David Zábranský
ACTOR AND CARPENTER MAJER TALKING ABOUT THE STATE OF HIS HOMELAND
Studio Hrdinů Prague

WED 17 May — 8 pm Moravian Theatre

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.

directed by Kamila Polívková
costumes Adriana Černá
music Ivan Acher
dramaturgy Jan Horák
set and light design Antonín Šilar
assistant director Ondřej Štefaňák
assistant set designer Františka Králíková, Mariana Montenero, František Průša

premiere 16 September 2016

cast Stanislav Majer, people like Majer

[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, 17^th 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, 19^th September 2016

Kamila Polívková (1975) studied stage design at Janáček Academy of Music and Performing Arts in Brno (1998–2004). Since 1996 she has created costumes and stage design for dozens of Czech productions (for Divadlo Husa na provázku Brno, National Theatre Brno, National Theatre Prague, Petr Bezruč Theatre, HaDivadlo Brno, Činoherní studio Ústí nad Labem, and Švandovo Theatre in Prague) and worked also abroad (cooperation with director Dušan D. Pařízek: Salzburger Festspiele, Deutsches Theater Berlin, Deutsches Schauspielhaus Hamburg, Schauspielhaus Zürich, Theater Bremen, and Burghteater Vienna).

Between 2004–2012 she worked as a stage designer at Pražské komorní divadlo (e. g. Vodičkova-Lazarská, The World-Fixer, The Suffering of Prince Sternenhoch, The Trial, Overweight, Unimportant: Misshape, The Dreamers). She stage her first directions there as well: Heroes Like Us (2009), Faith, Hope, and Charity (2010) and Sam (2012).

At present, she works as an in-house director at Studio Hrdinů: Day of the Oprichnik and The Milena's Recipes (both 2013), The Animal Kingdom (2014), Skugga Baldur and Actor and Carpenter… (both 2016). For the Transit festival at the Schauspielahus Zurich she staged Precious (2014). She succeeded with her adaptation of The Duchess and the Cook (Reduta Brno) in 2015. Her adaptation of Petra Hůlová's novel Macocha will premiere at HaDivadlo, Brno in June 2017.