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The postman always sings twice

The National Theater takes a breezy stroll through the '60s

By Steffen Silvis
Staff Writer, The Prague Post
April 25th, 2007 issue

COURTESY PHOTO
Jiří Suchý reprises his role as the postman, in this scene with some of the glamorous customers on his route.
If the recent National Theater staging of Tom Stoppard’s Rock’n’Roll is the dark culmination of the 1960s for Czechs, A Walk Worthwhile (Dobře placená procházka) is its antithesis, set in those halcyon days of the early ’60s, before the Soviet tanks crashed through Czechoslovakia’s border crossings.
Stoppard’s play is an intellectual epic on politics and artistic expression, while Walk is a charming bagatelle about love. Interestingly, though, Stoppard’s grand themes are housed within the structure of a domestic drama, while this small musical chamber piece about a husband and wife, her rich aunt, their lawyer and the postman becomes a Ziegfeldian spectacle.
What these two disparate productions share in common is a nostalgia, however bittersweet, for the dramatic decade that gave them birth. And both serve as self-referential showcases for ’60s Czech culture.
A Walk Worthwhile

When: Monday, April 30, at 7
Where: National Theater
Tickets: 30–900 Kč, available through Ticketpro, Ticketportal and at the venue
Performed in Czech with English and German
titles

Rock’n’Roll, where Stoppard hangs his tale on the plight of the band Plastic People of the Universe during the communist crackdown, is given new layers of meaning in its Prague staging by having that very band perform live in the play. A Walk Worthwhile, developed by Jiří Šlitr and Jiří Suchý for their Semafor Theater in 1965, has the veteran Suchý re-creating the role of the postman that he originated under the direction of the man who filmed the popular piece for Czechoslovak Television in 1966: Miloš Forman.
Billed as an “opera buffa,” A Walk Worthwhile is more of a small jazz musical. Šlitr’s music, with a new orchestration provided by Marko Ivanovič, is a lush, cool jazz score with touches of Getzian bossa nova. There’s even a hint of ragtime that creeps in from time to time.
The plot is an absurdist’s bedroom farce. A young couple, Uli and Vanilka, are on the verge of getting the divorce they’ve always wanted. Their lawyer arrives with the final papers and his best wishes for their single happiness. But in walks the postman with a telegram, saying that Vanilka’s wealthy aunt from Liverpool (that fabled ’60s metropolis) has died, and has stipulated in her will that £1 million is to go to the child of her niece. The problem is that Uli and Vanilka never bothered to reproduce.
Uli, unsurprisingly, falls back in love with his wife. Their lawyer also sees Vanilka in a new, romantic light. The postman just wants a quiet life, though his innocence (and availability for stud service) intrigue Vanilka into thinking that perhaps single parenthood might be the smarter option.
The fumbling coupling that follows comes complete with a communist-era women’s choir (an ensemble in matching sensible ensembles), as well as a band of singing child angels. Musicians miraculously appear in the pair’s flat to provide melodic support for the characters’ emotions — though the most amazing appearance is by the dead aunt herself, complete with servants carrying the luxury furniture that she never leaves Liverpool without.
The wonderful humor of Šlitr and Suchý is casually absurdist, a tone that’s carried over into Forman’s direction. While too often the opera work at the National Theater is marred by amateurish bits and business (as in its exhausted Figaro, which is overdue to be retired), the performances here are all wonderfully understated. Jana Malá’s Vanilka is the only actor engaging in slapstick, but she’s as great a clown as she is a singer, a performer with charm to burn.
Her fellow leads, Petr Stach as Uli and Petr Píša as the lawyer, put in excellent work, particularly Stach in a drunk scene in which he believes he sees two aunts from Liverpool (as indeed he does). Then there’s the great Suchý — 40-some years past his first outing as the postman, but still spry and in full voice.
Forman is aided by his two sons, the famous Forman brothers, Petr and Matěj, who contributed to the direction and scenography. The latter, by Matěj Forman, is one of the evening’s highlights. It’s a very stylish design of the Populuxe ’60s on the verge of merging into the funky swankness of the ’70s. The costumes by Jan Pištěk are equally inventive.
Forman’s visual composition is often stunning, and he includes a number of surprising touches in this production, such as one women’s chorus materializing in the middle of the audience.
A Walk Worthwhile is a worthwhile evening with one of the sweeter slices of recent Czech history.

Steffen Silvis can be reached at ssilvis@praguepost.com


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