MEDIATHEK

WOODCUTTERS In the stylistically polished prose of Woodcutters aka Cutting Timber: An Irritation (1984) Thomas Bernhard returns to his lifelong subject – the closeness of death and art. He focuses on the problem of the authenticity and inauthenticity of artistic existence, and mercilessly reveals the aestheticisation of empty life forms to be an escape from truth and responsibility. Audiences at the THEATRE festival were able to see Bernhard’s scandalous Woodcutters two years ago directed by Krystian Lupa, where on the stage a slim volume became a spectacular five-hour canvas. The novel now finds itself in the repertoire of Divadlo Na zábradlí, directed by their permanent director, Jan Mikulášek, in an entirely different way. A small room stuffed full of pictures and guests becomes the stiflingly-cramped location of an artistic dinner, at the beginning of which we are waiting for an actor from the National Theatre. He is a top actor, very famous, one of the greatest alive, and duly conceited. Without being asked to, he shares his various pieces of wisdom, experiences from his acting career and pseudophilosophical musings on our mission in life. All this in Bernhard’s angry style, with his sharp humour, observational talent and ability to formulate our falseness. In its time, the novel Woodcutters provoked one of the greatest scandals in modern Austrian history – its publication was immediately followed by a defamation suit. However, at Divadlo Na zábradlí the Austrian milieu and direct attacks are suppressed in favour of a general statement embedded in the Czech context. The celebratory meeting thus becomes a deep, ironic and scathingly amusing probe into the life of the chattering classes today.

// CREDITS //

DIRECTION: Jan Mikulášek
TRANSLATION: Marek Nekula
DRAMATIZATION: Dora Viceníková, Jan Mikulášek
DRAMATURGY: Dora Viceníková, Petr Štědroň
STAGE DESIGN AND COSTUMES: Marek Cpin

CAST:
AUERSBERGER Jakub Žáček
MRS. AUERSBERGER Magdaléna Sidonová
THOMAS Honza Hájek
JOANA Johana Matoušková
MRS. BILLROTH Jana Plodková
JOHN Václav Vašák
MRS. SCHREKER Dita Kaplanová
ACTOR Petr Jeništa

Premiere March 16th, 2018

// AUTHOR //

JAN MIKULÁŠEK (1978) After studying drama direction at JAMU, which he did not finish, he worked as the artistic head of the Polárka Theatre in Brno. Together with other young theatre artists he helped make Polárka a closely followed alternative theatre, focusing mostly on auteur work for as wide an audience spectrum as possible. He was also the artistic head of the Petr Bezruč Theatre, and worked regularly with the Reduta theatre in Brno. In 2013, when the artistic head of Reduta took over the leadership of Divadlo Na Zábradlí in Prague, Mikulášek became a permanent director there. The theatre currently has the following productions by Mikulášek in its repertoire: The V + W Correspondence, Europeana, Bourgeoisie, The Grey Seventies, The Foreigner, The Golden Sixties, Hedonists, Hamlets, Obsession, AnderSen… They are regular guests at Czech and foreign festivals. Mikulášek's directorial approach frequently involves the stage adaptation of novels and other non-dramatic texts, original scripts and auteur theatre. He works with cutting, detail, musical contrapposto and parallel plots. His other major source of inspiration is fine art, from which he “borrows” an emphasis on mise-en-scene and lighting. A marked feature of his work is the way in which he plays with the meaning of speeches, context and associations on a given theme. He manages to materialise on stage entirely abstract, philosophical subjects. He also teaches at DAMU and works with other Prague theatres, recently mainly with the National Theatre (The Cremator, Maryša).

DIVADLO NA ZÁBRADLÍ The theatre's tradition has involved a number of distinguished figures, with those who have passed through the theatre including Václav Havel, Ivan Vyskočil, Jan Grossman, Evald Schorm and Petr Lébl. Since its creation Divadlo Na zábradlí has played a significant role in the country’s social and cultural context. It has created numerous productions that have represented the Czech Republic abroad, and was – and still is – home to a number of notable actors. “During its existence, Divadlo Na zábradlí has gone through a number of periods that shaped and anticipated the form of Czech theatre. In addition, it has gone through a number of moments of crisis and conflict. At practically no time in its dynamic history, however, has it gone through a period of prolonged artistic attenuation. I would like to think that this is connected with the genius loci of this Prague theatre,” Martina Musilová has written. Since the 2013/2014 season the theatre has been headed by Petr Štědroň, Dora Viceníková and Jan Mikulášek, who are inclined towards irregular dramaturgy and author theatre. The theatre is a frequent guest at other Czech and above all foreign theatres and festivals – it regularly visits Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and Germany, but has also performed in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Colombia, the US and other countries.

// PRESS //

Woodcutters brings us everything that Divadlo Na zábradlí knows how to do so well. The arresting set design by Marek Cpin, which at the same time ironizes words such as taste and elegance, eight first-class actors (Jan Hájek, Petr Jeništa, Jakub Žáček, Magdalena Sidonová, Jana Plodková, Dita Kaplanová, Johana Matoušková and Václav Vašák), who implement with precision Jan Mikulášek’s expressive direction, and a text that follows Bernhard, but in this new variation at Divadlo Na zábradlí contemplates how to live and die.

– Lenka Dombrovská, Divadelní noviny

The Czech production of Woodcutters is a striking picture of lives that are entirely fixated on themselves. The overall chamber style, compact form and the reduction in the number of characters manages to express the bitterly ridiculous atmosphere of domestic relationships that are far from confined to

the theatre.

– Jana Machalická, Lidové noviny

Out of deathly silence, the actors explode in exalted speeches, only to fall suddenly silent again like a burnt-out firework… A peculiar set of opposites is formed by Honza Hájek and Johana Matoušková, who plays Joana, a despairing dancer who has hanged herself. Both have, written on their foreheads, death as an exit from something unbearable.

– Richard Erml, Reflex

Further deserving of recognition is the effort expended by the actors on preserving the author’s specific language, which uses repetition, variation and gradation, and through change of perspective tries to capture further connections and new tones in what has already been described and said many times.

– Petr Nagy, Literární noviny

_[efr]

Powered by Froala Editor