main programme - Festival Divadlo

MAIN PROGRAMME
14. září / 14th September
16:00 Divadlo Alfa / Alfa Theatre
Euripides et al.: Orestes Material (directed by Jan Frič); DIVADLO NA ZÁBRADLÍ, PRAHA / THEATRE ON THE BALUSTRADE, PRAGUE
A variaton on an ancient theme, in a producton created by the youngest generaton in Czech theatre. The famous myth, transported to a
fat on a housing estate, becomes the story of today's children growing up without a father. Orestes, alone under an empty and godless sky,
has to accept his fate.
Performance length: 1:35
19:00 Velké divadlo / Grand Theatre
A. P. Chekhov: Uncle Vanya (directed by Rimas Tuminas); VACHTANGOV THEATRE, MOSCOW (RU)
O p e n i n g c e rem o n y
Directed by Lithuanian director Rimas Tuminas, this producton of Uncle Vanya won the Golden Mask, Russia's most prestgious theatre
award. Its visually-compelling pictures, the precise synchronisaton of the whole company, creatng an impression that is at tmes balletc,
Sergei Makovetsky's imposing performance in the main role and the unusual shaping given to well-known scenes – all this results in a
producton that was the main event of last year's Moscow theatre season.
Performance length: 3:00
15. září / 15th September
11:00 Divadlo Alfa / Alfa Theatre
Tim Davys – Marek Pivovar: Amberville – A Hard Town For Soft Toys (directed by Radovan Lipus); DIVADLO ALFA, PLZEŇ / ALFA
THEATRE, PILSEN (Host theatre producton)
A detectve thriller refectng on the blurred lines between good and evil in a cruel contemporary world – in which the heroes, as in the
book on which the play is based, are all sof toys. This combinaton of children's story and the harsh world of Raymond Chandler, Dashiell
Hammet and Rose McDonald is a world premiere by Alfa Theatre. Crime, romance and non-standard sex, in which all the actors are stufed
animals. This original stage creaton draws on the clash between the appealing sof toy “puppets” and the harshness of the story.
Performance length: 1:20
16:00 Sál Peklo / Peklo Hall
Henrik Ibsen: Brand / Fire (directed by Štěpán Pácl); TRANSTEATRAL, PRAGUE
Štěpán Pácl won the Alfréd Radok “Talent of the Year” award for his directon of Brand, in which he develops the idea of the producton as a
score combining the actor's voice, movement and communicaton with the dynamics of the stage and the situaton. In the story of Brand, a
young priest who rejects indiference and half-heartedness, he tries to fnd a counterweight to a present-day era full of moral compromises.
The actors are young and of the same generaton, and their performances are remarkable for their physical awareness, musical feeling and
sense of rhythm.
Performance length: 2:30
20:00 Komorní divadlo / Chamber Theatre
Ladislav Stroupežnický: Our Swaggerers (directed by Jan Borna); DIVADLO V DLOUHÉ / THEATRE IN DLOUHÁ, PRAGUE
A producton that looks, with humour, at the tricky queston of the Czech natonal character. This sharply grotesque interpretaton
of a Czech classic accentuates, with ofen brutal comedy, the features and attudes of the characters and the situatons are drawn out into
absurdity. The “heroes” of the play are the village councillors, in every way the equals of our current crop of politcians.
Performance length: 2:20
16. září / 16th September
13:00 Divadlo Alfa / Alfa Theatre
William Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet (directed by Anna Petrželková); DIVADLO PETRA BEZRUČE / PETR BEZRUČ THEATRE, OSTRAVA
Here they are again. Arrogant brats who think the world belongs to them. Greed, immortality, vaingloriousness and vanity. Four moments
that apparently made it all worthwhile. Crunch. Lovers you'd rather kill. In Anna Petrželková's producton, today's Romeos and Juliets live in
bars in Stodolní street, smoke weed and reject their parents' world. That does not mean they have no ability to love.
Performance length: 2:45
www.festvaltheatre.cz
16. září / 16th September
17:00 Sál Peklo / Peklo Hall
Hollyroth (directed by Rastslav Ballek); SLOVENSKÉ NÁRODNÉ DIVADLO / SLOVAK NATIONAL THEATRE, BRATISLAVA (SK)
Actor Robert Roth's original creaton, using narraton and singing, follows the bizarre life of writer, translator and Catholic priest Ján Hollý,
whose life was full of tragicomic elements and paradoxes, characteristc of a Slovak intellectual of the tme. Roth works in a remarkable
fashion with the melody, musicality and rhythm of Hollý's language, seeking an analogy between the inner world of his character and the
reality of today. Hollyroth is the winner of an award for the best Slovak producton of the season, and Robert Roth won a Dosky award for
best male performance.
Performance length: 1:15
20:00 Komorní divadlo / Chamber Theatre
Anton Pavlovich Chekhov: The Seagull (directed by Daniel Špinar); MĚSTSKÉ DIVADLO KLADNO / CITY THEATRE, KLADNO
This producton by one of the most distnctve directors of the younger generaton views Chekhov's classic through a mildly grotesque lense,
but its melancholy subtext is never lost, especially in the portrayal of the relatonship between Nina Zarechnaya and Treplev by young and
talented actors. The older, “wiser” fgures, however, are deliberately caricatured. In the structure of his producton, Špinar pays deliberate
homage to Petr Lébl's famous Seagull at the Theatre on the Balustrade.
Performance length: 1:30
20:00 Velké divadlo / Grand Theatre
Vladimír Sorokin: Ice (directed by Kornél Mundruczó); NEMZETI SZÍNHÁZ, BUDAPEST / NATIONAL THEATRE, BUDAPEST (HU)
This dramatsaton of Sorokin's fantasy novel Ice, about a strange elite brotherhood in contemporary Moscow, includes a number of erotc
and violent scenes, staged with uncommon openness. They do not come across as gratuitous, however, but point to the obscurity
of current Russian reality, building up a grotesque parable of the search for the meaning of life in a country whose past and present appear
meaningless. Kornél Mundruczó, one of the stars of contemporary Hungarian cinematography, directs here in coproducton with the
Krétakör theatre company.
Performance length: 3:20; Audience members must be aged 18 and over.
17. září / 17th September
12:00 Divadlo Alfa / Alfa Theatre
Sláva Daubnerová: M. H. L. (directed by Sláva Daubnerová); P.A.T. A ŠTÚDIO 12, BRATISLAVA
A documentary monodrama inspired by the life and work of Slovakia's frst female professional theatre di rector, Magda HusákováLokvencová, the former wife of Communist leader Gustáv Husák. Author and performer Sláva Daubnerová uncovers the story of
a courageous and talented artst whose ambitons came into confict with the destructve mechanisms of the totalitarian regime.
Daubnerová was voted “Discovery of the season” in Slovakia's prestgious Dosky theatre awards in 2010, The producton was nominated for
“Producton of the season“ and won the Anniversary Award of the Literary Foundaton for directon and actng.
Performance length: 1:20
15:00 and 19:00 Komorní divadlo – klub / Chamber Theatre – club
Milada Součková: Historical Monologue (directed by J. A. Pitínský); NÁRODNÍ DIVADLO, PRAHA / NATIONAL THEATRE, PRAGUE
Emil Hácha, one of the most controversial fgures in Czech history, is considered by many to be a traitor to the naton. In Historical
Monologue, however, Milada Součková tries to explain his attudes, opinions and fate against the background of the historical situaton
in which he found himself. Hácha's testmony is listened to by President Masaryk, an indubitable moral authority with whose legacy Hácha
is confronted. Emil Hácha is played by Eva Salzmannová, while Karel Steigerwald is the silent Masaryk, against whose stony face Hácha's
monologue splinters.
Performance length: 01:15
17:30 Sál Peklo / Peklo Hall
Chorus of Women (libreto and directon by Marta Górnicka); ZBIGNIEW RAZSEWSKI THEATRE INSTITUTE, WARSAW (PL)
Reminiscent of the chorus of an ancient tragedy, this chorus is made up of women of all kinds of professions and ages, who in their choral
recitaton and singing reveal the possibilites and stereotypes of language. They talk, shout, whisper, sing, and their collectve voice
becomes music. The script is composed of extracts from Antgone, quotatons from works of modern literature, flms and children's stories,
and from the linguistc ballast that surrounds us every day – advertsing, slogans and soulless speech. The producton has won several
nominatons in the category of the best Polish musical producton and the best alternatve theatre.
Performance length: 0:45
20:00 Komorní divadlo / Chamber Theatre
The V+W Correspondence (writen by Dora Viceníková, directed by Jan Mikulášek); NARODNÍ DIVADLO BRNO, DIVADLO REDUTA /
NATIONAL THEATRE, BRNO, REDUTA THEATRE
The correspondence between famous actors Jiří Voskovec and Jan Werich is a potent testmony of the lives of two exceptonal people
during a difcult tme, when their paths went in diferent directons afer February 1948. Director Jan Mikulášek, who in recent years has
gained a reputaton as one of the most remarkable talents in Czech theatre, conceived the producton as an expressive, somewhat
grotesque theatrical commentary on the contents of the leters. The result is an emotonally-powerful and theatrically impressive reading
of the leters and the lives of V+W.
Performance length: 2:30
www.festvaltheatre.cz
17. září / 17th September
19:00 Velké divadlo / Grand Theatre
Vladimír Sorokin: Ice (directed by Kornél Mundruczó); NEMZETI SZÍNHÁZ, BUDAPEST / NATIONAL THEATRE, BUDAPEST(HU)
This dramatsaton of Sorokin's fantasy novel Ice, about a strange elite brotherhood in contemporary Moscow, includes a number of erotc
and violent scenes, staged with uncommon openness. They do not come across as gratuitous, however, but point to the obscurity
of current Russian reality, building up a grotesque parable of the search for the meaning of life in a country whose past and present appear
meaningless. Kornél Mundruczó, one of the stars of contemporary Hungarian cinematography, directs here in coproducton with the
Krétakör theatre company.
Performance length: 3:20; Audience members must be aged 18 and over.
18. září / 18th September
10:00 – Komorní divadlo – klub / Chamber Theatre – club
Festival discussion
13:00 and 17:00 Sál Peklo / Peklo Hall
Table (script, directon and music by Karbido); KARBIDO, WROCLAW (PL)
A fascinatng compositon for four musicians and one table. The men sitng around the table drum on it and play with the aid of various
simple instruments. Their producton contains both humour and strength, drawing audiences into the world of alternatve music and the
further possibilites of musical theatre.
Performance length: 1:00
15:00 Komorní divadlo / Chamber Theatre
Patrick Marber: Dealer’s Choice (directed by Jiří Pokorný); DEJVICKÉ DIVADLO / DEJVICE THEATRE, PRAGUE
The employees of a London restaurant meet in the basement every Sunday to play poker. One day a mysterious man appears, who turns
out to be a professional player. The restaurant owner invites him to play with them. A tense game ensues, which is about much more than
cards. Director Jan Pokorný and the excellent actors of the Dejvice Theatre give brilliant gradaton to the card games, as the plot becomes
increasingly absurd and derailed.
Performance length: 02:30
19:00 Velké divadlo / Grand Theatre
Closing ceremony
Giuseppe Verdi: Rigoletto (directed by Róbert Alföldi, conducted by Ivan Pařík); DIVADLO J. K. TYLA / J. K. TYL THEATRE, PILSEN
(Host theatre producton)
This producton by Hungarian director and managing director of the Natonal Theatre in Budapest Róbert Alföldi with the Grand Theatre in
Pilsen forms part of an internatonal project, the Armel Opera Competton and Festval. Alföldi's concept may difer radically from
traditonal opera theatre, but he does not violate Verdi – rather, he allows himself to be freely inspired by him to create an impressive
modern producton form that makes heavy demands on the performers but is extremely atractve to audiences.
Performance length: 3:00
www.festvaltheatre.cz