Theater plays

[niminy-piminy]

the other day, i said in the other thread...

viewtopic.php?p=33331#p33331

last weekend i saw two exhibitions.

1/ there is a local theater troupe called "Handa Gote Research and Development".
http://handagote.com/en/handa-gote/
to celebrate their 15 yrs on stage (2005-2020) they exhibited (in a "cabinet of curiosities" fashion) all kinds of paraphernalia they used in their theater plays in the last 15 years.
https://www.techlib.cz/en/2746-gallery-ntk
there were many intriguing objects and i did 112 photos.
(btw. as far as i remember i attended their theater play only once in the past and seeing all those items i felt i missed a lot not going to see them on stage more often.)

so, yesterday, i attended (for the second time in my long life) a theater play of "Handa Gote Research and Development".
it was called "Two Notebooks".

the stage was basically a retro living room.


one protagonist was recalling an amateur film he made (and lost) in the past.
two protagonists were giving side notes to his account.


two notebooks (with storyboard, scenic notes, etc.) — giving the title to the play — were the main residue that was left from the (lost) film.
the audience was (during the play) thoroughly informed about this non-existent (lost) film.
the storyboard was shown and commented in detail.
various film tricks from the (lost) film were explained and reconstructed in snippets of new films (to demonstrate the visuals of the original (lost) film) — all this with references to Mélies or Karel Zeman.
all kinds of retro books about the film were quoted — to demonstrate the erudition of the author (that he didn't make his amateur film uninformed).
the most ridiculous item from all those retro books was a diagram made allegedly by Orson Welles that was showing his perception of the types of films in a simple (ridiculous) scheme.
short interviews with ppl who played in the (lost) film were screened (they shared their memories of the (lost) film and the filmmaking process).
we were also shown a short film that was made of the leftovers of the original (lost) film — the snippets that were left aside during the editing process were glued together and screened.
after the play, the audience was invited to enter the stage and inspect all the items left of the (lost) film and used in the play.
pics above i just randomly grabbed on the interweb but the following pics are my own (that i did during my stage inspection).

these are snapshots showing the details of the storyboard.




the genre of the film was allegedly a blend of western, adventure, thriller, sci-fi.
the story was as follows.
alien finds the earthlings' message on the plague inserted in the Pioneer spaceship (the plage used in the film was remade during the play and was shown to the audience) — btw. in the (lost) film the plague is allegedly wrongly said to be from Voyager spaceship.


alien disinterprets the message and gets pissed off.
angry alien (dressed in a golden space suit) sits on his alien spaceship (for this purpose was used a heater — alien was riding a heater like riding a pony) and flies to earth.
btw. angry alien was played by director's dad (his recent memories of playing alien in the (lost) film were screened).
btw. golden space suit of the alien (from the lost film) was not lost and thus was shown during the play (i saw it on my very eyes!).
when angry alien reaches the earth, he uses an alien device by which he is able to revive dead.
and with the help of these zombies, he attempts to make humans (still alive) extinct (dead).

this is the point-of-view of the main actor of the play (director of the lost movie) that i was able to assume for a moment after the play — after entering the stage to inspect everything (i.e. a snapshot from the narrator's perspective — viz the very first pic above).

[niminy-piminy]

a few weeks ago, i attended another play (Bernhard's "Ritter, Dene, Voss", adapted here as "Lunch at Wittgenstein").
this subversive play was staged in the most bourgeois theater Prague can offer, i.e. Estates Theater → https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estates_Theatre
in 1787, Mozart (in person) appeared onstage and conducted there the premiere of his Don Giovanni.
thus it was used as one of the film sets in the "Amadeus" movie by Miloš Forman — to give more authenticity to the fabricated narrative.
prior to this recent visit, i was never ever inside.
while attending the Bernhard play i bought a cheap (plebeian) ticket to the upper floors of the building.
it is a paradox that cheap (plebeian) seats are on the upper floors and expensive (status) seats on the lower floors.
based on the general pattern of various social pyramids and status diagrams, one would expect elites prefer to sit up (under the roof = near heaven) and plebs is left downstairs — however, in the Estates Theater (and other multi-level theaters as well) it is (for some strange reason) vice versa.

thus my perspective of the stage was as follows...
(in the Estates Theater it is forbidden to take snapshots, so (as a law-abiding citizen) i did hardly any).


i also took a picture of a gorgeous chandelier (from the upper floor's perspective in closer proximity than the stage).
somehow, i later discovered it looks more gorgeous if displayed topsy-turvy (as if a kind of decorative nuclear mushroom cloud).

[niminy-piminy]

the other day i watched "on tv" (i don't have a tv set, i found it in the local tv's internet archive) a stage play called ACTOR AND CARPENTER MAJER SPEAKS ABOUT THE STATE OF HIS HOMELAND (Bohdan Bláhovec, Kamila Polívková, 2020)...

https://twitter.com/jirinvk/status/1474 ... 98851?s=20

https://studiohrdinu.cz/en/production/h ... -domoviny/

What is Czechia? Where does it begin and end? Who wants to live there? Who is to blame for the aversion of Majer and his kind to Czechia? The current president? A controversial production of Studio Hrdinů which asks questions yet gives no answers.

A social and political play by writer David Zábranský inspired by Handke’s spoken plays as well as Bernhard’s sarcastic playlets about the Austrian homeland starts a debate about the meaning of Czech national identity. The provocative statements about the homeland are delivered in an hour-long monologue by the actor, carpenter and hipster Stanislav Majer, against whom (and people of his kind) the text opposes. Majer puts the character down in accordance with his personal attitudes, which is ironically forecast by Zábranský – the circle closes. The production resembles a big-headed fight of WHOSE truth will prevail over prejudice and hatred.

Stanislav Majer was awarded the Theatre Critics’ Award for the Best Male Performance of 2016.

[Zábranský, Polívková, Majer] created a production which, besides being a multi-layered ironic game, offers a political dispute led solely by theatrical means, which is something that the Czech theatre seriously lacks. Moreover, it is a dispute which does not have a predetermined winner and which forces the audience to think hard about the actual formulation of their own (counter-)argumentation, which is its most valuable aspect.
Vladimír Mikulka, Divadelní noviny.cz, 17th October 2016

Majer's gestures and intonation delicately ironizes Zábranský's typical expression and the actor's chest – bare for long enough for ladies to admire and men to envy – is just as well a reference to a clever intellectual exhibitionism of the author as well as the series popularity of Stanislav Majer.
Marie Reslová, iHNED.cz, 19th September 2016

if anyone abroad wonders why the hero of the play (after getting undressed) takes on bagpiper's attire and plays bagpipes, then i can tell it is a reference to "The Strakonice Bagpiper" — a stage play from the era of the local national revival (1847 specifically), that was later adapted into a film a few times (didn't watch any of those flicks yet) because it is a part of the local "national mythology".

https://www.filmovyprehled.cz/en/film/3 ... e-bagpiper

For the love for human wood nymph Rosava falls into disfavour with the Forest Queen. Her piper son, Švanda, cannot marry his beloved Dorotka because he is poor. Tempted by ex-serviceman Šavlička's stories he decides to go off to the world to become rich and famous. Before he leaves, the wood nymphs, on Rosava's request, breathe magic sounds into his musical instrument. This brings Švanda success in the world and he even heals princess Zulika of melancholy with his music. Zulika wants to marry him in return. The news of the wedding brings Dorotka, who is searching for Švanda together with musician Kalafuna, to the palace. Švanda's "impresario", jester Vocílka, deceives the king into believing that Dorotka and Kalafuna are crazy. Švanda doesn't protect them. Former Zulika's bridegroom, prince Alamír, doesn't want to give up his bride, bursts into the palace and puts Švanda in prison. The magic pipe helps him out of the prison, but he has to return home without a crown in his pocket. After some time, Dorotka and Kalafuna also find their way back home. Dorotka refuses to hear from Švanda. When Švanda finds himself in grave danger on top of the gallows, however, she saves his life. The Forest Queen, touched by Dorotka's love, pardons repudiated Rosava as well.

(as mentioned in one of the quotes above) the author of the play called ACTOR AND CARPENTER MAJER SPEAKS ABOUT THE STATE OF HIS HOMELAND is David Zábranský, a local prolific writer https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Z%C3%A1bransk%C3%BD
i would highly recommend his novel "Martin Juhas or Czechoslovakia" (2015), however, i am not sure if anyone unfamiliar with the local trivia (of the past 100 years) can fully cherish the (ironical) narrative — thus this whole (marginal) post is probably completely pointless...

[niminy-piminy]

i don't think anyone cares, but i still feel like i have to explain a few more things because i noticed a strange coincidence in this thread!

first of all, notice the guy from the very first post (viz red circle ↓).


he is not only an actor (member of "Handa Gote Research and Development" theater troupe) but also a musician (member of "B4" band).
these days, B4 released its seventh album called "Pomazánkové máslo" (Butter Spread).

as a side note, i have to explain what's "Butter Spread"...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pomaz%C3% ... m%C3%A1slo

Pomazánkové máslo (literally: "butter spread") is a traditional Czech and Slovak dairy product. It is a spread made from sour cream, milk powder and buttermilk powder. It also contains starch, salt and usually herb or similar flavoring. The Czech food regulator (Státní potravinářská inspekce) requires the pomazánkové máslo must consist of at least 31% milk fat and 42% milk solids. Milk fat cannot be replaced by vegetable fat.
...
European Union regulation has forbidden the pomazánkové máslo label because it contains the word "máslo" (butter). According to European regulations, only products containing more than 39% of milkfat can be called butter. The Slovak Republic accepted this decision immediately, whereas the Czech Republic did so after several court hearings.

In Slovakia, the new names for the product became "smotanová natierka" (cream spread) and "roztierateľný tuk" (spreadable fat), while a Czech name wasn't initially established due to the hearings - however dairies announced that they would call their product "máslová pomazánka" (buttery spread) or "máslový krém" (buttery cream).

Nevertheless, at the beginning of 2013, the Ministry of Agriculture announced that the product would be named to just "tradiční pomazánkové" (traditional spread), simply dropping the word "máslo" (butter) from the end of the product's name, and by the end of 2014, the new name had become widely adopted.

btw. (additional side note), there was a similar (regulation) case with "Tuzemský rum" (Domestic Rum) in the past...

Tuzemák, formerly called Tuzemský rum (English: domestic rum), is a traditional Czech distilled beverage. It is a substitute good (ersatz) for true rum which is produced from sugarcane mainly in the Caribbean and Latin America. Since the 19th century, Tuzemák became one of the most popular spirits in the Czech lands.

Tuzemský is produced from potatoes or sugar beets, diluted and flavoured by various rum essences. In the 19th century similar substitutes were produced throughout the crown lands of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy, which had no access to tropical colonies; they were named Inländer-Rum (like Stroh in Austria, today produced from sugarcane molasses and therefore a genuine spiced rum), Domači or Čajni (Croatia) etc.

EU regulations allow the name "rum" to be applied only to products made from sugarcane. As a result, from 1 January 2003, this product is sold under other names like "Tuzemák" (Domestic) or "Tuzemský" (Domestical).

anyway, back to "Butter Spread" (the seventh album of the local "B4" band).
one of the songs on this new album is (strangely enough) called "Mr. Majer"!
i am convinced MR. MAJER from the song has anything to do with Mr. Majer from the stage play called ACTOR AND CARPENTER MAJER SPEAKS ABOUT THE STATE OF HIS HOMELAND but it is tempting to say the opposite.

after making a note about ACTOR AND CARPENTER MAJER SPEAKS ABOUT THE STATE OF HIS HOMELAND, here comes the pop song called MR. MAJER (sung by a guy mentioned in the very first post of this thread)...
(to popularize the local pop music i translated the lyrics of the song into English!)

Mr. Majer!
Mr. Majer!
Mr. Majer!
Mr. Majer!
we may have got too many instruments
we can't plug them all in
there are no more cables
and Mr. Majer cooks something in a saucepan aside
what is he doing here?
no one asks
someone has settled down
in an apartment next to us
before we had possessed some more cables, hadn't we?
there are holes in the walls
what was going on here?
none of us have any idea
we weren't here then
someone keeps walking behind the door
we have a job here
we are recording
only Leoš makes some effort
but we have no strength
there is no source to take it from
meanwhile, some lady walks by
they say she's new here
so, she doesn't pay much attention to us
she walks down the hall somewhere back
where Mr. Majer cooks something in a saucepan
there are too many things happening around
and there are too many people
we don't have cables
we have no ideas
we have no idea how to interconnect everything
how to interconnect everything to reach to something good
suddenly, there are voices in the kitchen
people are passing through a hole in the wall
no one notices us or Mr. Majer
who cooks something alone in the kitchen
what are we doing here?
no one asks
no one is asking
only time is passing around us
we don't know what we are doing here?
and first of all, we don't know what Mr. Majer is doing here?
Mr. Majer!
Mr. Majer!
Mr. Majer!
Mr. Majer!

https://youtu.be/sONzxpNqOqE

[niminy-piminy]

anyway, i just took my third jab ca. two hours ago.
the post above might be a side-effect of the vaccine!

[niminy-piminy]

on this magic date (when all the psychopathic dictators & wannabe dictators (advised by their astrologists & numerologists) compete in doing grand-scale stupidities (on the pretext of "peacekeeping" or "truth-telling")), i attended a theater — a play called Czarowna noc (The Magical Night, 1963) by Sławomir Mrożek (1930–2013).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%C5%82awomir_Mro%C5%BCek
He began writing plays in the late 1950s. His theatrical works belong to the genre of absurdist fiction, intended to shock the audience with non-realistic elements, political and historic references, distortion, and parody.

it took place in a local small theater called "Orpheus" that is situated in an underground space that served during the Cold War as a civil defense bunker.
after descending into the "Orpheus" and reaching a narrow corridor, one can either turn right and enter a small room with a very small stage & a few tables where usually someone reads to the audience, or one can turn left and enter a theater room (that is slightly bigger than the previous and contains a bigger stage with a few adjoined rows of chairs serving as an auditorium).

so, tonight, i first turned right cuz as a prologue to the play we (9 ppl in sum attending this event) were exposed to a short reading that served as an appetizer to another program taking place in the theater (we were lured this way to attend also this other program).
shortly after the lady on stage started to read, one dude (one out of my 8 fellow visitors) started to complain he can't hear properly and asked the lady to read lauder. the lady however suggested he rather sits closer and two girls sitting next to the stage offered they will switch a table with the dude and his mistress. after this little intro havoc, the rest went smooth and after the reading, we were asked to move to the theater room (passing via the narrow corridor, entering the theater room via the door situated behind the stage, passing over the stage, and thus ultimately reaching auditorium).

this is how one views the theater room upon entering via the door (one has to pass across the mildly raised stage to reach the seat)...


"The Magical Night" play is about two dudes on a business trip who spend a night in a hotel room.
during this night they dream and within their dreams, they dispute who is actually dreaming (who entered whose dream) or if they are both dreaming the same (shared) dream, etc., etc. (i.e. an absurdist dialogue about wakefulness & sleep) and in between they indulge in other minor issues like f.e. who will sleep in which bed, or who will switch off the light, or who will take bath first, etc., etc.).
this is the pic of the play, i.e. the stage is basically dominated by two beds (that furnish the hotel room)...


and here comes the point that made this evening truly MAGIC!
when we all the 8 visitors already moved to our seats (and were awaiting the start of the play), the last one (9th) who was still supposed to take his seat was somehow slacking behind — he was the same dude who complained at the start of the reading.
finally, he appeared in the door, he was supposed to cross the stage (dominated by two beds) and take his seat (viz the route obvious from the first pic ↑↑ ).
but (as he started a bit to rush (seeing he is late) & as he was a bit overweight & as he was probably (besides being semi-deaf) also a bit short-sighted) once he stepped up on stage he lost balance and, to avoid falling flat on the stage floor, he fell flat in one of the beds!!!
we (the audience) ofc burst into wild laughter and the poor dude (still laying in the bed) started to apologize (to the audience) which made the whole situation even more amusing.
then he left the bed and the play started.
during the whole play, i had a hard time following the absurdist plot & absurdist dialogues because all the time the absurdist slapstick intro (performed by one of the visitors) was popping up on my mind and made me permanently giggle.

prior to going to the theater, i read that it is a popular phrase in Poland/Polish (based on the absurdist nature of Sławomir Mrożek's oeuvre) saying, "Tego by nawet sam Mrożek nie wymyślił" (which means "Not even Mrozek would have imagined this.")
about the slapstick intro i witnessed today (probably the oddest moment i ever experience in a theater), i can truly say, "Not even Mrozek would have imagined this".

[sally]

wonderful! how lucky you are to have things like this where you are!

(i have read some mrozek short stories before and loved them)

[niminy-piminy]

was again in a theater.
the play was "120 Days of Sodom" and the theater troupe was called "Depressive Kids Longing for Money".
it was played in a semi-derelict theater hall called "Venus in Švehlovka".
stage of this vintage theater hall was not used for the performance, all was taking place in the (originally) auditorium (all along, there were 3 lines of seats and the rest was a "stage") — so, the place was used in a bit twisted way (tho maybe during the other plays the stagy stage is being used — have to visit the place again to see).
the entry was adorned with a sculpture of a hanged lady (Venus???).
upon entering, there was a guy who pointed a gun at me and said in a sweet voice, "Welcome! Take a seat!"
and as i was passing him to take my seat i was still looking into the gun from the nearest proximity.
it was rather funny and as i observed (after taking my seat) the same scene over and over (all the people who came to see the play were welcomed this way — with a gun pointed at them, accompanied by a sweet voice of a welcoming psychopath) the response was prevalently ppl grinning.
once all of the ppl took their seats, the guy with the gun introduced himself as the director of the play and started to humiliate us (the audience) with all kinds of derogatory claims.
he even forced us to submit to his will by making us sing a part of the silly local pop song.
specifically the lyrics...

Every trouble has its limit
Your past cries are long gone
One can always find a reason to go on living.

and he also imprinted into our brains (with a gun in hand) the interpretation of the play (we were told what we are supposed to say if anyone will ask us, "how was the play?").
i must admit, now, i am completely diverting from what i promised (to the director of the play with a gun in his hand) to say.
anyway.
after the humiliation intro, the play started.
"120 Days of Sodom" was taking place in a company called "MDSM Central Europe Ltd." that has been "managed" according to the manual compiled by the ill-reputed marquis.
employees of "MDSM Central Europe Ltd." were permanently harassed & humiliated by a bunch of managers (occasionally it felt like a staged Stanford prison experiment).
no need to mention, the play offered a few bare asses, a few exposed penises, etc., etc.
only male actors were going full-frontal, actresses were at best in their underwear (shocking! one would expect exactly the opposite!).
anyway.
the play had two parts and when i went during the pause to pee i felt like i am engaging in some depravity (the stage performance was this impactful).
at one point of the play, the audience in the first row was covered by a protective strip of fabric with a comment that now blood & shit is gonna sprinkle so much that the first row should rather cover themselves to avoid having blood & shit stains on the clothes.
the rest who sat in the second & third row was told that it is not likely blood & shit will go this far.
but in case we were still recommended a few reliable brands of detergents that are known for being good at removing blood & shit from clothes.
at the end of the play, we (the audience) were asked to enter the stage.
one actress read questions that always had two options and those who agreed with option A moved right and those who agreed with option B moved left (or vice versa — can't recall exactly anymore).
it was this type of questions...
do you find pleasure in inflicting pain on others?
do you find pleasure in experiencing pain inflicted by others?
do you believe that this world belongs to sadists?
do you believe that this world belongs to masochists?
etc.
etc.
etc.
so, we all (audience and actors alike) were moving left and right on stage.
and meanwhile, actors slipped out of the crowd and took the seats (as if being the audience).
thus after the last questions (at the very end of the play), we (the audience) were standing on stage and applauding to the actors who were bowing down (to our applause) in between the seats (in the auditorium).
in sum, it was pretty disquieting.
tho not to the point that i would humiliate or harass random ppl on my way home or started to think that the "special military operation" is justified.
i guess i am still (even after attending this play) "normal".

[sally]

stressed just reading this

[nrh]

have been making an effort to go see more opera lately (one of the weird things about living in ny is that a ticket for the met opera is only about $10 more than seeing a new release movie) and saw a production of verdi's falstaff this weekend.

man i wish lubitsch had adapted this in his silent era; it is merry wives of windsor recast as fin de siecle farce about appetite, lies, and mortality.

[niminy-piminy]

last week, i was for the second time (viz → https://scfzforum.org/phpBB3/viewtopic. ... 319#p35319 ) in the local Estates Theater to see The Bacchantes by Euripides

The tragedy is based on the Greek myth of King Pentheus of Thebes and his mother Agave, and their punishment by the god Dionysus (who is Pentheus's cousin). The god Dionysus appears at the beginning of the play and proclaims that he has arrived in Thebes to avenge the slander, which has been repeated by his aunts, that he is not the son of Zeus. In response, he intends to introduce Dionysian rites into the city, and he intends to demonstrate to the king, Pentheus, and to Thebes that he was indeed born a god. At the end of the play, Pentheus is torn apart by the women of Thebes and his mother Agave bears his head on a pike to her father Cadmus.

https://youtu.be/MXA2sDaVDIA

The Bacchae has been the subject of widely varying interpretations regarding what the play as a whole means, or even indeed whether there is a “moral” to the story.

At one time the interpretation that prevailed was that the play was an expression of Euripides’ religious devotion, as though after a life of being critical of the Greek gods and their followers, the author finally repented of his cynicism, and wrote a play that honors Dionysus and that carries a dire warning to nonbelievers.

Then, at the end of the 19th century the opposite idea began to take hold: it was thought that Euripides was doing with The Bacchae what he had always done, pointing out the inadequacy of the Greek gods and religions.