Jaroslav Hašek – Dušan D. Pařízek
THE CASE ŠVEJK
Studio Hrdinů Prague & Theater Bremen
FRI 19 May — 8 pm Moravian Theatre
directed by Dušan D. Pařízek
German translation Dušan D. Pařízek, Martin Mutschler
editing Dušan D. Pařízek
costumes Kamila Polívková
dramaturgy Roland Koberg
light design Krisha Piplits
assistant director Carl Christian Fuhr
assistant to dramaturgy and protocol Sophie „Žofka“ Menasse
assistant costume designer Anna Brabcová
costume production Iva Bělíková, Zdeněk Pscheidt
stage manager Michala Kášová, Zuzana Formánková
premiere at the Wiener Festwochen festival 11 June 2015
German premiere 19 November 2015 at the Bremen Theatre
Czech premiere 26 November 2015
cast
Peter Fasching, Martin Baum, Ivana Uhlířová, Jiří Černý, Vladimír Javorský, Gábor Biedermann
The acclaimed co-production project of Dušan D. Pařízek is not a typical adaptation with humorous novel-like characters. Hašek's psychological study of cowardice, perpetual parasitizing, and insubordination is the starting point for the absurd disciplinary action. The subject matter of the “case” is the supposed desertion of soldier Švejk, who has put on a Russian uniform as a joke. General Fink (Martin Baum) requests a short process, cadet Biegler (Peter Fasching) and first lieutenant Lukášová (Ivana Uhlířová) insist on a regular process and invite the witnesses (Vladimír Javorský, Jiří Černý), which blows the coals of Austrian-Czech-Hungarian relations. Language is the weapon and means of power. The actors “wrestle” with their mother tongue as well as learnt languages having always in mind the subordination towards the official language – the German. Švejk does not even enter the stage. Pařízek eliminated the theme of “švejking” to such an extent that he created a production without the main protagonist. He shows a European tragedy of nationalism, militarism, and bureaucratic madness which could easily occur even today. In his stage adaptation, the opportunist soldier from the First World War provides a welcomed impulse to view the ethnic tensions of present Europe and debate about the possibility of democratic and stable cooperation of European countries. The Case Švejk was nominated for the Theatre Critics' Award for the Best Production of 2015 and was awarded the Theatre Newspaper Award in 2015/2016 season in the category of Drama. The production was created in co-production of Studia Hrdinů, Wiener Festwochen and Theater Bremen.
Dušan David Pařízek (1971) ranks among the most successful Czech theatre directors both abroad and in the country. He grew up in Austria, Switzerland, the Netherlands, and then in Germany. After graduation from Theatre Studies in Munich (1997) he also studied directing at DAMU (1999).
In 1997 he staged Schwab's play The Presidents at the Divadlo Na zábradlí, which later moved to the Pražské komorní divadlo. The ensemble, under his direction (1998–2002 artistic director, 2002-2009 director), became one of the most progressive scenes in the country. Pařízek often turned to German texts such as Schwab – 1999: People Annihilation, 2003: Anticlimax, 2008: Overweight, Unimportant: Misshape, Peter Handke – 2010: Offending the Audience 2010, 2011: Underground Blues, 2012: The Hour We Knew Nothing of Each Other, Müller, Jelinek, Bernhard, Musil, Kafka, Fassbinder and others.
Since 2002 he has been working also in Cologne, Hamburg, Hanover, Zurich. His direction of Lotz's Ridiculous Darkness at Burgtheater, Vienna (2014) won the prestigious survey of Theater heute, became the Production of the Season 2014/2015 in the German-speaking context and received awards also in other categories. The festival Wiener Festwochen 2015 staged his co-production with Prague-based Studio Hrdinů – The Case Švejk. Since the 2015/2016 season Pařízek has been the in-house director at Volkstheater, Vienna where his productions Old Masters (Bernhard) and Self-Accusation (Handke) met with great success. All four last mentioned titles were featured at the Flora Theatre Festival.
Theater Bremen is a traditional municipal theatre with ensembles of drama, music, and dance theatre. The fourth group is MoKS Bremen, which focuses on interactive production for children and youth.
One of the most important periods of the theatre is the period between 1962 and 1973 when the drama section led by Kurt Hübner managed to get international renown for their innovative approach. We talk about the so-called “Bremen style” which is associated with personalities such as playwright and film-maker Rainer Werner Fassbinder, stars of the German director's theatre Peter Stein and Peter Zadek or the famous actors Bruno Ganz and Jutta Lampe. At that time, Johann Kresnik was head of the dance ensemble and formed there his revolutionary concept of dance theatre.
Recently the Bremen theatre got attention due to the experiment of collective management. After some financial problems were exposed, a five-member directory was established as head of the theatre (2010–2012). This unconventional model stimulated a discussion about the effectiveness of hierarchy structures in theatre institutions. Today, the theatre is again run by an artistic director – at present it is Michael Börgerding – who has led the scene towards ambitious projects. One of them is the production Der Fall Švejk – The Case Švejk.