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- The guest performance from National Theatre Prague, 1914 takes part in the Programme of Marking the WWI Centenary in 2014, which has support of the Ministry of culture and information in the Republic of Serbia.
Deidre McAuliffe, MFA
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1914 – Directed by Robert Wilson –
Edited by Deidre McAuliffe, MFA
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Photos of 1914 courtesy of Lucie Jansch
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1914 is based on Karl Kraus’ Last Days of Mankind and Jaroslav Hasek’s Good Soldier Schweik.
1914
Directed by Robert Wilson
Directed by Robert Wilson
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Direction, set design, and lighting conception: Robert Wilson, Original idea: Sona Cervena, : Ales Brezina, Lighting design: Al Weissbard, Costumes: Yashi, Co-director: Ann-Christin Rommen, Music: Ales Brezina. Libretto, dramaturgy: Marta Ljubkova, Dramaturgy: Martin Urban, Video animation: Tomasz Jeziorski, Set design assistant: Karel Kut, Costume design assistant: Lucie Loosova, Video animation assistant: Frantisek Pechacek.
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The guest performance from National Theatre Prague, 1914 takes
part in the Programme of Marking the WWI Centenary in 2014, which has
support of the Ministry of culture and information in the Republic of
Serbia.
The 1914 is a title of the new production that Robert Wilson, a star of the world theatre, and his team prepared for The Estates Theatre. After an enormous success of Capek’s Makropulos Case, the famous director is concentrating on other pieces that strongly address us, especially considering the coming anniversary of the beginning of the First World War. 1914 is based on Karl Kraus’ Last Days of Mankind and Jaroslav Hasek’s Good Soldier Schweik.
Good Soldier Schweik, an iconic novel of the Czech literature, an ironic grin at war and at its absurdity exceeding human stupidity, meets an antiwar opus The Last Days of Mankind by Karl Kraus in a new and creative way. All this, in hands of a magician of the modern theatre, is transformed in an up-to-date cabaret. This open form is full of impressive scenic visions, music and surprising humor, creating not only parable of 1914 but mainly about our life now and here, one hundred years after the beginning of that terrible war that in fact had opened the 20th century. An impressive show about optimists and pessimists (under the supervision of an omnipresent Time) is a unique project originating from – already the second – meeting of the elites of the Czech theatre and creators and trend-makers of the world theatre.
This project of 1914 unifies several interesting aspects. First of all, it will take place in the year of commemoration of one hundred years after the beginning of the First World War – a historical moment when the old Europe had shaken in its base, and a year when transformation into a new continent had became. The continent we are living at now.
This historical period was reflected in an outstanding way by two crucial authors: by Czech writer and journalist Jaroslav Hasek (1883–1923) and Austrian poet, critique and essayist Karl Kraus (1874–1936). Both opuses seem to be incomparable – nevertheless, they serve us as a base of a specific collage that pictures not only the history but also tries to see our present in this specific region of Central Europe that used to be an Austro-Hungarian Empire. We believe in artistic, not necessary realistic way of treating such a difficult topic, therefore we decided to invite an outstanding American avant-garde artist Robert Wilson. He belongs to the world most influential theatre artists, directors as well as set designers.
The National Theatre (founded in 1868) is the Czech Republic’s representative stage. It is one of the symbols of Czech national identity and a part of the European cultural arena. It is a bearer of national cultural heritage and at the same time an arena for free artistic creativity. The theatre is a living artistic organisation which understands tradition as imposing a task and duty to find constantly new interpretation and an endeavour to achieve the highest artistic quality.
The National Theatre Drama ensemble is made up of more than fifty leading Czech actors who are its permanent members. The ensemble is headed by its Artistic Director, the stage director Michal Docekal, with his four-member team of dramaturges. The National Theatre Drama performs its productions on three stages of the National Theatre: the historical building of the National Theatre (with the capacity of 1,000 spectators), the Estates Theatre (660 spectators), and also the New Stage (400 spectators). The National Theatre is a repertory theatre.
The repertoire includes classical pieces of the theatre, modern classics, and also contemporary plays. We stage world and Czech premieres, as well as innovative interpretations of world famous drama. The repertoire includes for example Chekov’s Uncle Vanya and The Seagull; Elfriede Jelinek’s What Happened When Nora Left Her Husband (toured to Russia, Columbia, Poland, Bosnia and Herzegovina, etc.), Beckett’s Waiting For Godot (toured to Russia, Rumania, etc.); Havel’s Garden Party (toured to Slovakia).
The 1914 is a title of the new production that Robert Wilson, a star of the world theatre, and his team prepared for The Estates Theatre. After an enormous success of Capek’s Makropulos Case, the famous director is concentrating on other pieces that strongly address us, especially considering the coming anniversary of the beginning of the First World War. 1914 is based on Karl Kraus’ Last Days of Mankind and Jaroslav Hasek’s Good Soldier Schweik.
Good Soldier Schweik, an iconic novel of the Czech literature, an ironic grin at war and at its absurdity exceeding human stupidity, meets an antiwar opus The Last Days of Mankind by Karl Kraus in a new and creative way. All this, in hands of a magician of the modern theatre, is transformed in an up-to-date cabaret. This open form is full of impressive scenic visions, music and surprising humor, creating not only parable of 1914 but mainly about our life now and here, one hundred years after the beginning of that terrible war that in fact had opened the 20th century. An impressive show about optimists and pessimists (under the supervision of an omnipresent Time) is a unique project originating from – already the second – meeting of the elites of the Czech theatre and creators and trend-makers of the world theatre.
This project of 1914 unifies several interesting aspects. First of all, it will take place in the year of commemoration of one hundred years after the beginning of the First World War – a historical moment when the old Europe had shaken in its base, and a year when transformation into a new continent had became. The continent we are living at now.
This historical period was reflected in an outstanding way by two crucial authors: by Czech writer and journalist Jaroslav Hasek (1883–1923) and Austrian poet, critique and essayist Karl Kraus (1874–1936). Both opuses seem to be incomparable – nevertheless, they serve us as a base of a specific collage that pictures not only the history but also tries to see our present in this specific region of Central Europe that used to be an Austro-Hungarian Empire. We believe in artistic, not necessary realistic way of treating such a difficult topic, therefore we decided to invite an outstanding American avant-garde artist Robert Wilson. He belongs to the world most influential theatre artists, directors as well as set designers.
The National Theatre (founded in 1868) is the Czech Republic’s representative stage. It is one of the symbols of Czech national identity and a part of the European cultural arena. It is a bearer of national cultural heritage and at the same time an arena for free artistic creativity. The theatre is a living artistic organisation which understands tradition as imposing a task and duty to find constantly new interpretation and an endeavour to achieve the highest artistic quality.
The National Theatre Drama ensemble is made up of more than fifty leading Czech actors who are its permanent members. The ensemble is headed by its Artistic Director, the stage director Michal Docekal, with his four-member team of dramaturges. The National Theatre Drama performs its productions on three stages of the National Theatre: the historical building of the National Theatre (with the capacity of 1,000 spectators), the Estates Theatre (660 spectators), and also the New Stage (400 spectators). The National Theatre is a repertory theatre.
The repertoire includes classical pieces of the theatre, modern classics, and also contemporary plays. We stage world and Czech premieres, as well as innovative interpretations of world famous drama. The repertoire includes for example Chekov’s Uncle Vanya and The Seagull; Elfriede Jelinek’s What Happened When Nora Left Her Husband (toured to Russia, Columbia, Poland, Bosnia and Herzegovina, etc.), Beckett’s Waiting For Godot (toured to Russia, Rumania, etc.); Havel’s Garden Party (toured to Slovakia).
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Selected press reviews
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Seeing the familiar Central European space and ourselves through the eyes of the American modernist is an experience that may tell us more about ourselves than we are willing to admit.
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Reflex
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Wilson the architect has come into his own: he has constructed a peculiar (theatre) world in which the machine kills itself and in which not even the world’s designer can claim to control anything, to hold the reins in his hands. In 1914, Wilson surprises us the most by his still being able to free himself of Wilson. To extricate himself from the straitjacket of his own work.
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Hospodarske noviny
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The surprising aspect: Wilson’s aestheticism realised here on stage with lemurs with flashy make-up, eccentric costumes, (…) monochromatic, coloured walls filling the entire scene and stylized houses and interiors. This aestheticism does not create distance but burns into the minds of the audience like a nightmare. (…) The insight of time is (…): It will always become worse even when you think it is already at its worst. We learn nothing from history.
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Suddeutsche Zeitung
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Wilson mixes a profound evil with warm-hearted moments full of wit and tenderness. Often only some gestures and words suffice in order to demonstrate the raw cruelty of the gas warfare.
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DrehpunktKultur
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The play “1914” Wilson created for the National Theatre Prague thrives on oppositions: While hearing happy circus music you see war on the scene. Nearly everything is in shades of grey, the characters resemble paper cuts – only now and then a fiery red face or a green elbow appear briefly on stage. Wilson requires high amounts of precision from his performers (as from the technology), who are without exception magnificent. Almost every character is characterised by its own body language.
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Kronen Zeitung
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The impressive ensemble that is composed of 12 people wearing field grey costumes, with white and flashy make up, sometimes play slapstick or like in “a slow motion movie” on an absurd and comic, spartan scene of horror.
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Neues Volksblatt Linz
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Wilson has created an inspired Gesamtkunstwerk: with carefully selected text passages, an almost cheerful-merry approach to horror, a playful undertone and artful images such as stylising chemical warfare but not actually depicting it. He draws the characters in a manner that could be straight out of a Wilhelm Busch comic-book. The famous Kraus duo, the Pessimist and the Optimist, act like the slapstick icons Laurel and Hardy.
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Nachrichten
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Edited by
Deidre McAuliffe, MFA
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Edited by
Deidre McAuliffe, MFA
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Belgrade, Serbia, Yugoslav Drama Theatre – 1914, Directed by Robert Wilson, National Theatre Prague. The guest performance from National Theatre Prague, 1914 takes part in the Programme of Marking the WWI Centenary in 2014, which has support of the Ministry of culture and information in the Republic of Serbia.
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Belgrade, Serbia – Dragonslayers by Milena Markovic, Directed by Iva Milosevic, Yugoslav Drama Theatre. The piece is written as a “heroic cabaret”. The play Dragonslayers takes part in the Programme of Marking the WWI Centenary, which has support of the Ministry of culture and information in the Republic of Serbia.
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· 1914 by Robert Wilson, National Theatre Prague / Edited by Deidre McAuliffe, MFA ·
· Photos of 1914 courtesy of Lucie Jansch
All rights reserved 2014. Copyright © Lucie Jansch ·
All rights reserved 2014. Copyright © Lucie Jansch ·
· Design & Artwork by Djuradj Vujcic and Prvoslav Vujcic · Illustrated by Sarah Riordan and Deidre McAuliffe ·
· Edited by Djuradj Vujcic, Prvoslav Vujcic, Deidre McAuliffe, Sarah Riordan and Danijela Kovacevic Mikic ·
· Edited by Djuradj Vujcic, Prvoslav Vujcic, Deidre McAuliffe, Sarah Riordan and Danijela Kovacevic Mikic ·
All rights reserved 2014. Copyright © Urban Book Circle®
Published by Urban Book Circle on December 1, 2014
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