Summary 2/2014
The issue opens traditionally with an essay by Miroslav Petříček, this time entitled “The Modern World Crisis as a Problem” and accompanied by a translation of an excerpt from a work by Luc Boltanski “The Reality of Reality as a Problem”. The next section returns to the annual critics’ awards, beginning with a comprehensive interview with Dora Viceníková (“It is Necessary to Pray that the Audience will Leap on a Train Going at Full Speed”), a dramatic adviser and art director of the Divadlo Na zábradlí (Theatre on the Balustrade),where the “Best Production of the Year” is currently in repertoire. It also includes a portrait of Karel Dobrý – holder of the “Best Actor” title – by Martin Švejda (“Mesmeric Actor”) and an essay surveying productions of Russian classic drama in Ostravian theatres including the “Best Theatre of the Year” (Horák: “You Can’t Grasp Russia with Your Mind” – q.v.). The section “Psychotic Aberrations” (all q.v.) includes two double-reviews: Karel Král writes about the productions Say It by Boca Loca Lab and Mission by Handa Gote research & development (“Say Something, a Ghost of Chance!”) and Blanka Křivánková about the productions Faith by Miřenka Čechová and Tantehorse, and 4.48 Psychosis by Sarah Kane, staged at the Alta Studio (“On the Shadowy Side of the Mountain”). In the section “Three Times Two” Michaela Mojžišová writes on productions of Faust and Fidelio at the Opernhaus Zürich (“In the Paradise of Art Lovers!”), Vojtěch Varyš (“Nora and Prig”) about two new productions by Dušan Pařízek in Düsseldorf (Nora3) and Zürich (Let’s Assume My Name is Gantenbein), and Michal Zahálka (“Inspectors and Chemists”) gives an account of productions of Gogol’s Government Inspector at Budapest’s Vígszínház and Gorky’s Children of the Sun at the Katona Jószef Színhás. The section “Protocols” consists of a controversial essay “Dead Ends of Documentary Theatre” by Zofia Smolarska, which comes from her personal experience with the production of Situation Rooms by the group Rimini Protokoll, accompanied by Pierre Menard’s essay Description of One Project. The play of this issue – Mark O’Rowe’s Terminus translated by Ester Žantovská – is accompanied in the section “At Terminus Station” by an interview with the author (“The Playwright’s Most Powerful Tool is the Spectator’s Imagination”) and a review of its production directed by Marek Němec at the Divadelní spolek Kašpar (Caspar Theatre Association) (Zahálka: “Ostensible Platitudes”). Another Italian Comedy Mix, prepared by Martin Švehlík this time, introduces Massimo Troisi and his Neapolitan cabaret La Smorfia. The traditional “Kaleidoscope of Brief News from around the World” is for the first time replenished with a kaleidoscope of new books on theatrical themes. The next instalment of the comic strip “Morcec and Hádry” by the duo Hynek Dřízhal – Petr Vodička is titled “In the Rough North”.
You Can’t Grasp Russia with Your Mind Petr Horák looks at a foursome of plays by Russian authors produced during the last year’s season at two Ostravian chamber theatres, the Petr Bezruč Theatre and the Aréna, which received the award “Theatre of the Year”. He shows the relation of Ostravian theatre to Russian drama in a wider context and mentions a series of earlier successful productions – primarily Heart of a Dog for which the Aréna received the “Best Production of the Year 2003” Radok Award. Of the two actual “Russian” works by the Aréna his highest praise goes to their production of Gogol’s Gamblers. He praises the acting in the production as well as the fact that a simple gambling story develops into a parable about a world where nobody can be trusted. The production Russian Conserves based on the contemporary Russian drama by Ludmila Ulicka is a bit more problematic. It takes a new look at the basic theme of The Cherry Orchard – the existential feeling in times when one era is ending and the next one has not yet started. Carefully staged contemporary Russian drama deserves respect, but we have already witnessed more emphatic performances in the four Chekhovian Aréna productions. Two productions by Russian authors were also staged at the Petr Bezruč Theatre. In comparison with other works by this theatre, Gogol’s Government Inspector has the impact of a rather restrained and none too surprisingly retold classic drama. Indeed, the production owes rather too much to Gogol in its understanding of the protagonists’ psychology and the true motivations for their behaviour, which weakens the basic dramatic conflict of the story: the limitless fear of a false authority. Considerable interest was aroused by Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya staged by the theatre’s new art director Štěpán Pácl at the end of the last year. Although carefully directed and thoughtfully staged, the production suffers somewhat from a desire to impress when Pácl presents scenes in an overly obvious way. However, his generally penetrating and in many ways surprising Uncle Vanya remains faithful to the spirit of Chekhov’s description of the difficulty of coming close to each other and of the hopeless imprisonment of all the characters in their respective worlds.
Psychotic Aberrations Karel Král’s essay deals with the productions Say It by Boca Loca Lab and Mission, an adaptation of William Burroughs’ novella Ghost of Chance, by Handa Gote research & development. Both companies are part of the production group Jedefrau.org and both link theatre with research and exploration. The Boca Loca Laboratory explores the style of the théâtre musical. This time it examines interpersonal relations with the assistance of language deprived of terms, of parlance as a mere sound: chatter, twitter, splutter, rattling… Voices are textured according to musical relations (rhythm, tempo) and three couples of participants “sing” their solos, duets and choirs. They also create various constellations in their relationships. However, the production’s telling qualities, which lie basically in a search for perfection, convey moods rather than a story. On the other hand, Handa Gote offers the opposite to cool perfection: a warm, hand-made, smudged sloppiness. They adapt Burroughs’s prose and his method of cut-up. The main thing they take from him is the narrative style of adventurous novels and they discard the dystopian theses, but they maintain the vision of a man dangerous both to nature and himself. They are faithful to the author in their unrestrained poetic character, in which they entertainingly combine quotes, a lively animated movie, puppets, dance and music. Blanka Křivánková’s essay “On the Shadowy Side of the Mountain” deals with a couple of productions by Czech contemporary alternative theatre groups on the theme of suicide. In Faith, Miřenka Čechová investigates the dark side of her dedication to dance. Thanks to this dedication, she is an outstanding figure in both Czech and international dance, but at the same time she seems to fights feelings of burn-out and resignation. Her production opens with a confession rather disturbing for the audience: “This is not a performance about Taťána Juřicová who committed suicide in 2002. It is about me so that I won’t do the same.” The setting is in black and white and this black and white "approach" also infiltrates an overall interpretation, which at places is quite illustrative. A new, interesting production of 4.48 Psychosis by Sarah Kane was staged in the Alta Studio by the actresses Ivana Uhlířová and Irena Kristeková together with the director Dominika Andrašková. Here the idea is incarnated not through language but through movement. An effort to find “a meaning” turns into the picture of the physical deformation. The attempt to avert tragedy turns into the comic absurd.