Jan Šotkovský
JIRÁSKŮV HRONOV – UNCERTAIN STABILITY
CAN ANY PROBLEM BE SOLVED?
an survey about the course of Jiráskův Hronov
HRONOV HAS LOADED US INTO CABBON AND IT HAS CATAPULTED US INTO SPACE
interview with Jan Duchek, the artistic director of Ad Hoc theatre
Radmila Hrdinová
THE PHENOMENON OF JIRÁSKŮV HRONOV THE NINETY SECOND TIME
PRINCIPLES OF NEW THEATRE ARE CREATED BY A PLAYWRIGHT
interview with Iwan Aleksandrowicz Wyrypajew
Pavla Bergmannová
SO FAR SO NEAR
Generation After - showcase
Responsibility, dir. Michał Zadara, Teatr Powszechny, Warszawa, 2022; Jana Šostak: Crying. Stand Up (For Your Rights) Comedy, dir. J.Šostak, Komuna Warszawa, 2021; Karolina Hamer, Magdalena Staroszczyk: Hamer, dir. Justyna Sobczyk, STUDIO teatrgaleria Warszawa, 2021; Wiktor Bagiński, Martyna Wawrzyniak: Heart, by W.Bagiński, TR Warszawa, 2021; The Tempest. Between, by Damian Josef Neć, Teatr Żydowski, Warszawa, 2020; Paweł Sakowicz: Amando, choreography P.Sakowicz, Muzeum Narodowe Warszawa, 2022; Le jeu du massacre, concept by Barbara Kinga Majewska and Ramona Nagabczyńska, STUDIO teatrgaleria Warszawa
Jan Jiřík
ON MEN AND THEIR DESIRES
two premieres of Teatr Powszechny
Krystian Lupa and comp: Imagine, by K.Lupa, Teatr Powszechny Warszawa and Teatr Powszechny Łódż, 2022; Joseph Conrad: Heart of Darkness, by Paweł Łysak, Teatr Powszechny Warzsawa, 2021
Vladimír Mikulka
THE TEMPEST ON BALTIC
Shakespeare festival at Gdansk
William Shakespeare: Midsummer Night Dreams, by Rafał Szumski, Teatr Miejski im. Witolda Gombrowicza w Gdyni, 2021; Rolf Alme: Romeo and Juliet and other catastrophic relationships, by R.Alme, European Shakespeare Festivals Network, 2021; Alicja Bral: Andronikus-Synekdocha, by Grzegorz Bral, Teatr Pieśń Kozła, 2021; William Shakespeare: The Tempest, by Alessandro Serra, Teatro Stabile di Torino - Teatro Nazionale di Roma, 2022; William Shakespeare: The Tempest, music, lyrics and directed by Ada Milea, Teatr Lucia Sturdza Bulandra Bukurešť v Sala Piatra Neamț, 2021
WE ARE LIMITED BY SHAKESPEARE
interview with Agata Grenda, director of Shakespeare theatre festival at Gdansk
Jan Šotkovský
GIANTS ARE COMMING
two contemporary English plays in London summer 2022
Stephen Beresford: Southburry Child, directed by Nicholas Hytner, Bridge Theatre, 2022; Jez Butterworth: Jerusalem, directed by Ian Rickson, Apollo Theatre
Jitka Šotkovská
NEW FORMS AT WEST END?
The Seagull at London
A.P.Čechov, Anya Reiss: The Seagull, directed by Jamie Lloyd, Jamie Lloyd Company v Harold Pinter Theatre, 2022
Martina Ulmanová
TRIUMPH OF CREATIVE TEAMS
2021/2022 season of Slovak National Theatre Drama Company
Collective of authors: When the Stones come…, by Matúš Bachynec, Slovenské národné divadlo, 2022; David Mamet: Glengarry Glenn Ross, by Ingid Timková, Slovenské národné divadlo, 2021; Florian Zeller: Mother, by Soňa Ferancová, Slovenské národné divadlo, 2021; Arthur Miller: The Cruicible, by Marián Amsler, Slovenské národné divadlo, 2022; Béla Pintér: Dirt, by Ján Luterán, Slovenské národné divadlo, 2022; Valeria Schulzová and col.: 24, by V.Schulzová, Slovenské národné divadlo, 2022
Vladimír Mikulka
FROM THE NORTHERN TERRITORIES
Činoherní studio Ústí nad Labem, season 2021/22
David Mamet: American Buffalo, by David Šiktanc, Činoherní studio Ústí nad Labem, 2021; A.P.Čechov: Cherry Orchard, by David Šiktanc, Činoherní studio Ústí nad Labem, 2022; Jaroslav Rudiš: Anšlus, by Josef Doležal, Činoherní studio Ústí nad Labem, 2021; Clifford D.Simak: Day of a Man, by Petr Uhlík, Činoherní studio Ústí nad Labem, 2021; Josef Formánek: Speaking Truth, by Filip Nuckolls, Činoherní studio Ústí nad Labem, 2022; Gianna Molinari: Everything is still possible here, by Ivan Buraj, Činoherní studio Ústí nad Labem, 2022
Ester Žantovská
MY GOD, LEAVE ME ALONE
Antigona teenage style – Divadlo Drak and MDP
Tomáš Jarkovský and Jakub Vašíček podle Sofokla: Antigona, by J.Vašíček, Divadlo Drak a Městská divadla pražská, 2022
Karolína Stehlíková
WHOSE ANTIGONE AND FOR WHOM?
two Antigones from Brno
Jean Anouilh: Antigone, by Zetel, Divadlo Polárka, 2022; Sofokles: Antigone, by Jitka Vrbková, Divadlo Aldente, 2021
Barbora Sedláková
RELAY OF HISTORY IN MOTION
A Complete Czech History at Revolving Theatre in Český Krumlov
Janek Lesák and Natálie Preslová and Jihočeské Malé divadlo: A Complete Czech History, by J.Lesák, Otáčivé hlediště v Českém Krumlově
Barbora Sedláková
BYPASS ON ZÁHŘEBSKÁ STREET
old and new face of D21 Theatre
Johann Wolfgang Goethe, Jakub Šmíd: The Sorrows of Young Werther, by J.Šmíd, D21, 2018; Franz Kafka, Ondřej Štefaňák: America, by O.Štefaňák, D21, 2021; Tomáš Jarkovský and Jakub Vašíček: Emil, or On Hácha, by J.Vašíček, D21, 2021
TOMÁŠ JARKOVSKÝ AND JAKUB VAŠÍČEK: EMILE, OR ON HÁCHA
OUTSIDE THE BOX 4: Jan Duchek
S.d.Ch.
MAINSTREAM HARLOT
or How director A.N. avoided bear-trap
Bedřich Smetana, Karel Sabina: Prodaná nevěsta, by Alice Nellis, Národní divadlo, 2022
Anja Tukonić
FRLJIĆ BROTHERS
adaptation of The Karamazov Brothers at Zagreb
Fjodor Michailovič Dostojevskij: The Karamazov Brothers, režie Oliver Frljić, Zagrebačko kazalište mladih, 2022
LUKÁŠ&BELIS: DISASTERS 5 It’s Raining
The issue opens with a section dedicated to the Jiráskův Hronov amateur theatre festival, which is the top showcase of Czech amateur and non-professional theatre. This year’s festival is described by Radmila Hrdinová in her essay “The Phenomenon of Jiráskův Hronov the Ninety-Second Time” and it is supplemented by a survey on Hronov’s assets and issues in which Jitka Šotkovská’s questions are answered both by authors and festival goers. There is also a general reflection by long-standing Hronov participant and lecturer Jan Šotkovský (“Jiráskův Hronov – Uncertain Stability”) and finally an interview with Jan Duchek, art director of the thriving Ad Hoc company (“Hronov Has Loaded Us into Cannon and It Has Shot Us to the Universe”). This is accompanied by a selection of Duchek’s humorous columns and wine reviews published in the Hronov Messenger (in the section Outside the Box). The fifth issue of Svět a divadlo (World and Theatre) puts great emphasis on the word “world” in journal’s title. In contributions dedicated to foreign theatre the greatest focus is given to Poland. This section opens with an interview with the Polish playwright and director of Russian origin, Iwan Aleksandrowicz Wyrypajew (“Principles of New Theatre are Created by a Playwright”). In his essay “On Men and Their Desires”) Jan Jiřík writes about two premières of Warsaw Teatr Powszechny – Imagine directed by Krystian Lupa and Paweł Łysak’s Heart of Darkness; Pavla Bergmannová’s essay “So Far, So Near” is an account of the Warsaw festival of alternative theatre, A Generation After Showcase. The International Shakespearean festival in Gdańsk is considered by Vladimír Mikulka in his essay “The Tempest on Baltic” and he complements this with an interview with the new festival director Agata Grenda (“We are Limited by Shakespeare”). The Šotkovskýs bring an account of their summer expedition to theatrical London. Jitka Šotkovská’s essay “New Forms in the West End?” is about a radical adaptation of The Seagull directed by Jamie Lloyd, while Jan Šotkovský adds reviews of a “revival” of Butterworth’s Jerusalem and Southbury Child by Stephen Beresford (“Giants are Coming”). And finally, in her essay “The Brothers Frljić” Anja Tukonić writes about an adaptation of The Brothers Karamazov in Zagreb. The next section is dedicated to more in-depth views of specific theatrical forms. Martina Ulmanová writes about the 2021/22 season of the Slovak National Theatre Drama Company (“Victory of Collectives”) and Vladimír Mikulka covers the same period at the Činoherní studio Ústí nad Labem (“From the Northern Territories”). Barbora Sedláková takes a rather wider perspective of the Prague theatre D21 (“A Bypass on Záhřebská Street”). Tomáš Jarkovský’s and Jakub Vašíček’s published play Emile, or On Hácha, staged by this duo at D21 and winner of many awards, is also linked with this essay.
Reviews by Ester Žantovská and Karolína Stehlíková look at three productions. The former deals with the collective production of Hradec Drak and Prague Municipal Theatres (“My God, Leave Me Alone”), while the latter, in her essay “Whose Antigone and for Whom?”, describes two Brno productions staged at two different theatres: the Aldente (which specialises in working with disabled young people) and the Polárka (which staged an adaptation of Anouilh). Barbora Sedláková writes about an open-air production A Complete Czech History at the Revolving Theatre in Český Krumlov (“Relay of History in Motion”) and S.d.Ch. concludes the review section with his essay “Mainstream Harlot” about a controversial production of The Bartered Bride at the National Theatre. The issue of Svět a divadlo (World and Theatre), as per tradition, closes with the comic strip Disasters by the duo Karel Lukáš and Silvie Belis which this time is entitled It’s Raining.