about the production
Marysha (however, in truth “Mařka“ or “Serves you right, monster!“)
Morávek's encounter with the original text of Marysha is already his fourth. He produced it as early as a Janáček Academy of Performing Arts student, later (in the form of theatre in theatre) in the Goose on the String Theatre (1995) and a year later (with an emphasis on the topic of Czech xenophobia, pettiness and human narrow-mindedness) in Theatre On the Balustrade. Morávek's third and fourth Marysha are based on a unique and so far unperformed manuscript which is rougher and more brutal compared to the classical version.
The production is based on the folk Virgin Mary myth, it plays with the story of suffering of a pure Mary 'loved by Goď, whose destiny could be taking place at any place and time, however, rather in parables and myths than in reality. Morávek envelops the production in a folk cotton naivism, in its visual and musical component and in the way of acting. An image of almost a Baroque folk play unfolds in front of the viewer. However, the director is able to surprisingly alienate this aspect by a glossing half-smite. In spite of that Morávek's Marysha remains a production with unusually strong emotions and a firm structure of expression. lt is a ritual, and also a musical in a class of its own.
The character of Marysha is surrounded by a collective spirit of 'beasts' and she also transforms into a beast. The production emphasises the militancy in relationships, whipped-up emotionality of mutual encounters, image beauty and picturesque nature of mass scenes. lt alternates with sinister nature of the fatal action, where the murderer is at the same time a victim. The stage, on which 'all sorts of acting, singing and dancing' are being performed, is gradually being flooded by mugs of coffee. The production has won several nominations and awards in the 1999 Alfréd Radok Prizes survey.
creators
director: Vladimír Morávek
reconstruction of the text from handwritten notes: Vladimír Morávek, Vlasta Smoláková
stage design: Miloš Zimula
costume design: Sylva Hanáková
dramaturgist: Zora Vondráčková
music: Pavel Sýkora, Jiří Bulis
consultant: René von Ludowitz
corepetition and musical co-operation: Pavel Horák pohybová spolupráca / movement coaching: Jiří Ouřad
Cast:
Maryša: Ivana Hloužková, Lízal: Vlastimil Čaněk, Lízalka: Martina Eliášová, Vávra: Ondřej Malý, Francek: Václav Veselý, Strouhalka: Simona Babčáková, Roman Úsvit, pianist: Pavel Horák, Old woman: Josef Vystrčil, Hrdlička, Priest: Jan Mazák, Fraňková: Zora Valcharová, Vojtena: Martina Součková, Rozára: Petra Výtvarová, Vávra's dead wife: Andrea Marečková, First soldier. Tomáš Lněnička, Second soldier and lstván: David Steigerwald, Virgin Mary in the Fields: Kateiina Holánová, Virgin Mary Triumphant, Lesser angel, Stáza: Marcela ljolubcová, Black Madonna: Jitka Kadlecová, Third soldier: Filip Stipský, Children: Zofie Součková, Tereza Kulichová, Zuzana Rybová, Nikol Lánová
director
Vladimír Morávek (1965)
Alongside Pitínský and Lébl, Morávek is a dominant director in the contemporary Czech theatre. His is an unmissable production style, piercing and provocative interpretation of a classical piece, unusually concentrated work with the actors. He makes a unique link of the high and the low, the banal and the genteel, the dramatic and the picturesque. The Czech post-modernist with a romantic soul and iconoclastic fist. At the beginning of his career he used to surprise everyone with unpredictable imagination and overwhelming creativity, at present he confirms his reputation as a striking personality of multifaceted shapes and qualities.
After graduating from the Janáček Academy of Performing Arts in Brno he started his career in the Goose on the String Theatre in Brno, he directed in Ostrava, Brno and Prague. His name has recently been linked with the Klicpera's Theatre in Hradec Králové, in which he has remained the internal profile director. lt was thanks to him that the theatre twice became Theatre of the Year. He has been actively co-operating with the Czech Television. From among the recent theatre productions mention deserve the cycle of Shakespeare 's plays Romeo and Juliette, King Lear and Hamlet, the project of plays by contemporary Czech authors The Antilope Nights, B. Brecht’s The Threepenny Opera, H. Krejčí's Potato Theatre – all staged in the Klicpera's Theatre. Far his production of Macbeth in Andrej Bagar Theatre he was awarded Dosky '99 as Best Director of the Season.