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Encore, encore

Theater festival brings back the best of 2006

By Steffen Silvis
Staff Writer, The Prague Post
February 14th, 2007 issue

COURTESY PHOTO
At Archa, the fairy tales of Hans Christian Andersen prove to be a fresh source of artistic inspiration.
There’s so much theater occurring in Prague on any given night that it often seems overwhelming. Plus, there’s always the chance you’ll choose a stage or dance performance that will leave you cold while you miss something truly worth seeing.
The annual Small Inventory festival is ideal for those who aren’t up to taking initial risks, but would still like to see the best new work coming out of Prague’s theater companies and troupes. The annual “best-of” festival reprises the finest and most interesting pieces of the past year. And the schedule is staggered to allow you to see almost everything. Listed below are just a few of this year’s performances that are worth catching.
Satyrikon s.r.—A 18th-century philosophical circus with Leibniz as Petronius. This far-fetched feast is in Czech, but remains a dazzling smorgasbord for the senses. Petr Šourek’s mad confection boasts fantastic animation and scenic design from Eva Holá (the character’s wigs are wild works of art) and superb costuming from the young up-and-coming designer Eva Brzákova. A unique piece of theater. Alfred ve dvoře, Feb. 21 at 7
8 Birds Black, Tits Great—Rosťa Novák’s lone-actor show is a memorable tour through the life of a performer. A descendent of the great Czech puppeteer Matěj Kopecký, Novák is an accomplished actor, dancer and gymnast who also stays busy keeping his family’s art of puppetry alive. The two young geniuses behind SKUTR, Martin Kukučka and Lukáš Trpišovský, contain Novák’s astonishing energy within a piece that is as technically sophisticated as it is nostalgic for a lost world. Archa Theater, Feb. 22 at 5 and 9
Silence—Handa Gote’s final piece of the “Body and Technology” trilogy is a meditation in morion. The company’s last show, Noise, Red Green Blue, was a collision between humans and audiovisual equipment. Silence utilizes headphones, though it‘s the audience that will be rigged up this time, with each viewer listening to one of four performance soundtracks, while the performers move beyond in silence. The Duncan Centre Theater, Feb. 22 at 7; Alfred ve dvoře, Feb. 23 at 7
COURTESY PHOTO
Rosťa Novák bares his family history in 8 Birds Black.
Waiting Room—After winning numerous awards and acclaim at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival last June, Farma v jeskyni (Farm in the Cave) returns to home turf with a new piece of physical theater based on the memory of a railway station in Slovakia. Farm director Viliam Dočolomanský and his company are artists definitely worth watching. Roxy, Feb. 23 at 7
Erorrism and Polish Tango for Three—After the tragic death of performer-director Petr Lorenc last year, the Krepsko troupe is back with two pieces: one new, Polish Tango for Three, and one company favorite, Erorrism, a marvelous love story about chance meetings, ice skates and heroic water retention. Roxy, Feb. 24 at 8
Dreaming Andersen (SenAnderSen)—The English title fails to communicate the cleverness of the Czech one (sen means dream), but this search for artistic meaning through the work of Hans Christian Andersen is readily understandable. Five artists struggling to find their voices discover inspiration in Andersen’s life and writing. The final image in Jana Svobodová’s excellent production may very well take your breath away. Archa Theater, Feb. 24 at 5 and 9 p.m.
Small Inventory (Malá Inventura)

When: Feb. 20–25
Where: Divadlo Archa, Divadlo Alfred ve dvoře, Roxy NoD, Duncan Centre, Divadlo Nabízko
Tickets: 60–150 Kč, available at the venue
For a full schedule and more information, check www.malainventura.cz

Steffen Silvis can be reached at ssilvis@praguepost.com


Other articles in Night & Day (14/02/2007):

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