MEDIATHEK

"The leading Czech stage director Jan Antonín Pitínský, who staged Gabriela Preissová's "The Farmers's Woman" and his own dramatization of Dostoyevsky's "The Brothers Karamazov" at the Slovácké Divadlo theatre to great acclaim, has looked at "The Cunning Little Vixen" with fresh eyes and turned it into a stage play. He has put the emphasis on the tales of humans and animals living side by side in the village, in the forester's lodge deep in the woods, and, figuratively speaking, within our hearts. He has created a romantic and compelling drama that asks the question: Do the animals have souls like people, or do they even surpass us in some respects? He has subtitled this "fairytale for grown-ups" Tales of Blood.

The play alternates between animal and human scenes. Plenty of time is devoted to both worlds, so this is not merely a clichéd comparison, but a gradual focusing, one world interwining with the other, sometimes melding, other times remaining apart. This sharpening and blurring most benefits the acting, which is subtly enhanced by external attributes. The play is neither descriptive nor illustrative, but one can nevertheless easily tell who is representing whom or what, primarily thanks to their movments and voices. This is why Pitínský invited Igor Dostálek to collaborate with him. Dostálek animates the Moravian fauna by means of Japanese kyogen farce. A superb move."
(by Michal Čunderle, Svĕt a divadlo (World and Theatre))

"Vixen Sharp-ears (a black-haired and black-eyed Jitka Josková dressed in a scanty black costume) executes the odd martial arts move, the woodpecker performs acrobatic back-bends, and the hens shimmy and shake in a scabbling, backbiting rhythm. Praise is also due to composer Richard Dvořák, who, faced with the tough task of "competing" with Janáček, has created a solid and evocative background. The coexistence of humans and animals starts with beguiling magic in the forester's lodge, where adults and children liken themselves variously to the fox that father has brought in from the forest, and to dogs and poultry."
(by Jan Kerbr, Divadelní noviny (Theatre News))

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13th International Festival Theatre Pilsen Booklet (Printed Edition)