters, the colourful variety of spa society of the time, and so with a little exaggeration one can say that Luhaovice is the hero of the piece. However, the most complete dramatic fiasco comes at the end. In the third act, already balancing on the border of hallucination, dream and reality, the composer,
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under the weight of memories of a tragically wasted life, becomes unwell. He is struck by lightning. However, this very odd deus ex machina (more exactly, Janek) is not strong enough to kill him. The composer ivn shrugs it off and leaves with a faltering step supported by his students Janek, clearly for personal reasons, did not have the courage for a tragic conclusion. However, in an effort to save the work, producers make some sort of pretence at theatre. Very prudishly, of course, because the text does not allow anything to open up so fully. The history of adaptations of production and text, primarily from the pens of Jaroslav Vogel, Vclav Nosek and Kurt Honolka, is, whether these were staged or not, relatively varied considering the impoverished life of the work. However, it is beyond the extent of this article to discuss it here. I think it necessary just to add a few lines in reviewing Robert Wilsons production at the National Theatre in Prague, because Fate is a case which presents an essentially unsolvable staging problem. The art of directing of the great magus Robert Wilson was praised in the Czech lands (also by me) his production of Fate came first in the critics questionnaire in Divadeln noviny (Theatre News) and won the prestigious Alfrd Radok Award for the best production of 2002. However, for quarter of a century I have insisted that Fate is unstageable and not even Wilsons remarkable, formally exquisite production has changed my mind. With his powerful instinct for theatre, he succeeded in finding the best path to this bizarre work. Maybe the only possible path. But for me, it was not a complete staging of Fate. Wilson very cleverly evaded this problem by an example of a superlative, imaginative, visually very active reading completely harmonising with Janeks score. With a closer look, for example by studying a video tape of the performance, one can see he has not achieved any miracle. What has been achieved is due neither to Wilson, nor to Janek, but to the leadership at the National Theatre which put the two together. Hence the basic premise: IF Fate THEN Wilson worked a hundred per cent. What Wilson did was to carry out the basic, simply exact conceptual balance. He abandoned in advance everything that was insoluble (and there is more than enough of this in Fate). Essentially, in Wilsons philosophy as a director, nothing is forced. The charm and effect of the Janek/Wilson encounter is in the fact that the director through his very personal method of direction (which I would call a method of a somewhat rudimentary poetic understatement) enables the work to be at the most adequately pronounced without either of them suffering any scars. Above all, completely in the spirit of his method, Wilson reasonably resigned any kind of motivational or psychological explanation. Not because he didnt want to subjugate the free spirit of the audience as the interpreter by foisting on it one of a thousand possible interpretations, but
because he would thereby come into insoluble conflicts if he set out on a fluctuating path of following a motivational line of any kind. In its final version the libretto is the outcome of considerable cuts and reworkings and insofar as it has any logic at all, it can be arrived at only by a comparison of all available versions. Only an imaginary roundup of all its parts and stages contains the necessary information for understanding the characters. The last stage is perhaps the least meaningful at all, but and we have to take our hats off to Janek it also contains the fewest elements of kitsch. It seems that from the initial enchantment with Kamillas little story the dramatist in him finally prevailed. Even so, the dramaturgy of the National Theatre decided to make numerous alterations in the text, which were actually sung. Sometimes their intervention was fortunate, sometimes less so, and sometimes a sharp protest has to be lodged. These alterations naturally do not, and cannot, solve the basic failing inherent in the dramatic structure which is extremely unconvincing, disjointed and incoherent. They are no more than minor retouches used to smooth over some of the most glaring infelicities. The meaning of these alterations are clearly legible and essentially sympathetic: they try to set aside the affectation, the exaggerated pathos of Mla and ivn, which operates in a ridiculous and archaic way right from the beginning, and to make them more down to earth and up to date. However, sometimes they go to the opposite extreme. The dramaturgy uses the adaptation by Frantiek Jlek, who in the most exalted moment of privacy in Act II gives the echo of ivns passionate words to Mla and not to the crazy Mother, to whom Janek allocated them. She thus sings them for the first time right at the end as her gloomy echo, and at the same time foretells the subsequent tragedy which has its logic. Mla thus acquires at least a little space to make an effect her part otherwise consists of only a few lines of minor importance. Only, it is a pity that the adaptation did not pay enough attention to an exact reading of the quotation. The most substantial is the shift in meaning in Mlas line in which she confesses to ivn that those evil slanders which he, in his jealousy, believed were in fact only true. However, in the corrected version which strives to cleanse Mla morally, against all logic of the story it comes out: And yet it is true about our (instead of the original my) offences, you will not silence the shame!. Robert Wilson, who also designed the sets and lighting, works with the elementary means of theatre but demonstrates them with a great stylistic purity, an inner aestheticism, even visual forethought. His expressive work with colour, especially at the conclusions of the acts, is in fact completely on one plane, but makes a strong effect, as it is transparently motivated by the music and drama. Everything he can use, everything the uncertain ground of these novelettish fragments of life allows him, he uses. His arrangement of movement and setting is, apart from its
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primary aesthetic quality, enchanting even in that which is hidden behind it as explicitly unuttered. Everything is ruled by synecdoche, portents, parabolas. Wilson doesnt hesitate to suppress even key moments, to veil them in a symbolic haze (the suicide scene), on the other hand opening up an absolute detail into surprising visual consequences. He writes in a stage presence for Fatum, to which he allocates a fateful space of considerable weight in the conclusions of the acts. The child Doubek, eleven years later as a student at the Conservatoire, still looks like a child. The movement of the actors is almost somnambulently involuntary with machine-like precision, in tiny gestures reminiscent of a puppet Olympia. The picture of the spa colonnades comes over very evocatively: a summer house, a stream of promenading guests in period costumes (Jacques Reynaud) as though from a painting by Seurat, some sort of forest ridge, slowly stretching over the horizon. A pity though, that not all the singers are able to subordinate their movements to the general arrangement. The private space of the apartment is offered with great finesse: in the foreground the composer pounds on an invisible piano, whilst dominating the stage in the background are three blue arches which at the end are engulfed in tragic red. The music of their fate rings out: a heap of notes suddenly plunges down. The most beautiful symbol of the production, the accompanying fateful gesture of Fatum as performed by Soa erven. Wilson tries to save the phantasmagoric third act at least by an exalted visual symbol, the elevated arch of the hall of the Conservatoire beneath which ivns closing drama is played, to which the Students/Birds listen with compassionate lack of understanding, whilst a mysterious tongue, which looks like something cut out of the Rohrschach test, surreally descends from above. However, maybe Wilson is a better designer than musician: allowing the audience to wait for his arch for almost three-quarters of an hour completely broke the rhythm of the performance and was not evidence of a sense of timing.
Ji Blohlveks conducting primarily follows the dramatic summits of Janeks full-blooded score, striving for a great symphonic sound which however was not always within the capabilities of the orchestra and drove the singers to very high dynamic levels; in which the protagonist of the story especially, played by tefan Margita, moved none too securely. His slight, almost always delicious tenor lirico spinto, is not entirely suitable for this role. Margita is certainly a superb and cultivated singer with considerable vocal control and in the lyrical passages convincing expression. However, these delectations are sometimes too much, and soon overlooked if they are not alternated with more fiery tones. This ivn comes over as being too soft; especially at the end of the second act I missed the iron and fatefulness in his voice. But what can one do it is difficult to insist on glossy fortissimo in full resonance from a lyric tenor. The difficult and ungrateful role of Mla is excellently taken by the promising Iveta Jikov, whose basic vocal character predestines her for great achievements in the dramatic field. Meanwhile she would do best to tighten up her technique and pronunciation a little, above all perhaps to integrate her vowels (with such a mature, beautifully coloured voice and good expressive singing it is a little surprising one needs to mention this basic requirement). Eva Urbanov deployed her exceptional quality even on the limited platform provided by the role of the Mother she gives her the appropriate weight and tragic quality. Wilsons Fate is more of a free associative play on a few motifs of the opera than a complex production. In making it concrete there are too many elements missing for that. But it is nevertheless a great achievement by a great director, who is able to come to terms confidently and, in the final analysis, convincingly with an extremely difficult text.
Leo Janek: Fate (Osud), directed and set by Robert Wilson, conducted by Ji Blohlvek, costumes Jacques Reynaud, light design A. J. Weissbard, National Theatre Prague, premire 19. 4. 2002.
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THERE ARE NO SMALL THEATRES
The Dejvice Theatre, which has roughly one hundred seats, became Theatre of the Year 2002 (together with the very slightly larger Drama Club [inohern klub]) in the opinion of the 52 Czech theatre critics voting in the opinion poll of the periodical Svt a divadlo
Krobots most recent productions confirm this characterisation. Krobots production of The Three Sisters in the Dejvice Theatre appears externally, with its matter-of-factness and formal and dramatic brevity, to be a bare statement. In it our attention is not drawn
""Miroslav Krobot, Syrup / Dejvick

divadlo, Praha 2002 Directed by Miroslav Krobot / Set and costumes Andrea Krlov
>Photo Hubert Hesoun
"A. P. Chekhov, The Three Sisters

Dejvick divadlo, Praha 2002 / Directed by Miroslav Krobot Set and costumes Martin Dejwitz
(World and Theatre). The artistic director of this theatre is director, teacher in the Drama Faculty of the Academy of Performing Arts (DAMU) and now also dramatist, Miroslav Krobot. It is thanks to him that an ensemble consisting of members of the final year at DAMU, with which they started off in Dejvice several years ago, has become one of the most interesting theatres in the Czech Republic. Fifty-year-old Krobot, on leaving for the Dejvice Theatre, simultaneously left the prestigious post of a director in the National Theatre. His work is now in the limelight of the interest of critics and public, somewhat paradoxically, since he chose a less noticeable type of theatrical existence. The Dejvice Theatre is talked about today mainly in two contexts: as a theatre which is one of the few in the Czech Republic which works together with authors on the genesis of original dramatic works. And as a theatre which builds on a specific dramatic expression, collects outstandingly talented actors and consciously attends to their professional growth. Coincidentally both
(and therefore also not distracted or dispersed) either by exceptional and striking aesthetics or stylisation or by a strong and challenging interpretation turning everything inside out or emphasising some motifs at the expense of others. The only thing which is striking is that we laugh more than at other times at performances of this play. This is laughter discovering Chekhovs text, the unsuitability of words in the context of the situations in which they are uttered, or the absurdity of the way in which they are pronounced under certain circumstances. But this is not mockery. It catches the heart. It only lightly suggests the feeling that even the saddest and most lousy life is made up of anecdotes. Time, nature and its rhythm are a central motif in the stage sets of Martin Dejwitz, albeit slightly ironic, but impossible to overlook, even actually set in a frame. At the beginning there are three sapling trees in a black frame in the centre of the stage at the back and these grow in the further acts, later there is a naive-type silhouette of a house being covered in snow, and in the final
monologue of the three sisters there are geysers of abstract structures bubbling in the frame. Everything seems to be a reference to the secret order of Nature, uncompromisingly regular and at the same time endlessly changing. The same function is perhaps fulfilled in Chekhovs play by the lyrically sweeping conversational lines which evoke natural motifs and the passage of time these, of course, have mostly vanished from the text in this production. The author of the adaptation is director Miroslav Krobot. The absurd situations which arise due to the abbreviation or omission of lines and the concise arrangement of the figures are in fact the directors principle in this staging which, as it were, strips naked the characters in the play. Irinas celebratory tirades about work become an anecdotal scene. In the text the comic effect is achieved by the flowery and enthusiastic description of the beauties of the work process. The director uses only part of this, but he convicts the character of naive sentimentality by the precise intonation and arrangement of the situation. From Vershinins responses on arrival at the Prozorov sisters celebration Krobot has omitted the obligatory conversational sentences and brought mutual acquaintance to a head at the very limit of social acceptability: Vershinin (Ivan Trojan) literally drinks in with his eyes the three young women who were hitherto socially bored with the other officers and now quite provocatively try to attract his attention. He speaks with excessive sentiment about little girls and the sisters, with the gestures of hardened courtesans, hold cigarettes handed to them ready-lit by the eldest sister, Olga. It would be almost obscenely embarrassing if the scene did not also encompass a great deal of hidden uncertainty and playful desire for social success. Krobot consistently, with cruel kindness, makes public the hidden emotions, intentions and hurts of the characters by means of the phasing of the replies and the actions, gestures and expressions connected with them. This is an amusing mosaic made up of quite bitter events. The basic stance of the production is calm and laconic
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statement. A precise but not cold description of the situation. What is interesting at first glance in Krobots production is the unusually (under Czech conditions) precise and musical arrangement of the figures, which in some places could really be more aptly called choreography. For instance the trio of sisters at times take up the positions of well co-ordinated classical Russian dancers, moving with supreme lightness and wit (occasionally they even perform solo some charming dance figure as a commentary on the situation or part of a flirting gesture). On the contrary, the movement creations of their sister-in-law Natasha (Jana Holcov) are just as primitive physically as her mentality, just as stilted and forced as her behaviour. Social form is the axis of the world of Krobots Three Sisters. It expresses the ability or the inability of the characters to exist within the framework of the given rules with a certain degree of selfdiscipline and noblesse. The movement of the figures around the stage in places looks like somewhat comical oriental dances in which it is first and foremost a matter of what is external. The figures and their social and also human level are characterised by the manner in which they participate in them. Other scenes are almost immobile, composed sculptures, rendering all the more evident the inward movement inside the characters, often terminated by an abrupt cut in the dialogue or an unexpected gesture. The eldest sister Olga is the absolute embodiment of social form and when she gives free rein to emotions the effect is very striking and at the same time irresistibly comical: before she gives her brother a slap in the face after his monstrous words she is icily calm and even asks him to hold for her what she has in her hand at the time (an old theatrical gag, but used precisely and in the right place). Olga and Irina, for instance, try with their indifference to silence Mashas exalted declaration of love for Vershinin. In Krobots production the characteristics of the personae are often based on the tension of rising emotion and its overcoming or concealment (Masha, Olga, Vershinin) or,
on the contrary, the inability to control ones feelings and words (Soleny, Natasha). In the eldest sister Olga (Klra Melkov) we can perceive beneath the strict and starchy shell of the grammarschool teacher a perfectly normal, even highly temperamental young woman who fulfils her obligations and the authority of the eldest sister with such harsh selfdiscipline that she is saved from being unbearable only by self-irony and a sense of humour. The middle sister Masha (Tatiana Vilhelmov) has the greatest difficulty with the preservation of decorum. Her nature most frequently betrays her and forces her into unfitting, almost adolescent scoffing it is she who, under some kind of internal pressure, makes the sarcastic comments about the everywhere-present banality and absurd chatter. It is also she who, against the rules, is determined to snatch a piece of happiness and love. Paradoxically her beloved Vershinin, who so enjoys philosophising, utters the same demented banalities as the others, except that he is on a somewhat higher level. As opposed to the others he is sometimes aware that he is talking nonsense. It is evident that Vershinin is already somewhat tired of playing his role of sad husband and loving father (God only knows how many times, the troops move frequently). He rouses to emotion (he sings of his love at full throttle behind the scenes with a melody from Onegin), but falters embarrassingly in the situation where Masha reveals her
feelings and enfolds the departing Vershinin in a despairing embrace. The Lieutenant-Colonel is suddenly a mortifying coward moving around helplessly with his burden of love and his despairing gaze implores Olga for help. The youngest sister Irina (Lenka Krobotov) does not yet perceive her environment from an ironic distance like her older and more experienced sisters, but far more with amazement which is still childishly pure (and somewhat calflike). In the second half of the second act she just sits on a stool with her mouth open and watches what is happening in the house. She sums up her experience of what she has witnessed with an unbelieving shake of the head and the childishly angry To Moscow, to Moscow! Irinas reaction to the garbled declaration of love from Soleny (Luk Hlavica) is almost heedlessly immature with an expression of disgust she flees from his emotion. Tuzenbach (David Novotn) is closer to her with his conciliatory patience, determined on love. Irina does not refuse him, she is willing to marry him, but as sincerely as awkwardly she says: This is not love. The brother of the three sisters, Andrey (Jaroslav Plesl) cannot fail as the hope of the whole family and the victim of sisterly love. Olga, Masha and Irina demonstrate their dominant fondness of their brother to a new guest with pleasure and immense incongruity when they proudly display for all to admire Andreychiks hand-made gems carved
Miroslav Krobot, Syrup / Dejvick

divadlo, Praha 2002 Directed by Miroslav Krobot / Set and costumes Andrea Krlov
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frames and ugly objets trouvs. Clearly this hobby is a favourite family item. Andreys love for the derided Natasha, who in marriage turns into a self-assured fury, is both an escape and a trap, his failings at work and as a person are the inevitable reward for the sisters who did not allow him to grow up. They all long for love and in the end they all either do not have it or they lose it, the most likely to endure is the vulgar relationship of Natasha with Protopopov. Perhaps just because it is nothing to do with love. Loneliness without love is the fate of Olga. The duel of Soleny and Tuzenbach is absurd and unnecessary because Irina, longing for a dream love, does not love either of them. Even so, with the death of Tuzenbach she loses hope. Vershinin longs for love, but in the end he flees from it like a coward. Ridiculous, touching and heart-rending are the self-reassuring statements of Kulygin (Tom Pavelka): My Masha loves me, changing into the painful groaning of Mashas name and culminating on the departure of the military unit in victorious and complacent relief that everything has been settled. It seems that it does not worry him that Masha does not love him, the main thing is that he has her. Is there any sense in all this? is the question asked all the time and actually by all of Chekhovs characters who so vainly seek love, long for it so much and nevertheless always miss it. Of all the productions of Chekhovs Three Sisters in recent years available in Czech theatres that of Krobot in the Dejvice Theatre seems externally to be the least ambitious, and yet it seems that the seemingly senseless and beside-the-point answer of the author to the question concerning sense: Life must go on, sounds the most convincing in this production. Outside it is snowing and life must go on. After the Tales of Common Insanity (Pbhy obyejnho lenstv), the theatre debut of film director and screenwriter Petr Zelenka, which was evaluated by the Czech critics last year as
the Play of the Year, the Dejvice Theatre presented the authors production of their own artistic manager, Miroslav Krobot, entitled Syrup. This black comedy from the environment of dealers networks follows at the distance proper to absurd drama of Czech provenance (in the background we hear the echo of Havels dialogues) the bizarre managerial procedures in the sale of some kind of universally effective herbal syrup. The twisted philosophy of this activity, based on the intellectual and emotional manipulation of the customer, also transforms those who apply it systematically: it grotesquely deforms the relationships between the dealers themselves and their partners. You cant handle muck and not get filthy. This well-known saying could, like dozens of others in this play, become part of the cult of the dealers loquacity and arguments based on the recognition that if we state the greatest stupidity with conviction, then there is always a chance that someone will believe us and purchase the useless or unnecessary item. For the characters in Krobots play, however, this is fatally true. The dealers activity only makes sense and a profit if it is carried out with real personal application. The characters lose themselves in their roles to such an extent that they begin to use this twisted manner of communication, of pseudo-intellectual rhetoric, self-examinatory analysis, low-level entertainment and catchwords mechanically and unemotionally even among themselves. A small thing happens to them: always ready at any time to explain anything in their behaviour, substantiate it in any way at all and defend it regardless of common sense, they somehow fail to notice that they have long since lost both common sense and normal human experiences and that their personal relations have deviated from the normal quite considerably. These circumstances are, for the playwright and also for the director and for the actors, a source of situation comedy and verbal humour. Some of the gags accompanying the lovers polygons or changes of partners are based on the
emotionally neutral reception of emotionally explosive facts, others on unexpected song, movement or other exhibitions, others again on unforeseeable and absurd reactions of the characters. Krobot guides the actors to an externally calm and even laconic mode of expression. He is not so much interested in the external comedy of the situations (in any case verbal humour reliably maintains laughter in the auditorium) as in their absurd basis. It is absolutely precisely according to these intentions that he steers the characters of Marie (Klra Melkov) and Hnzdil (Martin Myika). He does not parody them, but he shows their behaviour with analytical detachment and dry humour. Simona Babkov in the role of Knoblochov is superb in expression and stylisation, she interprets her appearances as something like comic turns and achieves a more marked reaction from the audience, but perhaps it is also at the expense of the production as a whole. Marek Daniel, Jaroslav Plesl and Jana Holcov are still a little uncertain in their roles and sometimes slide into unnecessary external characterisation or psychological application. As a whole, however, the Dejvice Syrup is an unequivocal success for this theatre (nomination for the critics award Play of the Year 2002). It is a source of splendid entertainment and its material and its language are, in addition, a more general and apt picture of spiritual and emotional decay and levelling.
A. P. Chekhov: The Three Sisters, translated by Leo Suchapa, directed by Miroslav Krobot, set and costumes Martin Dejwitz, Dejvice Theatre, premire 27. 5. 2002. Miroslav Krobot: Syrup , directed by Miroslav Krobot, set and costumes Andrea Krlov, Dejvice Theatre, premire 16. 12. 2002.
Vladimr Morveks Chekhov triptych in the Klicpera Theatre in Hradec Krlov

| Jan Csa |
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CHEKHOV FOR THE CZECHS
Vladimr Morvek staged the Chekhov for the Czechs project between 2000 and 2003. It is made up of productions of three of Chekhovs plays: The Three Sisters, The Seagull and Uncle Soleny (Uncle Vanya with part of The Cherry Orchard interpolated). Each of these productions can be seen independently, even though together the productions form a unity with its self-contained and integral meaning. Through this project, and through the means used for its realisation, Morvek created his own system of theatre language which changed the meaning of the individual Chekhov plays and built a different system. It is especially clear in the third work; this can be seen independently, but can hardly be understood
the creativity of the audience comes into its own, for the hypertext connection of the most varied materials, founded on the director as the one and only subject, virtually resists the usual reaction of the audience; a reaction which for the most part follows a chronologically ordered causality a syntagmatic axis which creates a linear arrangement, and in this way forms primordial meaningful references. This is no longer valid in Morveks project; the hypertext arrangement of this axis completely (or to a large measure) eliminates, breaks, and offers in its place connections which permeate the productions (i.e., the Chekhov texts) in unexpected connections not in any way limited. However, there is yet another moment which makes the hypertext system of Morveks Chekhov difficult for the audience. The unaccustomed connections arise mainly, or almost always, as meetings of words, of literature (a particular fragment of a Chekhov text) with a visual quality whose bearer is the material on stage. In this way rich connotations arise as nonconceptual pragmatic features of the construction of meanings which are, moreover, unusually extensive. That is: they indicate many (varied) phenomena, and in this way go
""A. P. Chekhov, Uncle Soleny
Klicperovo divadlo, Hradec Krlov 2003 / Directed by Vladimr Morvek Set design Chocholouek brothers / Costumes Eva Morvkov
"A. P. Chekhov, The Seagull / Klicperovo

divadlo, Hradec Krlov 2002 / Directed by Vladimr Morvek / Set design Martin Chocholouek Costumes Eva Morvkov
>Photo Josef Ptek
without a knowledge of the preceding parts of the project. Morvek carried out this transformation of systems on the principle Umberto Eco once called the hypertext. This means that he organises any kind of material into random connections on the basis of the subjective needs, ideas, visions, intentions of the director, so that any part of the stage realisation can be interpreted freely through any other part, and a new meaning and new import comes into existence. It is clearly a highly open and free space for the creative subject in this case, above all the director. Even
beyond the scope of audience interpretation, which most usually follows the ways of logical and rational discourse. For example, when in The Seagull Polina Andreyevna talks to Dorn about her disappointment in love and her wasted life, something between a henhouse and an aviary rolls on stage, where seagulls are bred behaving like hens. Polina takes eggs out of this henhouse-aviary, puts them into prepared cardboard egg boxes on the table, then takes one imaginary egg between two fingers, shows it and offers it to Dorn. This is repeated when her daughter Masha talks to Treplev about
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her unhappy love for him. The basic connection between the situation of the text and the visual image can be understood: mother and daughter lived and live the same hopeless love, the same wasted life. The aviary-henhouse, the transformation of the seagulls, free birds in the bodies of imprisoned hens laying eggs, develop if I understand this properly this symbolism. But how to understand the whole
A. P. Chekhov, The Three Sisters
Klicperovo divadlo, Hradec Krlov 2001 / Directed by Vladimr Morvek Set design Martin Chocholouek / Costumes Sylva Zimula Hankov
evokes many virtually unlimited connotations which again extensively expand the meaning of the responses and situations of the text. From a certain point of view all these hypertext connections can be understood independently, and their meaning (searching for it always means searching and recognising the context) can be perceived freely; or not to search for it at all, and accept the stage phenomenon as
action with the eggs, that is a very complicated, practically insoluble task. For the egg can mean anything you like and one can only guess what meaning and import it confers on this situation. The extension of material used on the stage goes very, very wide. A number of such examples could be quoted from the three productions of the project. Some permeate the whole trilogy and create their own meaning in it, as for example the story of a gold ritualistic object which in the first part of the project The Three Sisters is found in the garden of the Prozorov family and which then appears again in other works, and at the end is offered again to the Prozorov sisters who return during the culmination of the whole project and, already dead, appear in the last part. After all, the figure of Charlotte the governess from The Cherry Orchard is not only some sort of MC of the whole project (at the level of the productions in which she appears as a cabaret singer), but even her direct entry into the action and especially the multiplying of this character, poses a lot of questions for the extension of her stage occurrence creates many levels and situations. Similarly in many places Morvek works with music which creates its own building of meanings and
shown independently of anything else. In this spirit and in this way the audience can freewheel through Morveks Chekhov project as some sort of hypertext adventure and just content itself with partial pictures. Such a perception clearly works with the majority of Morveks public, for to be brief and simple it relates to their postmodern sentiment and thinking. But Morvek would like this postmodern fragmentary and disjointed nature to come together in a whole: his own whole, in which he accepts the basic starting point of Chekhovs dramas to show the bad and unhappy way in which people live, but expands it in the last work through his view of the history of the twentieth century. It is clear that Chekhov too wrote of the behaviour of his characters as behaviour through which in spite of their everyday life and private stories they entered history. But in Uncle Soleny Morvek puts his own awareness of history above this and offers it uncompromisingly to the audience. One of the Charlottes also already dead describes the fate of the characters as far as the 1960s. And all this is observed by Stalins portrait behind a half-lifted curtain at the back of the stage: it is the ending, with its extensions and connotations of
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ostentatiously manifested stage material which through its own material essence creates independent meaning and import. In place of this appears a distinct interpretation which can unlike that hypertext reading be read very easily, for it is a frankly offered thesis: people who live in a bad and unhappy way destroy Russia and bring Stalin to power. With all verisimilitude, Morveks hypertext reading of classics is an indication of the theatre of the twenty-first century. But it is later so boundless that in the end nothing other remains than to embrace it firmly and unambiguously. And then comes that simplifying conclusion which for the audience can be just as attractive as the postmodern fragmentary nature of the hypertextuality, for it does not force it to think but rather prepares for it a readymade and easily understandable scheme at an ideological and political level. The intellectual operation which moulds independence of thinking and moral freedom cannot be replaced or substituted by these ideological and political connections.
A. P. Chekhov: The Three Sisters (Olga, Masha, Irina, Natalie), translated by Leo Suchapa, adapted by Vladimr Morvek and Karel Tomnek, directed by Vladimr Morvek, set design Martin Chocholouek, costumes Sylva Zimula Hankov, music by Pavel Hork, Klicpera Theatre, Hradec Krlov, premire 10. 3. 2001. A. P. Chekhov: The Seagull (Portrait of an Artist Stricken with Dysentery), translated by Alena Morvkov, adapted by Vladimr Morvek and Lucie Bulisov, directed by Vladimr Morvek, set design Martin Chocholouek, costumes Eva Morvkov, Klicpera Theatre Hradec Krlov, premire 9. 3. 2002. A. P. Chekhov: Uncle Soleny (Finita la commedia), translated by Leo Suchapa, directed by Vladimr Morvek, set design Chocholouek brothers, costumes Eva Morvkov, music by Vladimr Franz, Klicpera Theatre Hradec Krlov, premire 26. 10. 2002. A. P. Chekhov, Uncle Soleny
Klicperovo divadlo, Hradec Krlov 2003 / Directed by Vladimr Morvek Set design Chocholouek brothers / Costumes Eva Morvkov
At the end of the 1980s, the production of Sand written and directed by Arnot Goldflam, as well as his production of Daughters of the Nation, belonged among the cult stagings of Brnos HaTheatre (HaDivadlo). At the time when socialist hypocrisy had successfully undermined the human identity, the production of Sand tempted to come to the rescue of every spectator in the audience with its subjective feelings and memories of its author and actors. The fate and life of a young Jewish boy, Ra, and his ancestors had all of Goldflams autobiographical attributes. Yet at the same time, to a considerable measure, it was a portrait of the individual fates and lives of each and every Czechoslovakian or Central European, or at least of those from the East. Director Vladimr Morvek is the godfather of The Great Meltdown (Velk tavba), a project that he has been developing for the second year on his home stage in Hradec Krlov the Klicpera Theatre (Klicperovo divadlo). The significance behind this project is something similar: to contribute to the self-awareness as well as the self-esteem of the modern Czech theatre, to draw allusions to several key productions and at the same time to bear evidence again to their timeless significance and inspirative quality by a new staging of the same text - not as some historical replica, but in the form of one that is through and through contemporary. One that, in other contexts, verifies the virtues of the text or
Arnot Goldflam, Sand / Klicperovo divadlo, Hradec Krlov 2002 Directed by Vladimr Morvek / Set design Milo Zimula Costumes Sylva Zimula Hankov >Photo Michal Souek
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FOOTPRINTS IN THE SANDS OF TIME
reacts on the production concept on its own. After Three Sisters and The Seagull, in the directions of which Morvek brought to mind the famous Chekhov productions of Ivan Rajmont and Petr Lbl, has rightly presented Goldflams Sand on the stage of the Klicpera Theatre. The play was published in 1988 and has never been performed since that time. At first glance, it seems somewhat impossible that anyone other than the playwright could stage such an intimate and personal piece. Fifteen years later however, Morvek found perhaps the only way possible to stage such a strongly poetic and imaginative text, undoubtedly filled with concrete references to that period of time and to its personalities. He inserted a prologue into the production of Goldflams play, as well as tiny memoirs from his own life and from the life of Filip Rajmont, the actor who Arnot Goldflam: Sand (Psek), directed by Vladimr Morvek, played Ra and who also happens to be the grandson of the set design Milo Zimula, costumes Sylva Zimula Hankov, Klicpera famous Czech theatre director E. F. Burian. Morvek also Theatre Hradec Krlov, premire 27. 4. 2002.
threw in passages from Goldflams other plays along with their critical reflection. Here, he has amplified a personal testimony, yet at the same time has generalized it even further. In this particular context, its possible to say that Goldflams text has demonstrated its own general validity, even though, when it was written, many had doubts of its ability to transcend time. In addition to the introduction that reminds us of the fates of the European Jews, the final episode was very strong, reflecting on the situation of theatre and actors in commercial conditions. Goldflam originally found inspiration for the text during the Expo 86 in Vancouver, where he performed with the HaDivadlo theatre. Under Morveks direction arose a light, affable and artistic production, composed of individual episodes like shards of memories and intimately known feelings: the idyll of childhood, the grotesqueness of adolescence, the doubtfulness of adulthood Ras desire to come to terms with life, something to achieve, to stand the test. In addition to this, history enters the life of the individual. The set by Milo Zimula and costume design by Sylva Zimula Hankov create a richly visual, sometimes magical frame of amusing mosaic, primarily in yellow and black that shows here and there unexpected poetic strength. The company of actors of the Hradec Kralov theatre take to this revue style of performing like fish to water song, movement, brilliantly pointed small episodes belong among their notorious merits. Other artists, beside Filip Rajmont in the main role, who are not easy to overlook include Jan Mazk, Martina Eliov, Lubor Novotn, Marcela Holubcov, Andrea Marekov and others. Our eyes are completely exhausted after three and a quarter hours of wandering back and forth. Perhaps Mr. Director should have selfishly kept some ideas for his next production. | Marie Reslov |
| Nina Malkov |
Revenge / Buns and Puppets, Praha 2002 / Directed by Vt Brukner Puppets, set and costumes Marcela Kokokov-Jebkov / Tent design Miroslav Melena
>Photo Irena Vodkov
" #Revenge / Buns and Puppets,

Praha 2002 / Directed by Vt Brukner Puppets, set and costumes Marcela Kokokov-Jebkov Tent design Miroslav Melena
>Photo Irena Vodkov
For the uninitiated, the idea of Czech puppet theatre still carries a lingering image of the large visual ensemble productions once presented to the public (and not only children) by the trend set long ago by the Prague Central Puppet Theatre, or of the metaphorical surprises offered for years by the Drak (Dragon) Puppet Theatre in Hradec Krlov. However, in recent years a number of independent puppet companies and groups have had a marked influence on the field; the best known being Buchty a loutky (Buns and Puppets), Divadlo brat Forman (Forman Brothers Theatre), Continuo Theatre and Studio dell arte. As far as what are known as the statutory, permanent professional theatres are concerned (those with their own building or hall, workshops, permanent company and regular subsidy from public funds), there is clearly some sort of diffident artistic marking time in dramaturgy (most have cut the permanent position of dramaturge) and in direction, which makes use of the above-mentioned procedures of the stage connection of actor and puppet in a stereotyped way. Even the legendary inventions of the stage designers grow pale. By comparison, smaller puppet groups without a permanent home are growing ever closer to the model which, before 1990, Czech puppeteers only came across in western Europe: ensembles of a maximum of five members working on the basis of collective authorship of text and direction, without a permanent designer (sometimes the company creates the set by itself) and often without even a permanent place to work. The change in social conditions opened new opportunities for these small companies. As well as those named above, after almost a decade of existence of the groups mentioned, which concentrate on outdoor productions and function to a large part with the open coexistence of the audience and actors in one space (spaces which can be used for theatre just as well as eating, drinking
or dancing) attention began to be paid to other completely new groups. Most of them work right in the middle of Prague, around the Cabinet of Alternative and Puppet Theatre (KALD) of the Drama Faculty of the Academy of Performing Arts (DAMU). Linked with them by an umbilical cord, not only geographical, are their students or recent graduates. They are small groups working with designers close to their own age (also students or graduates of KALD DAMU) who for their productions use theatre scripts developing their own themes, and perform adaptations of plays from the classic drama or puppet repertoire only as an exception. These groups just like some musical groups give themselves very odd names. You can find them under such bizarre titles as Konzistence Mdi (Consistency of Teddy Bear), Zasyrova jedovat divadlo (Poisonous in Raw State Theatre) and Sktr (Scooter). A special case is the Studio of Ypsilon Studio which has
PUPPETS, SHADOWS AND VIDEO
/57
a direct connection with the well-known Prague Ypsilon Studio as an experimental school stage of KALD based at that theatre. What are the characteristic features of these neoplasms in the body of the Prague theatre network? They break with established clichs, rely on the view of a particular generation of known themes and topical events, and do not hide their ironic distance. Consistency of Teddy Bears new interpretation of Hans Christian Andersens Snow Queen presents a triangle of love, rather than the wanderings of little Gerda in the kingdom of
belong in spirit to these productions, but especially 1203 anebo nen mi smutno (1203 or, Im Not Sad). A car journey by koda 1203 is the motif linking the journey through life and the authentic memories of interpreters of the normalisation of the 1980s and the post-revolutionary 1990s. It is playful, witty and not sardonic, on the very edge of a nostalgic look at childhood, to which belong brainnumbing television serials and Spartakiade exercises alongside the first experiences of sex. There is clear influence of the poetics of video clips and film editing on the formal environments used in the
$Nikola uhaj / Sktr, Praha 2002 / Script and direction Luk

Trpiovsk and Martin Kukaka / Puppets, set and costumes Matj Nmeek and Daniela Klimeov >Photo Daniela Klimeov
"Opening Day Tutorial at KALD, Praha 2002 >Photo archives
the Snow Queen in search of her lost friend. In a comic version of Kleists Kate of Heilbronn by the Poisonous in Raw State Theatre, a form of theatre performed about theatre (in this case puppet theatre performed by a period travelling theatre group) is an excuse for parodying popular tear-jerking chivalrous pieces and the acting style of travelling marionette theatres. Scooters demythologising look at the story of the rebel Nikola uhaj plays around with the origin and handling of the legend of uhaj. They are not afraid in the production to touch on heroic contemporary medialisation in the shape of a faked and extremely high-flown silent film weekly of the 1930s. Maybe just as unintentionally grotesque is the same companys version of a cool drama in their production of Enda Walshs Disco Pigs performed on the DAMU school stage. All the productions given in Studio of Ypsilon Studio
productions of these companies; doll-mannequins predominate in puppet typology; the neglected technique of shadow theatre appeared on the Czech stage after many years. Four years ago an almost classical form of this technique was used by the independent Brno theatre group Le in an Indian legend about the Princess Savitree. However, in Prague shadow theatre is used differently. For example, in Consistency of Teddy Bears Snow Queen the whole sequence of Gerdas journey into the kingdom of snow is solved on the principle of shadow theatre the possibility of the detailed enlarging and diminishing of the figure of the puppet. The space of Gerdas journey limited to a projection screen is by its nature distinct from the playing space for the Queen and Kay and still intensifies the distance, futility and hardships of Gerdas wandering. The small two-
58/
PUPPETS, SHADOWS AND VIDEO
dimensional shadow puppet of Gerda, overcoming endless mountains on screen, is confronted by the presence of a live actress in the role of the Snow Queen on stage, and makes her vulnerability, the desperation of her situation, much more effective than if both characters clashed on the same stage. There is a timid but ever more frequent use of videos, video projections, video systems and computer animation by these small puppet groups (for example, in the already mentioned productions of Nikola uhaj and Disco Pigs, and in Pomsta [Revenge] on motifs from Dumass Count of Monte Cristo by the company Buns and Puppets). Most of these techniques draw in movement, the journey of the hero, adding dynamism and action to situations which are mostly performed without words. They do not use video cameras planted directly onstage or on the actors costumes as happens in big concerts by rock groups; the means are still theatrical rather than technical. The scenic space is divided into mansions or polyecranised, as some scenes are developed like film, stopping, rewinding, and later approaching details more closely. These film procedures expressed by theatrical metaphor are used in the latest production by the group Buns and Puppets, Revenge. In
$#Nikola uhaj / Sktr, Praha 2002 / Script and direction Luk Trpiovsk and Martin Kukaka
Puppets, set and costumes Matj Nmeek and Daniela Klimeov >Photo Daniela Klimeov
almost all the productions emphasis is laid more on the visual than on the verbal side and insofar as text is used at all, it is for the most part only for orientation. Subtitles are often used similar to subtitles from the age of silent film, characterising the situation: in the production Revenge for example, they indicate the passage of time, mood, and the surroundings. It is maybe premature in the case of all these poisonous in raw state companies to fall back on forecasts or categorising judgements. One can hardly make an unambiguous identification of a theatrical style which moves on the borders of several artistic genres from the use of video, shadow theatre and puppets, from an ironic distance and the absence of text, from the enchantment of film. However, one thing is clear: this for the time being small offensive, though apparent resistance against conventional forms, can already rely on one irrefutable fact: it addresses the younger generation. It thus has a quality which in recent years the statutory puppet theatre has achieved only sporadically.
NOTEBOOK / THE ALFRD RADOK AWARDS
The Alfrd Radok Awards
Notebook
/59
The 11th year of these prestigious Czech theatre awards saw several changes. The Administrative Board of the Trust Fund of the Alfrd Radok Awards, which took over the organisation of the Awards from the terminating Alfrd Radok Foundation, decided to separate the symbolic awards for production from the financial prizes awarded for the best dramatic texts, based on an anonymous competition. The best plays will receive their awards and also be immediately presented by means of staged reading in the course of the Theatre European Regions festival in June in Hradec Krlov. The Alfrd Radok Awards for best performance in Czech theatre, decided every year by the votes of some 50 Czech theatre critics and organised by the periodical Svt a divadlo (World and Theatre), were presented on 14 March at a matine held in the Dejvice Theatre in Prague. What picture did they give us of contemporary Czech theatre? For the third time running opera won the production of the year this time was, according to expectations, Janeks Fate, directed on the stage of the Prague National Theatre by the world-famous Robert Wilson (for the sets for the same opera he also won the award for stage design of the year). Contemporary drama is beginning to come forward fast on the heels of Wilsons work came the production of the play by Irish dramatist Martin McDonagh The Lonesome West (it won in the category Play of the Year) directed by young actor and director Ondej Sokol (A. R. Award in the category Talent of the Year) on the stage of the Prague inohern klub (Drama Club).
Two theatres became Theatre of the Year equal voting from the critics determined the awarding of two prizes to two smaller Prague companies whose original dramaturgy and balanced production results attracted more or less equal attention the already-mentioned inohern klub (this company collected a total of 5 nominations in the poll in various categories) and the Dejvice Theatre (which collected 4 nominations). The actors awards went to the Old Masters the Award for Best Actress went for the second time running to Marie Mlkov this time for the role of Stavrogina in the production of Dostoyevsky and Camuss The Possessed on the stage of the Divadlo v Dlouh (Theatre on Dlouh Street, director Hana Bureov). The Alfrd Radok Award for the Best Actor went to a Czech-American, perhaps the most famous Czech theatre actor of his generation in the sixties, Jan Tska, for his King Lear. He played this part in the Summer Shakespeare Festivities in Prague Castle (directed by Slovak actor and director Martin Huba, whom Tska deprived of the same prize: he too was nominated in this category for his outstanding performance in the role of Sir in the production of Harwoods The Dresser in the Divadlo v Dlouh, directed by himself). Vladimr Franz confirmed his hegemony in the sphere of stage music he won the Alfrd Radok award for the third time and of his two nominations this year he was successful with that for his music for the production of Markta Lazarov on the stage of the National Theatre in Prague, directed by J. A. Pitnsk. jsl
Czech Theatres in 2002: Basic Statistical Data

In the Czech Republic last year, there were 52 repertory theatres with their own companies of various types in operation (14 of these were multi-ensembles, the basic model being the coexistence of opera, drama and ballet companies) that had regular funding allocated from local budgets (43 theatres) and from federal budget (9 theatres). Another 36 standing stages without their own companies were also financed from public resources (local budgets). A total of 205 theatres and subjects dedicated to the performing arts (57 of these without their own company) were regularly and systematically active in the theatre life in the Czech Republic during the 2001/2002 season. 1,415 titles were in the repertoire, and 1,853 productions were produced (of which 709 were premires). In total, 27.897 performances took place in the Czech Republic, attracting over 6 million visitors (the average percent of visitors was 81). 822 plays by Czech authors were on the repertory of 124 theatres and companies in 862 productions. There were 282 premires of new productions. In all there were 16,145 performances given which were attended by more than 3 million audience members (the average percentage attendance was 80). 457 titles intended mainly for children were on the repertory of 79 companies in 506 productions. There were 133 premires of new productions. In all 10,332 performances took place (the average percentage attendance was 85). More than 2 billion crowns were granted from the public sources to support theatrical activities.
60/
NOTEBOOK / NEW BOOKS FROM THE THEATRE INSTITUTE
New Books from the Theatre Institute

NEW CZECH PLAY is a new series the aim of which is to acquaint those interested with contemporary Czech plays through their translations into English. The first volume in 2002 was the following text:
A loose sequence of three single-act plays, Bernhard-like incomplete, existentially tuned probes into the intimacy of human relations. Sister and Brother is made up of a monologist dialogue of the Sister with the silent Brother and a conversation with the lover Ludvk. The brother and sister are bound by incest and joint guilt. The relationship of the Sister with Ludvk is openly sexual and painful to the Brother.. Minach Two - Narcissistic is again an asymmetrical dialogue of the Woman and the silent Man bound to a chair, a variation on the theme of the first single-act drama: the inability to change a painful, almost sadomasochist nurse-sexual relationship. Minach Three - Karen is the dialogue of the mortally sick Woman 1 and her paid nurse Woman 2. Here one finds on the one side the anxiety of a life that is ending and on the other side the future, the hope that with the money earned in the service of the sick another life will begin - a balance with hope for the future. The Minach Trilogy won the 3rd Alfrd Radok Award 2000 in the anonymous playwriting competition. The premire took place on 11 January 2002 in the Brno HaDivadlo (HaTheatre). The Theatre Institute, Prague 2003, CZK 159,-.
"Petr Zelenka: Tales of Common Insanity

(Pbhy obyejnho lenstv) Translated by Robert Russell, New Czech Play series , Vol. 1. 8 men, 7 women. The story of thirty-five-year-old Peter, who is trying to master the world around him. To win back his girlfriend Jana, who left him because of his abnormality. To survive visits to his parents which are never free of his mothers fussy and interfering worries about others. Not to go mad due to the crazy methods of satisfaction of his friend Midge. To get used to his strange neighbours who require people with their eyes on the surface of their faces. To accept the fact that his boss likes little boys. To get used to the blanket in his room coming to life In the end there is only one solution: to pack oneself up in a box and send oneself off somewhere very far away. A witty reflection on our times, including a reference to the recent past and its still active influence. The text also plays with references to the sphere of artistic creativity, in inverted commas because his neighbour is a composer of elevator music, his father was once a weekly newsreel commentator and now brings this up in public as a curiosity, and one of Midges girlfriends, although a cleaner, loves ballet. The action is kept going by the constant effort to find and maintain a real relationship: whether in the case of the younger ones (Peter and his circle), or of their parents. Both the theme and the form of the play relate to the original script-writing profession of the author of the films Knoflki (The Buttoners) and Samoti (The Loners) - the scenes follow one another as in film sequences. This play, which originated in close co-operation with the Dejvice Theatre, where the premire was produced under the authors direction, won the Alfrd Radok Award in 2001 in the category Play of the Year. Its translation into English was commissioned by the Theatre Institute on the occasion of its performance at the 10th International Theatre Festival in Plze and thus initiated a new series of English translations of Czech plays. The Theatre Institute, Prague 2002, 80 pp., CZK 159,-
ESSAYS, CRITISM AND ANALYSES series:
"Karel Hugo Hilar: O divadle

(About the Theatre) The second volume in the series of Essays, Criticism and Analyses (ESEJE, KRITIKY, ANALZY) from the esk divadlo publications is a selection from the written work on the theatre by the important Czech director K. H. Hilar, which preceded and then systematically accompanied his work as a director and in the function of head of the Vinohrady theatre company and later of the National Theatre. His texts from the years 1902-1935 contain, apart from theatre reports, critical reviews and portraits of actors, also theoretical reflections, analyses of dramas, production and dramaturgical comments on staged productions, programme articles and polemics and also articles devoted to the problems of the financing and administration of theatres, problems both operational and social. The selection is arranged in chronological order so as to illustrate the development of Hilars opinions, the constants and variables of his aesthetic concepts which from the early fascination for symbolism and decadence progressed through expressionist attacks and a civilist programme to a classically balanced artistic style. In his critical reports, which are reprinted for the first time, K. H. Hilar joined the ranks of the pioneers of modern artistic tendencies in the Czech theatre at the beginning of the 20th century. The Theatre Institute, Prague 2001, 640 pp, CZK 295,-.
IN PRINT:
"Iva Volnkov: Minach A Trilogy About, and For Women

(trilogie minach) Translated by Alex Zucker, New Czech Play series, Vol. 2. 3 men, 2 women.
NOTEBOOK / CONTEMPORARY CZECH PLAYS FROM THE VTRN MLNY PUBLISHERS / NEW WORKS OF CZECH THEATRICAL LITERATURE
/61
Contemporary Czech Plays from the Vtrn mlny Publishers

The Brno publishing house Vtrn mlny (Windmills) is issuing the series entitled Contemporary Czech Plays (Souasn esk hra) for the second year now. In 2002 eighteen volumes were published. There are among them texts by various generations of Czech playwrights (e.g. Balk, Drbek, Horok, Pivovar, Plach, Sikora, Kratochvil and Goldflam), without any restrictions as to genre, style or theme. The idea of this series is that original Czech theatre plays should reach readers and potential producers as quickly as possible. This is also why the individual volumes are in a very modest paperback form which makes it possible to react promptly to the appearance of new texts. The plays from the Contemporary Czech Plays series can also be ordered by subscription. In 2002 the Contemporary Czech Plays series had 250 subscribers. From February 2003 to December 2003 the total subscription for 18 volumes is 750 CZK (including postage and packaging). Individual volumes can be acquired for 40 CZK directly from the address of the publishers: Vtrn mlny, Traubova 3b, 602 00 Brno, E-mail: ceskahra@centrum.cz, Tel. +4205 732 237 571, +4205 603 148 239. On the web pages of the publishers (www.vetrnemlyny.cz) subscribers have the opportunity to enter a secure section where, after entering their password, they will find further dramatic texts (not only by Czech authors), interviews with the authors of the Contemporary Czech Plays series, theoretical works on the theatre, etc.
New Works of Czech Theatrical Literature

"Ivo Osolsob: Ostenze, hra, jazyk
(Ostentation, Play, Language) This book contains a representative set of the theoretical studies of Ivo Osolsob, one of the most significant scholarly authorities in the sphere of theatre theory and semiotics. His works have had a considerable influence on contemporary semiotic thinking, and not only concerning the theatre. Osolsob does not incline towards either of the present controversies in semiotics, either the French (Desaussur) or the American (Pierce), but returns to the semiotics of the Classical era, especially to St Augustine and his son Adeodatus, and also to cybernetics. Host, Brno 2002, 396 pp., CZK 299,-
"Pavel Kohout: Lesk cizho pe

(The Gleam of Borrowed Plumage) This book contains Kohouts most frequently performed adaptations of the prose works of other authors: Uboh vrah (Poor Murderer) according to the tale by Leonid Andrejev, Around the World in 80 Days after the novel by Jules Verne, King Cole the How Many after the novel by Romain Rolland Colas Bregnon and Velk hra na javora (Big Play at Maple) according to the novella by Mircea Eliade. The author himself says of this book that it should show the classical cockerel with a fan of peacock feathers. Paseka, Praha 2003, 315 pp., CZK 269,-
"Ji Kol: Chlb n vezdej, Mor v Athnch (Our Daily Bread, Plague in Athens) "Ladislav Smoek: inohry a zznamy
These two dramas by the well-known artist and poet, Ji Kol, have only now been published, forty years after they were written. These plays come close to the style of the Theatre of the Absurd, but their grotesque dialogue is based on a real social situation the despair of Kols dramas has a motivation which is more social and moral than philosophical. The play entitled Our Daily Bread has a form close to the poetic experiments which Kol carried out in the fifties. Plague in Athens is an obvious implementation of the collage technique, forming a kind of bridge between Kols literary and art collages. Paseka, Praha 2000, 144 pp., CZK 169,(Plays and Records) A collection of dramatic texts written by dramatist and director Ladislav Smoek and put on in the Prague inohern klub (Drama Club) from the sixties up to the present. With the exception of one script these are the complete dramatic works of one of the most outstanding personalities of the Czech theatre. The book also contains a collection of brief records - prose works on which several of the characters or situations in Smoeks dramas are based. Vtrn mlny, Brno 2002, 440 pp., CZK 449,-
Notebook
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www.pq.cz
International, interactive, interdisciplinary, sensitive exhibition/performance

C a r d i a c A t t a c k t o t h e C o n v e n t i o n a l
10th anniversary Prague Quadrennial includes, besides the traditional exhibits of the National, Architectural and Student Section, also a special project The Heart of the Prague Quadrennial an interactive exhibition/performance. In the Central Hall of the Industrial Palace, where the PQ takes place, a labyrinth of architectural spaces, designed by architect Dorita Hannah, will be built. This labyrinth of spaces will be a place for a public theatre laboratory for researching the 5 human senses, where presentations, workshops, installations and lectures will take place up to 10 events in the same time. In the evening there will be a special performance created by the curators and participants of the five senses.
Tower of Smell Memory Wall Alchemic bar Roaming Taste Blind tower
Monkeys Wedding Theatre Company (South Africa) MAU Dance Company (New Zealand) Akhe Group optical theatre (Russia) Kyzyl Traktor
fine arts nomadic theatre (Kazakhstan)
Les Productions Recto-Verso

technologic theatre (Canada)
Touch tower Carol Brown dance (Great Britain) Listening Tours new media interfaces Kahatare
Sachiyo Takahashi sound design (Japan) Ryuzo Fukuhara butoh (Japan)
B o d y
i s
s t a g e
f o r
e m o t i o n s .
/ A . D a m a s s i o /

Czech Theatre 19

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Jan Tska as King Lear, William Shakespeare, King Lear / Prague Castle 2002 / Directed by Martin Huba / Set

by Jozef Ciller / Costumes Milan orba

Theatres over the Water? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2

Theatres under Water . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27

The National Theatre (still?) at the Crossroads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33

Wilsons Fate: a Happy Encounter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .39

Footprints in the Sands of Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .53

Puppets, Shadows and Video . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .55 Notebook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

Theatres over the Water?

THEATRES OVER THE WATER?

Theatres over theWater?

THEATRES OVER THE WATER?

Theatres over the Water?

Czech Stage Design

PQ 1967, Leo Janek, The Makropulos Secret

CZECH STAGE DESIGN REFLECTED IN THE PRAGUE QUADRENNIAL

The Czech Exhibit at PQ 99 to Success through Highlighting

$%The Czech Exposition, PQ 1999 >Photo archives

The Czech Exposition, PQ 1999

CZECH STAGE DESIGN REFLECTED IN THE PRAGUE QUADRENNIAL

CZECH STAGE DESIGN REFLECTED IN THE PRAGUE QUADRENNIAL

"William Shakespeare, Hamlet

%Pedro Caldern de la Barca, Daughter of the Gale

CZECH STAGE DESIGN REFLECTED IN THE PRAGUE QUADRENNIAL

#PQ 1987 Richard Strauss, Die Frau ohne Schatten

$PQ 1987 P. I. Tchaikovsky, Eugene Onegin

#PQ 1975 / Giordano Bruno, Il Candelaio / Divadlo F. X. aldy,

%PQ 1987 / Antonn Dvok, Armida / Nrodn divadlo, Praha 1987

#PQ 1967 / Niccol Machiavelli, La Mandragola / inohern klub,

$PQ 1975 / Edward Bond, Early Morning / ASP, Warszawa 1974

CZECH STAGE DESIGN REFLECTED IN THE PRAGUE QUADRENNIAL

"#PQ 1987 / Eugene ONeill, Long Days Journey into Night

$PQ 1983 / Aristophanes, The Birds / Pozorite mladich, Sarajevo 1980

CZECH STAGE DESIGN REFLECTED IN THE PRAGUE QUADRENNIAL

##PQ 1987 / Italo Calvino, Il barone rampante

CZECH STAGE DESIGN REFLECTED IN THE PRAGUE QUADRENNIAL

A View of the Thematic Section

#PQ 1979 / Jnok / Vchodoesk loutkov divadlo DRAK,

CZECH STAGE DESIGN REFLECTED IN THE PRAGUE QUADRENNIAL

Joseph Roth, Jobe / HaDivadlo, Brno 1996 / Design Tom Rusn

Czech Stage Design Reflected in the Prague Quadrennial

Interview with David Marek,

INTERVIEW WITH DAVID MAREK, CURATOR OF THE CZECH EXPOSITION AT PQ 2003

William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet / Nrodn divadlo, Praha 2003

INTERVIEW WITH DAVID MAREK, CURATOR OF THE CZECH EXPOSITION AT PQ 2003

A. P. Chekhov, Ivanov / Divadlo Na zbradl, Praha 1997

INTERVIEW WITH DAVID MAREK, AUTHOR OF THE CZECH EXPOSITION AT PQ 2003

...and Viktor Kronbauer Photographed

Hudebn divadlo v Karln (The Music Theatre Karln)

"The Globe Theatre, Prague

#The Spirla Theatre

"The Theatre on Dlouh Street

#The Roxy Theatre

#The same studio after the catastrophy

Jitka Sloupov and Jana Patokov

Nine months have passed

THEATRES UNDER WATER

National Marionette Theatre e loutek (Kingdom of Puppets) Laterna Magika

Music Theatre Karln

Semafor (Karln) Branick divadlo Auditorium in the Municipal Library

THEATRES UNDER WATER

Some technical equipment was destroyed; the auditorium was unaffected.

THEATRES UNDER WATER

The stage of the Drama Studio in st nad Labem >Photo archives