SAD 2/2013

Summary 2/2013

Miroslav Petříček’s series “Sceptics and Subverts” continues with his essay “The Bodily Charms of Everyday Life” and it includes annotated translations of excerpts from Pierre Charron’s essay On Dressing a Body and Charles Sorel’s novel Francion and His Laughable Story. The following “three-parter” entitled “Backed up by Radoks” returns to theatres and artists that scored in the Alfred Radok Awards. Petr Horák writes about the Chamber Theatre Aréna of Ostrava, Marek Lollok and Zuzana Vantuchová about Jan Mikulášek’s productions, and Kateřina Veselovská about Troilus and Cressida directed by David Radok. Blanka Křivánková in her essay “(Twice) at the Edge of the Abyss” reviews dance-motion productions One Step Before the Fall (Markéta Vacovská, Lenka Dusilová and Spitfire Company, directed by Petr Boháč) and She/He is Nancy Joe (Miřenka Čechová and Tantehorse). Michaela Mojžišová looks at Austrian productions of Puccini’s operas Il Trittico and Manon Lescaut and Verdi’s La Traviata in her essay “The Hell, Purgatory and Paradise of a Fallen Woman (Italian Operas in Vienna and Graz)”. In the section “Postcards from England” Eva Kyselová writes on the famous production War Horse (“WarhorseMachine”), Jana Wild on productions of Richard III with Mark Rylance in the title role and Red Velvet with Adrian Lester (“Shakespeare out of Joint”), Dana Silbiger-Sliuková on an adaptation of Dostoevsky’s Double at the Theatre Royal Bath, and Martina Schlegelová on In the Republic of Happiness by Martin Crimp at the Royal Court Theatre (“Disturbing «Christmas Play»”). Tereza Krčálová writes about political documentary plays by Teatr.doc of Moscow from recent years (“Scrutinizing the Civic Position”) and Martina Černá also examines political theatre, this time a Latin American one, in her essay “Political Theatre Not Only for Anniversaries”. The section “Games and Rolling Pooh” includes Frank Thorogood’s “Play the Game”, alongside Karel Král’s essay and an interview with director and playwright Miroslav Krobot, thus introducing the play of the issue, Krobot’s Brian, this year’s winner of the Alfred Radok Award in the Play of the Year category. The traditional Comedy Mix offers the first instalment of a selection from Michał Walczak’s Polish Cabaret Inferno in a Brothel. The next instalment of Lucie Lomová’s comic strip “Shooting Star” is titled Suspicion.

Backed up by Radoks The series is introduced by Petr Horák’s essay “Made in Aréna 2012”, dedicated to four productions at the Chamber Theatre Aréna of Ostrava in 2012. The most highly praised of these is With Hope and Without It, written by “in-house” literary manager Tomáš Vůjtek. The director Ivan Krejčí has presented this documentary play about the life of Josefa Slánská (the wife of a communist leader executed by his own party, who remained a convinced communist until her death) as a Brechtian cabaret where Alena Sasínová-Polarczyk in particular shines in her leading role (she was nominated for the Alfred Radok Award). In all of the last year’s productions (which also included Helmut Kajzar’s Cowshed/Paternoster, Nikolaj Kolajda’s Amigo, and Ionesco’s Bald Soprano) Horák praises the original dramaturgy, consistent direction and refined and faithful acting. Marek Lollok in his essay “Jan Mikulášek and His Contemporary Classics” speaks highly of the adaptation of Wuthering Heights (which came second in the Production of the Year category) staged at the Petr Bezruč Theatre of Ostrava. In spite of the traditionally distinct stylisation by both actors and director and the use of abstract techniques, the clear contours and the nature of the original story are still maintained. However, this is not the case with the adaptation of Mann’s longer and more complicated novel Doktor Faustus, staged by Mikulášek at the Husa na provázku of Brno. The extensively de-constructed (and abridged) original crumbles away into an unstructured array of catchy lines. The third classic title is Chekhov’s Cherry Orchard, staged by Mikulášek at the Husa na provázku Theatre. The text is also extensively abridged and shifted to contemporary times. However, while for Lollok, Mikulášek succeeds in retaining the foundation of Chekhov’s characters, Zuzana Vantuchová in her essay “Geese, Cherries, Booze, Bliss?” concludes on the contrary that the director presents us only a dubious perverted bash with unpleasant guests. Kateřina Veselovská writes about Troilus and Cressida, staged in a distinct adaptation and abridgement by David Radok at the National Theatre. The author praises the production’s space and ambient set design and lighting but she maintains that the excessive concentration on demonstrating the emptiness of political speeches and repetition of futile and hollow gestures only fettered and weighed down the production, and thus it is ultimately as exhausting as the Trojan War itself.

Miroslav Krobot and His Brian In his essay “The Last Expedition of the Innocent Louse (Leaving in the Dejvice Way or That’s Enough Talking, Now Let’s Sing)” Karel Král writes about specific features of the playwright Miroslav Krobot and particularly about his play and production Brian, which he staged at the Dejvické divadlo where he is the art director. The origin of this play could serve as an exemplary illustration of a chance event in art. The coincidence initially seemed unfortunate when the theatre was not allowed to stage a dramatization of Winnie-the-Pooh, but it turned out to be a lucky one since the story of Brian Jones from the Rolling Stones is posed as the ideal counterpart to the story of Milne’s Christopher Robin. Brian-Christopher lives in two worlds, in the real one and in the world of addicts. One is with Anita and the Rolling Stones, the other one with Pooh Bear, Eeyore and Rabbit. A seemingly sober reality is represented by Frank… until he becomes Brian’s killer. The restriction forestalling the realization of the original author’s concepts is characteristic of both Krobot’s playwriting and his directing manners: stage events, the characters’ lines and the actors’ display are truncated to a brief pattern. This, in its unostentatious approach, is reminiscent of Václav Havel’s drama. From a Kafkaesque or existential absurdity, we arrive at entertaining nonsense of a British cut. No depression. And yet – as Brian shows – deadly anxiety could be at the background. Miroslav Krobot is now preparing to film a TV series or partly a sitcom The Fourth Star, set in the surroundings of a small Prague hotel. Krobot is both the co-author of the script and the co-director. The cast of the series will come mostly from the ensemble of the Dejvické divadlo and rehearsals will take place in a stage format. If the TV version succeeds, a theatre production should follow. Miroslav Krobot mentions this also in the interview entitled “The Writer’s Loneliness of a Sigma Football Team Fan”.