Czech Theatre - 1996 - 99

Nothing dramatic happening in the Czech theatre. The Seasons 1996-1997, 1997-98 and 1998-1999 (Marie Reslová)

Money comes first

The last few seasons have passed quietly in Czech theatres. Everyone has grown used to the limitations of the state and city purses, which enable essential expenditure to be just about covered. Up to now the grant system has not made anyone a living, but it is beginning to function in a small way. From time to time (although less and less often) the theatres manage to wheedle a crown or two out of the pockets of sponsors. Paradoxically, most of the sponsorship money is raised from sponsorship agreements with the semi-state institutions of large theatres already well endowed by the state. Theatre workers outside the large centres have had to come to terms with existence on the bare minimum.
After the audience crisis of the early 1990s, theatregoers have begun to return to the theatres - some of them for reasons to do with social status, others seeking theatrical entertainment out of a distaste with the actual manifestation of the long-dreamed-of consumer society, others again looking for something (at least in their imagination) more permanent than the rate of exchange of the crown.

Former "amateurs" and indifferent professionals

In recent years, two Czech theatre directors have alternated as victors in the imaginary contest for the Alfréd Radok Award, the symbolic honouring of the best theatrical production of the year: Jan Antonín Pitinský (b. 1955) and Petr Lébl (b. 1965). The first of them has no permanent engagement, and in spite of the fact that he directs around five productions a year, cannot accept all the guest work he is offered. The other has for the last six years been artistic director of what is clearly the most recognised Prague theatre - the Theatre On the Balustrades. The paradox of contemporary Czech theatre is that neither of them studied theatrical direction as a profession.
In the second half of the 1980s, the declining years of socialist Czechoslovakia, a number of theatre workers - middle-generation contemporaries - preferred personal experience and more liberated, amateur work to conventional study and practice in the official theatres. At that time, in the make-shift conditions of the "Culture Houses", and to a certain extent for a "closed society", several legendary productions came into existence which foreshadowed the powerful quality of imagination and somewhat hermetic sensibility of the Czech theatre of the 1990s (for example, Pitinský's Mother and Lébl's Grotesque). The flood of talent from the ranks of these "indisciplined" amateurs, unusually disposed towards a startling and inward-looking insight into the staged work, encouraged a strengthening of rather dangerous tendencies in the Czech theatre: the informal organisation of theatrical activity and the "substituting" of theatrical and acted elements by the use of design, stylisation, personalities and subjective relationships and experiences. However, it is worth noting that the most highly valued productions (Pitinský's stagings of Thomas Bernhard's Ritter, Dean, Voss and The Theatreman or Lébl's stagings of Chekhov's The Seagull and Ivanov) emerged in cooperation with experienced actors who were attracted by the unconventional creation of these directors and who knew how to fill out the exaggerated fantasy of their imaginations with multi-layered skills. Meanwhile, where this life-giving conjunction is missing, it is apparent that even the legendary imaginative powers of a Pitínský or a Lébl have their limits and their clichés.
Many of the large "stone" theatres in the Bohemian and Moravian metropolises, including the National Theatre and Vinohrady Theatre in Prague, have followed a less encouraging development in recent years. Constantly repeated acting routines and conventions are often endowed here with a personal signature or stamp of confidence, whilst the dramaturgy is cautious, consisting of a safety net of guaranteed classics, occasionally a boulevard comedy or, at the opposite extreme, a blind leap into the treacherous waters of original work (the National Theatre), without the theatre being capable of influencing the quality of the text or making a rational estimate of the risks which might ensue. The social status of these theatres is great - most of them employ television and film stars and are permanently sold out. Unfortunately guest productions by talented young directors have so far shown no evident results - in these monoliths there is no possibility of working on the basis of personal relationships and trust, and the best-laid plans and ideas founder on professional inadequacies on both sides.

Hopeful Prospects

It is at least encouraging that there are places in the regions - linked mostly with the name of a director or the work of a specific group of young talents - which have drawn the attention of theatre specialists. In these places theatrical work is being created at a more direct level, in close contact with the public, whilst the genius loci of the town often plays an important role. For the last few years of the questionnaire set by the leading theatre journal Svét a divadlo (World and Theatre), the Klicpera Theatre in Hradec Králové has come near the top of the "theatre of the year" category (in 1998 it was the overall winner). Under the leadership of Vladimír Morávek it has produced some provocative Shakespearean stagings as well as a cycle of contemporary plays under the title The Night of the Antelope. The Municipal Theatre in Zlín has regularly made use of J.A. Pitinský's personal connection with his native town (productions of Franz Kafka's Trial, Helmut Schwab's Presidents), whilst in Ostrava the little theatre Aréna has attracted attention, as well as the standard of work in the National Theatre of Moravia and Silesia. The Drama Studio of Ústí nad Labem has presented original Czech plays regularly and with an understanding for the genre, and in Plzeň the actor Antonín Procházka has been writing one satisfying situation comedy after another...
Other promising developments - reactions to the new social situation - include the hot-bed of alternative theatre linked with an interest in the possiblities of movement and musical expression; the "site specific" movement; ethnic culture; and eastern philosophy... It has its own centres (amongst the most important are the Prague club Roxy and the Akropolis Theatre) as well as its own festivals (Next wave, Four days in movement, Alternative...), not to mention a strong following among the younger generation.

Windows on the world both celebrated and execrated

As late as 1993 there was virtually no large nationwide theatre festival in Bohemia or Moravia, let alone an international festival. Contact with abroad was still minimal and the Czech theatre contentedly dreamed its provincial dream. Nowadays some disturbance is caused (although it hardly amounts to an arousal from this comfortable lethargy) first by the prestigious international festival "Theatre" (run by the same group around Svět a divadlo as the annual Alfréd Radok Awards) and next by around two dozen other festivals. The performances seen here are not only exemplary examples of professional standards and artistic invention, but from time to time a mirror of Czech narrow-mindedness and lack of tolerance.
In this connection a specific importance can be attached to the Prague Festival of German Theatre, which was held for the first time in 1996. For centuries the Czech theatre developed in a close relationship with the German theatre, and this annual survey of leading productions from German-speaking countries aims to renew this natural continuity of mutual inspiration and cooperation interrupted by the Second World War.
A similar key role has been played for the last five years by the theatre Archa, the only Prague stage which regularly hosts and, in its own projects, cooperates with foreign companies and artists (Robert Wilson, Dog Troep, Min Tanaka, DV8 and many others). This is the way that doors open to a more generous view of theatrical possibilities.

Original plays - the salt of the theatre

1998 brought with it the largest ever number of new theatrical works entered in the annual competition for the best original play held by the Alfréd Radok Foundation. The total of 82 entries in this most recent competition is approximately double that of previous years. As well as theatre workers and absolute beginners, their authors include people from a wide variety of practical professions. There can be no reliable explanation for such an enormous jump in the figure. One possible reason - maybe somewhat idealistic - is the possibility that along with growing and ever more complicated social problems and conflicts, there is also a growing need to express them in the form of the drama.

Boom in theatre architecture

Since 1996 there have been more theatre spaces built or reconstructed in Prague than in several preceding decades. This record of success can be attributed mainly to the commercial success of the first big Czech post-revolution musicals - Les Miserables and Jesus Christ Superstar. Just in the last three years, thanks to multi-million crown private investment, three big musical stages have opened and another is under construction - even though there is a threat of over-saturation of the potential public, and it is already clear that the bombastic successes of the musical pioneers are unlikely to be repeated.
Thanks to a combination of local authority grants, donations from foundations, public collections and private means, a remarkable building has been created for the first specialised "theatre of mimes", Alfred in the Courtyard. The celebrated clown, mime artist and pedagogue Ctibor Turba stands as the patron of both the theatre and the premises. A similar combination has resurrected the Fidlovačka Theatre, conceived as a "folk" stage and essentially constructed within the abandoned and devastated old theatre building. It is a typical feature that both stages - each for completely different reasons - are fighting for survival thanks to the shortage of funding sources for running costs. For the time being it is completely impossible in the Czech Republic to run a completely private theatre company, apart from the afore-mentioned musical productions.

Conclusion

It can be hoped that after ten years in "market-place" conditions the Czech theatre already has the worst behind it. It has learnt to adapt to the new situation thanks to the legendary Czech ability for improvisation, which has helped and still helps theatre workers to adapt to makeshift conditions both technically and existentially. And even more importantly, it has not lost its other typical features - its sense of humour or its self-irony.