about the production
The Boitchev 's Colonel Bird premiere was a stylish birthday party for the Theatre On the Balustrade. It opened its existence 40 years ago with the stage production lf 1000 Clarinets marked by the strong antimilitarism. Now, it is the war theme again. Contemporary Bulgarian writer Christo Boitchev received for this play the first prize in the competition of Harold Pinter and the British Council in London in 1997. A bizarre idea to form an 'elite force' out of several asylum patients estranged from the world travelling to Strasbourg to request for the official entry to the NATO and European administrative structures, is crazy and absurd enough to be staged exactly by the Theatre On the Balustrade and directed by Petr Lébl. Moreover, Lébl with his extraordinary inclination towards the undermining of verified, established methods, the sacrilege of big themes, the making up of absurd conflicts has made the full use of the text subtle both in the content and length. It worked as a very inspiring source mainly for the male part of the ensemble and they in a typically Léblian gesture 'took up the thrown 'glove' outrageously, absurdly, with a great amount of sharp irony blended with the joyful reveling.
creators
directed by Petr Lébl
translation: Milena Piikrylová
script Editing: Ivana Slámová
adaptation: Ivana Slámová a Petr Lébl
stage Design: Jan Marek
costume design: Katerina Stefková
music: Roman Holý a Sexy Dancers
cast:
Doctor: Martin Písařík, Dmitrij Fetisov, Colonel: Jiří Ornest, Chačo Ivanov, Actor: Vladimír Marek, Matej Popov, Midget: Leoš Suchařípa, Kiro Petrov, Thief: Bohumil Klepl or Petr Čtvrtníček, Davud Sukriev, Sergeant: Radek Holub or Bohumil Klepl, Pepa Antonovová, Customs Officer: Magdalena Sidonová, TV presentator: Eva Jurinová
director
Petr Lébl (1965)
He has received both enthusiastic appraisals and sharp criticism far his staging methods. However, he has never been mediocre and boring – he, a controversial character of Czech theatre – director, artist, actor, graphic, author, publicist, pedagogue and artistic director of the Theatre On the Balustrade (since 1993). He has provoked the professional and laic audience, at the same time he has achieved respect and attention, already as an amateur theatre artist (K. Vonnegut, Jr. – Slapstick, Ch. Morgenstern – Reformatory, M. Eliad – Snake, Kafka – Metamorphosis). His professionally directed productions, staged mainly in the Theatre On the Balustrade have encircled him gradually with the flair of an experimentator, creator of the extraordinary intuition far the revelation of new layers of a text, endowed with the unusual ability to present the text through the stage imagery. He is going to resent his work at the Nitra 's Festival far the fourth tíme (DN '93 – T. Dorst: Femando Krapp Wrote Me a Letter, DN '94 – A. P. Chekhov: The Seagull, DN '97 – A. P. Chekhov – Ivanov). The fast two named stage production were awarded the prestigious Alfréd Radok's Prize far the best director in the Czech Republic.