SAD 1/2023

CRITICISM ABROAD
survey on criticism in Central Europe
participants: Sophie Diesselhorst, Tamás Jászay, Karol Mišovic and Witold Mrozek

Milo Juráni
THE DEATH OF ARBITRATOR AND AMIABLE CRITIQUE

Noémi Herczog
A GOOD ENOUGH CRITIC

Stanisław Godlewski
DREAMS, HISTORY, CHALLENGES
theatre criticism in Poland

I LEARN TO WRITE FOR FORTY YEARS AND STILL HAVE DOUBTS ABOUT IT
interview with theatre publicist Radmila Hrdinová

CZECH THEATRE CRITICS’ AWARDS
Perfomance, Actor, Actress, Theatre, New Czech Play, Scenography, Music and Talent of year 2022

CRITIC’S SURVEY
in all categories includingmost interesting foreign performance

Milo Juráni
EVERY ART IS ECOLOGICAL
manifests and challenges for more ecological theatre, part 1

FIFTY, OR SCENES FROM LIFE OF (UN)SUCCESSFUL FIFTY YEAR OLD MAN
survey by editors of Svět a divadlo
Petr Zelenka: Fifty, directed by P.Zelenka, Dejvické divadlo, 2022.

Marie Zdeňková
INCONSPICOUOUS RETRO AGAINST THE BACKDROP OF DEATH
National Theatre: La Ronde
Arthur Schnitzler: La Ronde, directed by Arthur Nauzyciel, Národní divadlo, 2022.

Radmila Hrdinová
THE NOETIC NOVELLA NARROWED TO A WHODUNIT
Čapeks Hordubal at National Theatre
Karel Čapek: Hordubal, directed by Michal Vajdička, Národní divadlo, 2022.

Natálie Bulvasová
ON STORIES WE ARE NOT ABLE TO RECOUNT YET
Jocasta and The World Ripped Apart at Městská divadla pražská
Lukáš Brutovský: Jocasta, directed by L.Brutovský, Městská divadla pražská – Komedie and Slovenské komorné divadlo Martin, 2022; Roland Schimmelpfennig: The World Ripped Apart, directed by Michal Dočekal, Městská divadla pražská – Rokoko, 2022.

Zuzana Augustová
HOW LOVERS DO IT?
Memoirs of Medusa
Sivan Ben Yishai: Like Lovers Do (Memoirs of Medusa), direction and choreography by Pinar Karabulut, Münchner Kammerspiele, 2021.

THOMAS ECCLESHARE: PASTORALE

Eliška Raiterová
NOTES FROM DEER FARM

teaching ritualistic theatre in Finland

Kateřina Lesch
PUNKERS FROM STATION KIMCHI
Me, kimchi at Alfréd ve dvoře
Me, kimchi, prepared and performed by Petra Hůlová, Petr Vrba and Jiří Havlíček, Alfred ve dvoře, 2022.

content of Svět a divadlo 2022 volume

The first issue of this new volume includes the results of the traditional survey of Czech theatre critics on which the Theatre Critics’ Awards are based (q.v.). The survey is loosely connected to a thematic section dedicated to “challenges of theatre criticism” which is introduced by a survey “Criticism Abroad” with contributions from Germany (Sophie Disselhorst), Hungary (Tamás Jászay), Slovakia (Karol Mišovic) and Poland (Witold Mrozek). It is followed by essays reflecting conditions and challenges of theatre criticism in Slovakia (Juráni: “The Death of Arbitrator and Amiable Critique”), Hungary (Herczog: “A Good Enough Critic”) and Poland (Godlewski: “Dreams, History, Challenges”). The section is rounded off with interview with a Czech critic and publicist Radmila Hrdinová talking about not only her own writing but also the sense and accountability of criticism itself. Milo Juráni launches his series entitled Every Art is Ecological. The first instalment, entitled Manifests and Challenges for More Ecological Theatre, mainly considers Timothy Morton’s theory, dealing with a new materialism and “object-oriented ontology”. For him the aim of art is – among other things – to develop humankind’s ability to coexist in non-violent interaction with non-human beings. The review section of the issue opens with a survey of SAD’s editors dealing with the successful production Fifty of the Dejvické divadlo (which has scored highly in several categories of this year’s Theatre Critics’ Awards). They discuss not only theatrical aspects of Petr Zelenka’s drama itself but also its relation to topical social themes and moods. The first two dramatic productions of the National Theatre under its new artistic management are reflected in reviews by Marie Zdeňková and Radmila Hrdinová. The former notes in her essay “Inconspicuous Retro against the Backdrop of Death” a production La Ronde by French guest director Arthur Nauzyciel and acknowledges in the first place that he rendered the first-rate text from the end of the 19^th century into contemporary theatre language. In her essay “The Noetic Novella Narrowed to a Whodunit” Radmila Hrdinová is surprised by a simplifying conversion of Čapek’s prose Hordubal into theatrical form. Natálie Bulvasová’s essay “On Stories We Are Not Able to Recount Yet” deals with two productions at Prague Municipal Theatres: Jocasta (staged at the Divadlo Komedie by director Lukáš Brutovský) and The World Ripped Apart (directed by Michal Dočekal at the Rokoko theatre). In her essay “How Do Lovers Do It?” Zuzana Augustová looks at the production Like Lovers Do (Memoirs of Medusa) at the Kammerspiele of Munich (Sivan Ben Yishai’s play was directed by Pinar Karabulut), performed at this year’s Prague German Language Theatre Festival. The final review “Punkers from the Station Kimchi” is written by Kateřina Lesch and deals with the production I, Kimchi staged at the Alfréd ve dvoře Theatre. A dystopic, darkly grotesque drama Pastoral by the British writer Thomas Eccleshare describes the victory of wild nature over humankind (translated for this magazine by Hana Pavelková). The issue closes with “The Finnish Diary” by Eliška Raiterová in which she recollects her experience from a month-long course in ritualistic theatre and performance organized by the Theatre Faculty of Finnish Uniarts Helsinki.

The Theatre Critics’ Awards are bestowed on the base of simple sums of votes submitted in the Svět a divadlo (World and Theatre) magazine’s survey (84 critics participated this year). The Best Production of 2022 was The Last of the Soviets, an adaptation of the book Secondhand Time: The Last of the Soviets by Svetlana Alexievich, staged at the Theatre in Dlouhá Street in Prague by director Michal Vajdička (script by dramaturg Daniel Majling). Its lead actor Jan Vondráček has shared the first place in the Best Actor category for his performance of Major Alexeyev with Ivan Trojan, who played David in the Dejvické Theatre production Fifty. The award for the Best Actress of 2022 went to Pavlína Štorková for her leading role of Sylvia Plath in the production The Wife of a Published Poet at the Studio Hrdinů. The Theatre of 2022 is the Dejvické Theatre, the award for the Best New Czech Play went to Petr Zelenka for Fifty (who also staged his work at the Dejvické Theatre). The award for the Best Set Design was shared by Marek Cpin, a set designer for the production Dictionary of the Khazars (Husa na provázku Theatre) and the duo Tereza Gsöllhoferová and Eva Justichová, set designers of the immersive production Life Must Go On (Pomezí Association). The most votes in The Best Music of 2022 category went to Matouš Hejl, author of a musical section of the Theatre Association JEDL’s production OPERA IBSEN/GHOSTS. The actresses Anežka Šťastná and Zdislava Začalová were voted Talents of the Year.