Svandovo divadlo opens its fourth season this weekend with exciting news for English-language speakers. Four new titles in this season's repertoire will be subtitled in English, bringing the total number of productions accessible for foreign audiences to eight.

The new productions are Václav Havel's The Beggar's Opera, Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, The White Devil by John Webster and Moliere's School for Wives (which premiered last season without titles). They join Moliere's Tartuffe, Martin McDonagh's Lieutenant of Inishmore, Elton John's Glasses by David Farr and Tracey Letts' Killer Joe in the lineup of English-subtitled productions.

"We are very excited to be offering our productions to a wider range of audiences than ever before," says Svandovo spokeswoman Lucie Kolouchová.

The first week of performances (Oct. 3–9) features a special half-price offer on all seats; normal 160–240 Kc (($6.70–$10) ticket prices will be reduced to 80–120 Kc. The theater will host an open house Friday, Sept. 30, with backstage tours from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and a special opening ceremony at 6 p.m.

According to Kolouchová, many of this season's performances will be edgy and hip thanks to the thirtysomething bunch running the theater. Highlights include the Nov. 9 premiere of Havel's The Beggar's Opera, a political satire and commentary on a totalitarian state set in mid-19th-century London — with strong parallels to mid-1970s Czechoslovakia. "That English speakers will be able to experience Havel's play in particular is very significant," says Kolouchová. Havel is scheduled to attend the opening performance.

Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream, premiering Dec. 17, will be given a fresh spin by director Dodo Gombar. "It's going to be interesting to see what the director does with this one," says Kolouchová. "It's not going to be your classic Shakespeare play, it's going to be more modern. He's attempting to find a new way to discover the old."

Other directors to watch include Mishal Lang, noted for his work on Killer Joe and his radical reinterpretations of classical theater. He will be directing Havel's The Beggar's Opera and Webster's White Devil. In the spring, watch for Siberian director Sergei Fedotof, who will be directing the modern Russian work Kurica (The Hen) by Nikolai Koliada. The center's "stage talks" series will continue with an eclectic mix of notable talent. Acclaimed documentarian Albert Maysles, famous for his films on the Beatles and Rolling Stones, among other subjects, will be speaking Oct. 5. British minimalist composer, pianist, librettist and musicologist Michael Nyman is slated to speak Oct. 19, the day before his concert appearance in Strings of Autumn. He will be discussing soundtrack music he's composed for films such as Jane Campion's The Piano and many of Peter Greenaway's works.

This year's programming is part of a larger effort by Svandovo divadlo to internationalize its appeal and flavor. It is doing this via two routes: importing and exporting work. Earlier this month, Svandovo actors traveled to Brest, Belarus, where they played School for Wives at the international theater festival Belaya Vezha. There are plans to take Svandovo productions to Hungary in November and later to Poland.

Svandovo management has also invited foreign troupes here to perform. Currently, they're working on arrangements to bring British actors from Oxford to Prague in the spring to perform Shakespeare.