Přehled o publikaci

In the 100th year after the foundation of Czechoslovakia, National Theatre in Prague staged the only comedic opera by Leos Janacek. It was originally finished after years of searching for its true form a year before the foundation of the country, and first produced in 1920 by the same National Theatre. The reason for reviving this work, which is based on two similarly famous novels by Svatopluk Cech, wasn’t primarily reverential. The production team explained that staging this opera, as old as the country itself, should create a confrontation - stressing the ironic and grotesque nature of the story about ‘chronic moral ailments of Czech people, or better - little people’. Janacek’s wild opera is regularly brought back to Czech stages; in each decade after the war it was staged at least once at one of the major Czech operas. Now the National Theatre attempts to use it as a commentary on the present day, which is an approach not necessarily typical in staging opera. Even more interesting is the fact that this production was directed by a woman - albeit not for the first time in this work’s production history. Multitalented Slovak artist Slava Daubnerova came up with a truly original interpretation, just as she had done in her previous work as an opera director. Among other things, she makes us wonder how far have we actually got in those 100 years…