Drama Revue 2/2005
Summary

J. Císař: The Quiet Safety of Home

The story deals with biedermeier as the phenomenon which was not worked with in Czech teatrology as it didn’t agree with actual view at function and posture of theatre in Czech language in the time of national enlightment. Czech theatre was founded and being formed side by side with German and Austrian biedermeier and was influenced by its top images - Vienna’s folk theatre. Beyond this it took concern as both images of biedermeier also in some social and ecclesiastic climate which - after the chaos of Napoleon’s wars - longed for quiet, peace, tidiness, harmony, and idyll. Also the title of the story is taken from one study of Dalibor Tureček, which deals with biedermeier questions in the work of J. K. Tyl and shows the strong moorage of these ideals in Czech drama which by the way - especially in Tyl’s work - solves also its relation with boisterous romanticism on this base. That’s why the story in acceptance with Tureček understands the big part of dramatic work of Tyl as one of the distinct token of central-european biedermeier in the theatre in the period called classical biedermeier (from 1815 till the forties of 19th century). For the highest demonstration of biedermeier as the whole life-style that had formed in the time of Bach’s neoabsolutism when all the public life was shut up, the life-style of Czech bourgeoisie especially its patrician’s rank, the story takes the comedy by V. K. Klicpera Prague Aunts and Zbraslav Uncles (Pražské tetičky a zbraslavští strýčkové) from 1854. And in the end the story the author figures that this life-style had been persistently projected into the system of values of Czech middle rank and so it became the subject of description in the drama and since eighties of 19th century in particular part of Czech dramatic production - especially comic - it co-created biedermeier significant constant of forming of one indispensable image of Czech theatre.

J. Hyvnar: Klicpera’s Unsucessful Attempts at Tragedy

The study tries to find out the cause why Klicpera’s attempts at “great tragedy” which was the dream of Jungmann’s generation were not sucessfull. For this explanation he uses two examples of tragedies - Sobeslav and Svojanovsky Family (Soběslav, Rod Svojanovských). At first the author mentions the critical notions of some contemporaneous German authors and philosophers about the new romantic tragedy and after that he shows Klicpera was not able to describe the tragical existence of the man in the time of enlightment and in his writings he had been coming out from the left over conventions of the textation of the history. He put the model of domestic drama into the tragedy and he was keeping the tradition of folk chivalrous plays for eventual staging. The hint of fateful tragicality brings only the topic of immigration in the play Svojanovsky Family.

V. Velemanová: The Director Petr Lébl and Designer William Nowák: Two Men in One

Petr Lébl (1965-1999) was a unique Czech theatre personality of 1980’s and 90’s. This outstanding director and creative talent had a great wealth of qualities, including his sense of rhythm, of music, as well as of absurdity and a surreal dimension of life. Lébl became the artistic director of the Theatre on the Balustrades (Divadlo Na zábradlí) after the death of Jan Grossman in 1993. During his time at the theatre, he was also behind the launching of other renowned stages in the history of this theatre.
The article focuses on the aspects of the Petr Lébl’s works where he has been credited as director and scenographer (he used the pseudonym William Nowák for his “other” profession). It reflects on Lebl’s productions as pieces of work that have always had the shape of inseparable elements, in which one component relies upon the other, yet at the same time distinguishes its unmistakable artistic style. Through a comparative approach, the article illustrates the characteristic features of Lébl’s scenography that were used in individual productions: on the one hand, the expressive elements of the two-dimensional medium, such as graphic design, photography, film, considerably in Chekhov’s Seagull, and on the other hand, in the “sculptural” aspect of his work with light and with his ability to model in the production of Genet’s The Maids. The article also summarizes that what is typical of all of Lébl’s works: apart from the musicality, first and foremost the “play” which increased his characteristic style, his association and his attempt to the most complex overview of a text - even with his “extra-textual” connections.
The article also touches on the close cooperation with other artists, primarily with the costume designer Kateřina Štefková, who congenially illustrated the ability to design for Lébl’s productions.

V. Svatoň: Chekhov and the Tradition of “comédie larmoyante”

The scenic and literary interpretations of Chekhov’s plays still confront the problems which are laid for interpreters by the structure of Chekhov’s dramas: the changing of moods (tears and laugh), the actions which don’t bear on with the central conflict, dialogue in which the serious topics are intermitted by banal branch lines, and after all also Chekhov’s insistence to take his plays as comedies, although they are variations on tragical topics of European literature of 19th century (desillusion, wreck of highbred family, breakdown of the family-house and its traditional residence). The author mentions that the dramatic principles started to be asserted in popular, although not very appreciated genre “comédie larmoyante”, which started to be developed in England, France and Germany during 18th century (D. Diderot, G. E. Lessing). The conflict of “comedie larmoyante” (melodrama) unwind in the centre of common life which was not only the matter of theatre technics, but it showed in other conception of the man in classical drama, that is tragedy and “high comedy”. Instead of creation of stoic character the axes of the story became the human being in his or her weakness, the man acting impulsively and often also inconsistently under the pressure of outer circumstances and the emotions. Its highest demonstration is the break-out of the sympathy into the resoluted aims, and so he activates sympathy. Metaphysical “virtue” or “self-possession” is substituted by changing emotionality. In spite of it Chekhov’s
characters long for this consistent metaphysical point and the dramatic tension of his dramas is given by the impossibility to find the balance between emotional bindings and the need of finding super-personal values of life.

K. Helgheim: “The Seagull”: Prague 1960 - Brussels 1966 - Stockholm 1969

The article is originally a part of the book The Seagull. From Stanislavskij to Otomar Krejča (Solum forlag, Oslo 1992) by a Norwegian professor of theatre studies Kjell Helgheim. The part published here consists of four chapters: “The Stage Design Concept”; “The Seagull: Stockholm 1969”; “The Seagull 1969: Contemporary Evaluation”, and “The Seagull. From Stanislavskij to Otomar Krejča”. In the first chapter the author examines the stage design concept common to all three of Krejča’s productions of The Seagull that were produced in the National Theatre in Prague, National Theatre in Brussels and The Municipal Theatre in Stockholm in the 1960s. Helgheim describes the basic idea and the look of the stage design that was created by the well-known Czech stage designer Josef Svoboda. The author takes note of the differences in the final results and examines the transformation the concept has undergone. The chapter named “The Seagull: Stockholm 1969” is a detailed description of the performance produced in Stockholm. Helgheim analyses each act of the play using photographic material and the actual text (regarding the text of Checkov’s play he refers to his own translation of The Seagull, which is also one part of the original book). In his analysis the author puts an emphasis on Krejča’s direction. He is most concerned with Krejča’s textual interpretation and how he turns it into reality. In the chapter “The Seagull 1969: Contemporary Evaluation” Helgheim reflects on the contemporary assessment of the Stockholm’s performance. Contemporary reviews and actors’ accounts published by the Swedish press are the main sources for this analysis. In the last chapter “The Seagull. From Stanislavskij to Otomar Krejča” the author compares the interpretation and the realisation of Stanislavskij’s and Krejča’s production of The Seagull. He compares the textual analysis, the method of direction, the stage design concept and the actors’ performance.