MEDIATHEK

NATIONAL THEATRE BRNO

Oil Lamps – This psychological novel made famous by its film adaptation is one of the favourite titles of Czech theatre dramaturgs. This adaptation has been described by Josef Mlejnek as “incomparably more austere than Herz’s ‘art nouveau’ film of 1971, and less ‘lyrical’ than the production at the Divadlo Petra Bezruče, which premiered two years ago, directed by the current artistic head of the National Theatre Brno’s head of drama, Martin Františák. In both cases the directors were able to rely on excellent performances in both main roles; the difference is that Františák was aiming above all at a grounded, tragic story, while Glaser’s concept contains references to the tragic nature of the human lot in general.” The basic building blocks of Glaser’s production are a new stage adaptation by the experienced creative duo of Glaser and dramaturg Olga Šubrtová, a generous set, and the actors’ performances. “Glaser and Šubrtová, in their more intimate version of the story, have made the central heroes a merely unequal pair, and the main motif of the evening a fading woman’s fatal desire for a child. They do not tell the whole story, they do not reflect the initial and most extensive part of the book, ‘The lamps are shining and the table is being laid’, but they present the audience immediately with the central couple. It should be stressed that Glaser and Šubrtová’s adaptation does not give up on any of the more essential motifs of the book. For the first half of the evening, before everything breaks down into the fateful tragedy, we can admire the artful nimbleness of the stage and directorial handling. Everything is treated transparently, directly and conforms to the demands of today’s audience. This production tempo has a functional share in the resulting style, which as far as the interval makes surprising use of humour as important substance in the disastrous events,” Luboš Mareček writes.



// Credits //

Dramatisation Olga Šubrtová, Martin Glaser
Direction Martin Glaser
Dramaturgy Olga Šubrtová, Martin Sládeček
Set Pavel Borák
Costumes Markéta Sládečková
Lighting design Martin Špetlík
Movement assistance Martin Pacek

Cast:
Štěpka Kiliánová / Hana Tomáš Briešťanská
Pavel Malina / Martin Siničák
Jan Malina / Martin Sláma
Father Malina - Vladimír Krátký
Father Kilián - Zdeněk Dvořák
Mother Kilián - Marie Durnová
Karla / Jana Štvrtecká
Lojzík / Roman Blumaier
Mayor Trakl - Jan Grygar
Helenka / Annette Nesvadbová j. h.
Xaver / Jakub Šafránek
Fortune teller - Drahomíra Hofmanová j. h.
Wurm / David Kaloč
Jumping Machoň - Pavel Doucek
Walk-on parts played by employees of the National Theatre, Brno

Premiere February 26th, 2016



// Press //

… successful, full-blooded theatre – and, moreover, with excellent performances that make you stop noticing that time is passing, so successfully does the action pull you in. Even if you have seen Juraj Herz’s 1971 film with Iva Janžurová’s wonderful and eccentric Štěpa, and Petr Čepek’s syphilitic retired officer. Although it might seem that nothing can surpass their performances, in the Mahenovo divadlo Hana Briešťanská and Martin Siničák have managed to.
Jana Soukupová, MF Dnes

Glaser’s Oil Lamps is an example of a clearly, precisely, efficiently but also artistically-told story whose theatrical strength is reinforced by superb performances, art design and in places almost minimalist symphonic music. Thus narrated, Oil Lamps will certainly become theatre that is enthusiastically received and sought out by audiences.
Luboš Mareček, ČR Vltava



// Author //

Martin Glaser (1974) – Studied direction and dramaturgy at DAMU, founding the generational theatre Divadlo na prahu, and while still a student took on a role in the South Bohemian Theatre, where from 1998 he has been a director and later the artistic head of the drama department. Glaser’s productions frequently deal with the subject of manipulation and power: Václav Havel’s Leaving, Shakespeare’s Macbeth and Measure for Measure, Hampton’s Dangerous Liaisons, Maupassant’s Bel Ami, Schwab’s The Presidents and others. He often returns to the theme of people who are outsiders, lonely or uprooted, as in his productions of McDonagh’s The Lonesome West and The Cripple of Inishmaan, Vedral’s Kaspar Hauser and Chekhov’s The Three Sisters. He has a weakness for brutal grotesques, thrillers and detective stories, like Lett’s Killer Joe and Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap. He won the Josef Balvín award for his production of Schimmelpfennig’s play Arabian Night, while Zelenka’s play Exoneration, directed by Glaser, won an Alfréd Radok Award for the best production of a Czech play. His comedies written for the rotating auditorium in Český Krumlov together with dramaturg Olga Šubrtová have become audience hits (The Three Musketeers, The Wives of Henry VIII or the Pauper King, The Decameron etc.). Since 2013 he has been the managing director of the three-company National Theatre in Brno. This also makes him the director of the two international festivals held by the theatre, one operatic (Janáček Brno), the other mainly dramatic (Divadelní svět Brno). In addition to his management work, he continues to direct, having created for the National Theatre in Brno a production of Františák’s Havel in the Land of Stable Boys, Janáček’s opera Jenůfa and Havlíček’s Oil Lamps.


^[efr]

Powered by Froala Editor