MEDIATHEK

SPILL SIMMER FALTER WITHER “Whenever people have a choice and one of the options is to wait, they go for it.” Ray lives alone in his father’s house. No ties, no relationships, no kindred spirits and no place of his own in the world. One day he gets himself a mutilated, one-eyed dog from a shelter. Thus starts the moving story of an atypical love – an adventurous and cathartic journey through the four seasons, during which Ray’s complicated past is gradually revealed. The novel Spill Simmer Falter Wither, addressing the destructive effects of isolation and the healing strength of sympathy, closeness and affection, appears on stage for the first time. The novel won the Magnesia Litera award in 2017 for the best translation of the year. Eva Salzmannová was nominated for a Thalia Award and a Theatre Critics Award for her performance in the monodrama’s leading role.

// CREDITS //

DIRECTION: Viktorie Čermáková
TRANSLATION OF THE NOVEL: Alice Hyrmanová McElveen
STAGE ADAPTATION AND DRAMATURGY: Matěj Samec
SET DESIGN AND COSTUMES: Jana Preková
MUSIC: Myko
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Magda Juránková
CAST: Eva Salzmannová

Premiere September 8th, 2017

// AUTHOR // 

VIKTORIE ČERMÁKOVÁ (1966) was initially an actress at Divadlo na provázku in Brno and a member of the Prague theatre companies Kašpar and Divadlo Komedie. In 2002–2005 she studied direction at DAMU in Prague. She has created a number of productions for Činoherní studio in Ústí nad Labem, Divadlo Komedie in Prague, the Klicpera Theatre in Hradec Králové and others. In 2007 she won an award at the Next Wave festival for her contribution to Czech theatre, and in the same year she was nominated for an Alfréd Radok Award. She has worked with MeetFactory on productions including Road Atlas of Ukraine, A Bit Worse Than Romeo: Tragedy from Caprice and Insomnia.

EVA SALZMANNOVÁ (1958) studied acting at DAMU and, after graduating, worked for eight seasons in Divadlo na okraji. In 1990 she was engaged by the National Theatre, which she left a year later for the Theatre Labyrinth in Smíchov, from where she moved to Divadlo Na zábradlí. Before she set down roots permanently in the National Theatre’s drama section in 1994, she worked with various ad hoc groups, above all in Divadlo v Řeznické. At present she is also a guest actress at Studio Hrdinů in Prague. In 2006 she co-founded Divadelní studio Továrna with the director Viktorie Čermáková, the actor Anna Hrnečková and with her husband, the dramatist Karel Steigerwald. Since 1996 she has taught acting at DAMU.

MEET FACTORY THEATRE was founded in 2008 in the centre for alternative culture of the same name, in an industrial space in the Prague suburb of Smíchov. Since then it has produced several dozen productions, and made a name for itself not only on the Prague theatrical map. It has no permanent company. Since 2013 it has been headed by the dramaturg Matěj Samec. At present the theatre works on a long-term basis with directors such as N. Deáková, L. Ferenzová and A. Vanišová, and actors such as A. Krausová, J. Gottwald and E. Salzmannová. MeetFactory profiles itself as a modern chamber theatre focusing on adaptations of current prose works by international authors. Its productions revolve around the text and a minimalist, low-key acting style. It probes contents and their depth. The 2017/2018 season has brought a number of successes. Eva Salzmannová made the shortlist for a Thalia Award and a Theatre Critics Award for her role in Spill Simmer Falter Wither, and the theatre also placed highly in the category Theatre of the Year.

// PRESS //

The stage adaptation by Matěj Samec preserves the epic character of the novel. It does not needlessly “crush” he novel, but rather skilfully divides it up and opens it up for dramatic situations. The word is here enriched by further accents, and Salzmannová brilliantly captures the author’s style. She does not try to be moving, to lyricise or to lament, she is matter-of-fact, indeed slightly sarcastic.

– Jana Machalická, Lidové noviny

Viktorie Čermáková directs highly modestly and carefully, so that this touching period in the life of a lonely person comes over neither too painfully nor with too much distance or lack of understanding. There is humour present, humour so matter-of-fact and natural, that the urgency of the story and testimony are in no way lessened, merely lightened a little.

– Lukáš Holubec, iDivadlo.cz

Eva Salzmannová gives an incredible performance. In an unbroken monologue that lasts an hour and a half she crams into the audience an apparently disconnected babel of Ray’s musings, memories and ideas. It seems almost incredible that something like this can be learnt off by heart, and on top of that delivered to the public in such an engaging manner as Salzmannová does.

– Tomáš Šťástka, MF Dnes

Salzmannová’s character is no longer either a man or a woman. From a certain degree of loneliness on, gender differences become blurred. All that is left is bare existence (…) [and] there follows a hopeless flight from the native home to the coast, which cannot (…) bring relief; only to the audience, perhaps, the catharsis of understanding how little divides them from the abyss of loneliness.”

– Richard Erml, Reflex

When I first heard about it [that Ray was to be played by a woman in this production] I was a little bit afraid, it’s true, that it might be a sort of feminist reinterpretation; but on stage it was brilliant, totally natural. Eva Salzmannová was perfect (…). And you know what really made me happy? That it was

humorous, people were laughing and enjoying themselves. I’d never imagined that someone might giggle at my book. The production completely stunned me.

– Sara Baume, author of the novel, interviewed by the translator for the monthly magazine Host

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