Photo: Vršovické divadlo MANA
Two comedies written by dissident playwright Pavel Kohout in the 1970s with the intention of being performed in private in peoples’ homes are being revived by the MANA theatre in Prague’s Vršovice district – but not on a regular theatre stage. Instead, the plays are being staged in two small spaces that are evocative of the environments where they were originally performed.
‘Bytové divadlo’ or ‘apartment theatre’ is associated in the minds of most Czechs with dissident artists in the era of ‘normalization’ in the 1970s and 1980s, following the Soviet-led invasion of the country in 1968. Actors, playwrights and others working in the cultural sphere who were banned from writing and performing in public started holding private performances in their own apartments or apartments of friends.
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Authors: Anna Fodor, Václav Müller, Source:Český rozhlas