SAD 1/2026
Natálie Bulvasová
DESIRE FOR LOVE
Verück nach Trost
Barbora Sedláková
CASTRATED CHEKHOV
Cherry Orchard at Hamburg
Róbert Štefančík
GRASPING MARTHALER
an attempt on interpretation of absurd scenic parable by European legend
Vojtěch Voska
BEWARE OF WOMEN
Empusion and Verbranntes Land
Vladimír Mikulka
ONLY I AM SOVREIGN HERE
Laios by Deutches ShauSpielHaus Hamburg
Vojtěch Voska
JOLLY TALES FROM THE LIFE OF OSKAR MATZERATH
Tin Drum at Divadlo Na zábradlí
THE THEATRE CRITICS’ AWARDS
best performance of 2025, best actor and actress, theatre, Czech play, scenography, music and talent
CRITICS’ POLL
Complete poll organized by Svět a divadlo
Zuzana Timčíková
DOSKY 2025
Petra Ježková
BLACK ON WHITE
Činoherní klub: Fernando Krapp Wrote Me This Letter
Ester Žantovská
IS IT TIME TO END IT
Annihilation at Divadlo Komedie
Eliška Raiterová
GREAT ACTING IN A TINY BODY
an attepmpt to capture the acting type of Ivana Uhlířová
TOMÁŠ RÁLIŠ: COMPATIBLE PARTS
Jan Šotkovský
ONCE WE HEATED UP THE OVEN TERRIBLY AND SAW UNBELIEVABLE THINGS
Cimrman’s cabaret one-act play as a phenomenon
CONTENT OF 2025 EDITION
The first issue of this new volume includes the results of the traditional complete survey of Czech theatre critics on which the Theatre Critics’ Awards 2025 are based (q. v.). The opening section “Echoes of PGLTF” looks back at productions presented at last year’s Prague German Language Theatre Festival. Natálie Bulvasová (“Desire for Love”) writes about Verrück nach Trost (A Foolish Desire for Solace), written and produced by Thorsten Lessing and staged by Salzburger Festspiele. Barbora Sedláková (“Castrated Chekhov”) reviews The Apple Orchard, a striking modernization of The Cherry Orchard directed at the Thalia Theater Hamburg by Antú Romero Nunes. Róbert Štefančík (“Grasping Marthaler”) writes about a production of Wachs oder Wirklichkeit (Wax or Reality), the latest work directed by Christoph Marthaler at Volksbühne am Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz, Vojtěch Voska (“Beware of Women”) about productions Empusion (directed by A. R. Nunes, Theater Basel) and Verbranntes Land (The Scorched Land; directed by Tobias Herzberg, Schauspielhaus Wien). Vladimír Mikulka (“Only I am Sovereign Here”) reviews the monodrama Laios inspired by ancient myths and starring Lina Beckmann under the direction of Karin Beier. The section closes with Vojtěch Voska’s review (“Jolly Tales from the Life of Oskar Matzerath”) of an adaptation of Günther Grass’s Die Blechtrommel (The Tin Drum), premiered at the festival and directed at the Divadlo Na zábradlí by its author Armin Petras. In the section dedicated to the playwright and director Tomáš Ráliš, Petra Ježková (“Black on White”) writes about his production of Tankred Dorst’s text Fernando Krapp Wrote Me This Letter at the Činoherní klub, and Ester Žantovská (“Is It Time to Stop This?”) about Ráliš’s adaptation of Michel Houellebecq’s novel Annihilation staged at the Divadlo Komedie. Tomáš Ráliš is also the author of the play published in this issue – Slučitelné díly (Compatible Parts), which was declared the best Czech play of 2025 staged for the first time. The series of actors’ portraits continues with Eliška Raiterová’s study of Ivana Uhlířová entitled “Great Acting in a Tiny Body (An Attempt to Capture the Acting Type of Ivana Uhlířová)”. Jan Šotkovský then continues in his series dedicated to “Notable Czech Dramas” with an instalment entitled “Once We Heated Up the Oven Terribly and Saw Unbelievable Things (Cimrman’s Cabaret One-Act Play as a Phenomenon)”.
The Theatre Critics’ Awards are bestowed on the basis of simple sums of votes submitted in the Svět a divadlo magazine’s survey (69 voters participated this year). The Best Production of the Year is The Vultures, a production of Henry Becque’s play directed at the Dejvické Theatre by Jan Frič, who also worked with Marta Ljubková to substantially adapt this more than a hundred-year-old text. Both awards for the best performances of the year were won by actors from the Divadlo Na zábradlí of Prague, and it was also declared the Theatre of 2025. The Best Actress of 2025 is Magdaléna Sidonová who was chosen by voters for her leading role in the production of Mrs. Dalloway, an adaptation of Virginia Woolf’s novel directed by Anna Klimešová. Miloslav König was awarded the Best Actor of 2025 for his leading role in the production My Struggle: A Man in Love, an adaptation of Karl Ove Knausgård’s eponymous novel, directed by Jan Mikulášek. The Best Czech Play Staged for the First Time is Tomáš Ráliš’s Slučitelné díly (Compatible Parts), staged under direction of the author with dramaturgy by Martin Satoranský at the Klicpera Theatre of Hradec Králové. The award for the Best Set Design of the Year went to the creative collective of Marta Hermannová, Domink Migač and Jan Pichler for the puppet production Soudružky s kroužky (Loops and Hoops). The Music of the Year went to the composer Petr Hora for “the musical-theatre composition” Předřeč šelmy (In the Eye of the Wild) with a libretto by Jiří Adámek Austerlitz, who also presented the work in collaboration with the BERG Orchestra at the Alfred ve dvoře Theatre of Prague. The Talent of 2025, according to critics’ votes, is the actress Klára Ondrůšková who has attracted attention particularly in her role of Eva in Gabriela Preissová’s Gazdina roba (The Landlord’s Woman), staged at the Slovácké divadlo Uherské Hradiště.
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