Wild Duck

THU May 20 7:00 pm Moravian Theatre

Henrik Ibsen
THE WILD DUCK
Divadlo Petra Bezruče Ostrava / CZ

director Jan Mikulášek
translation František Fröhlich
script Jan Mikulášek, Zuzana Mildeová
dramatic adviser Zuzana Mildeová
stage design and costumes Marek Cpin
music supervision Jan Mikulášek
premiere October 9, 2009


“An unwelcome guest is emerging out of the dark – an adversary of peace, the family spectres wake up from their slumber and a bird's squawking is heard in the attic of a doll's house. The truth is ridiculous and the gun is loaded. The hunt may now begin.”

characters and cast
Werle, industrialist Norbert Lichý
Gregers Werle, his son Tomáš Dastlík
Old Ekdal Přemysl Bureš
Hialmar Ekdal, his son Jan Vápeník
Gina Ekdal, Hialmar's wife Sylvie Krupanská
Hedvig, their daughter Tereza Vilišová
Mrs. Sorby, Mr. Werle's housekeeper Marcela Čapková
Molvik, drop-out theologian Jan Vlas
Dr. Relling Dušan Urban
guests at a celebration Tereza Dubová, Pavel Johančík, Michal Weber



A Duck Hunt Has Started at the Bezruč Theatre
(...) The Wild Duck seen from the Petr Bezruč Theatre's perspective shows many essentials typical of Jan Mikulášek's productions: playfulness pervading all elements of the production, abstraction, irony, a great deal of stylization and use of film methods. Actors switch from psychologically motivated performance to purposely overacted pathos and ironic distance from their parts.
Not even the genre is clear: the unleashed sequence of events, in themselves funny, inevitably leads to a tragic disaster. A cascade of stage ideas making the audience laugh is dominated by the magnification of significant props: the duck almost fills up the entire house, the actors throw a monster egg at each other and read an A3 size letter. By making these details larger than life, the director develops the family tragedy step by step into monstrous and grotesque dimensions. (...)


Ibsen According to Mikulášek
(...) Although Jan Mikulášek did not finish his studies at JAMU and has celebrated his 30th birthday only a short time ago, he creates productions marked by meticulous text reading and mature and original poetics which one would expect from a much older and more experienced director. Mikulášek is simply a talent shining in the contemporary murky pool of Czech theatre like an Amazonian fish.


I Won't Let My Heart Be Torn Apart from Morning till Night!
(...) In his treatment of The Wild Duck, the radical Jan Mikulášek has probably exceeded all bounds existing so far. And the top Bezruč Theatre actors' company has reached another level of their first-rate performance skills.



Jan Mikulášek (b. 1978, Zlín, Czechoslovakia)
After an unfinished course in direction at JAMU Brno, he became the artistic head of the Brno children's theatre Polárka, where he created a progressive theatre over the course of three years. From 2005 to 2007, he was the artistic head of the Petr Bezruč Theatre. There he made a number of successful productions: 2005: Story (Crimp), 2006: Three Sisters (Chekhov), Wild at Heart, 2007: Four Murders Are Enough, Darling. He continues to work with the company as a guest director – 2007: Eugene Onegin, 2008: Cosi (Nowra), 2009: 1984 (Orwell), The Wild Duck (Ibsen). He also works regularly with the National Theatre of Moravian Silesia – 2003: Caligula (Camus), 2004: Hercules in the Augean Stables (Dürrenmatt), 2005: Queen Margot (Dumas), 2006: La Dolce Vita (Fellini), 2007: Phantom of Morrisville, 2008: Heda Gabler (Ibsen), 2009: Oedipus the King (Sophocles) – and with other Moravian theatres (the National Theatre in Brno – 2004: The Mouse-trap (Christie), 2007: Blood Wedding (Lorca), 2010: The Elementary Particles, Zlín City Theatre – 2008: Chaplin in the Lights of Modern Times, Husa na provázku – 2009: Hamlet, and others).
His directions have been winning critical and audience acclaim, chiefly thanks to highly stylized acting, grotesque overstatement and excellent work with visual and music elements. In his directorial style, he reveals inspiration by the world of cinema and film narration. Besides directing, Mikulášek also composes stage music and has made music for over twenty productions. During his studies, he started to work with set designer Marek Cpin, with whom he continues to form a unique creative partnership.
In 2008, the Flora Theatre Festival hosted his adaptation of Pushkin's Eugene Onegin and in 2009 he visited the event with his version of George Orwell's 1984 (both Petr Bezruč Theatre, Ostrava).