Gypsies

WED May 19 7:30 pm Moravian Theatre

Karel Hynek Mácha
GYPSIES
Slovácké divadlo Uherské Hradiště / CZ

director Jan Antonín Pitínský
script Jan Jirků, Iva Šulajová, J. A. Pitínský
dramatic adviser Iva Šulajová
stage design Eva Jiřikovská
music Richard Dvořák
premiere October 17, 2009

characters and cast
Jew Martin Vrtáček
Lea, his daughter Klára Brtníková
Judith, their maid Alžběta Kynclová
Bartholomew Barta aka Slacker Jiří Hejcman
Angelina Jitka Josková
Giacomo, old Gypsy Kamil Pulec
Young Gypsy Zdeněk Trčálek
Waldemar Lomecky, Count of Borek Pavel Hromádka
Village Mayor Josef Kubáník
The Bailiffs David Vacke, Petr Žajdlík
Katarzyna Magnuszewska – motto Andrea Nakládalová
Voice of Emma, Countess of Borek Irena Vacková



A series of guilty faults from the past unravel in a disquiet wheel of cause and consequence similar to that in a minor Greek tragedy. In the midst of it all, the dominant voice is taken by the Yamaha organ and the Grazioso guitar from the City of Venice. We did not wish to stage Gypsies in a romantic way, but fairly simply, but chance had it that it turned out to be quite expressive in the end. Mácha simply adores Márinka's quiet and anxious tunes most of all. He is impatient, or at least he seems as such to me, in that after glittering rustles, a thunderstorm usually strikes.
(...) I sense natural hankering and openness from the young company members. The most important thing is that they like each other and you can feel it both at rehearsals and during performances. One could also see their talent and the innocent refinement in acting which is something really nice, something one usually doesn't experience.


Meeting Pitínský is like setting for a hike in the Himalayas. It's a real adventure and you never know where you are heading to, while you find yourself in a fairytale land you don't get a chance to visit every day.



A Razor in Front of Your Eyes
The compact form (an hour and a half without a break) is filled with an air of pure, somewhat grotesquely grimaced horror. Pitínský frequently evokes powerful and stunningly charming stage images, especially in the ending when Young Gipsy (Old Gipsy had been executed, oh yes – on a diving board) gets human and music help from Mr. Barta who had not been totally stifled by his tipsiness yet. (...)


Jan Antonín Pitínský was born in 1955 in Zlín as Zdeněk Petrželka. He received theatre education from 1978 to 1981 when he worked as a stage manager at Brno's Divadlo na provázku, cooperating e.g. with the directors Peter Scherhaufer, Eva Tálská or Zdeněk Pospíšil. Later, he founded his own generational company Ochotnický kroužek (Amateur Circle), cofounded Kabinet múz (Cabinet of the Muses), became a director of HaDivadlo and about twenty years ago, he set on a long journey across Czech, Moravian and Slovak theatres during which he made a number of amazing and extraordinary productions, many of which became Czech Productions of the Year (Sister Anxiety at Dejvice Theatre, Prague, Job at HaDivadlo Brno, Ritter, Dene, Voss and Theatremaker at Divadlo na zábradlí Prague, opera Dido and Aeneas at J. K. Tyl Theatre Pilsen).
The Flora Theatre festival has hosted five of Pitínský's productions over the last five years: The Ignoramus and the Madman (Slovak National Theatre Bratislava), Renata Kalenská, Lidové noviny (HaDivadlo Brno), The Peach Blossom Fan (Divadlo v Dlouhé Prague), The Cunning Little Vixen and Wild Bára (both Slovácké divadlo Uherské Hradiště).