NEWS

The ceremonial opening of the 25. annual of the Flora Theatre Festival on Tuesday 10. May will be organized under the baton of The Great Dictator.

The member of Cologne drama ensemble pays tribute to Chaplin and his timeless film satire in the energetic show STEFKO HANUSHEVSKY TELLS THE GREAT DICTATOR. Painfully current production by Rafael Sanchez was nominated for the Kölner Kulturpreis 2021.

The current rise of right-wing populists and autocrats – culminating dramatically in the recent events in Ukraine – compels artists to follow up on the most famous anti-Nazi satire in the history of cinema. Stefko Hanushevsky, a member of the Cologne dramatic ensemble, is a real expert in this field: before joining the school of acting, this native Austrian was making extra money by guiding foreign tourists around the sites of the so-called Third Reich. Years later, Stefko once again dons the uniform of a leader, or a guide, and in an energetic stand-up evening, he takes the audience for a bus tour with stops representing his life …

Tímto titulem pokračuje Rafael Sanchez, interní režisér Schauspiel Köln, ve své úspěšné tvůrčí linii, v níž na pozadí kultovních filmů zkoumá životní příběhy hereckých osobností. Už za první, autobiografickou inscenaci Rafael Sanchez erzählt: Spiel mir das Lied vom Tod, která vycházela z westernu Tenkrát na západě (2006) získal významnou cenu pro německy píšící autory rozhlasových her Hörspielpreis der Kriegsblinden a také mezinárodní cenu Premios Ondas. Na všech adaptacích s ním spolupracoval všestranný rakouský dramatik, výtvarník a mystifikátor Eberhard Petschinka, zv. petschinka. Českému publiku je známý zejména svými rozhlasovými hrami, které si coby nezávislý autor natáčí ve vlastním studiu – Český rozhlas zpracoval např. groteskní dramata Circus Maximus (2015) a Pepik Knedlik (2016) či hru o svatořečení Jana Pavla II. Santo Subito (2017).

With this production Rafael Sanchez (1975), the inhouse director of Schauspiel Köln, continues in his successful theatre series in which he explores the life stories of outstanding actors against the backdrop of an iconic film. For his first autobiographical production called Rafael Sanchez erzählt: Spiel mir das Lied vom Tod (Rafael Sanchez presents: Once Upon a Time in the West, 2006), he was awarded Hörspielpreis der Kriegsblinden, a major prize for German-writing radio playwrights, as well as the international Premios Ondas prize. With all his adaptions, Sanchez has cooperated with Eberhard Petschinka, an Austrian visual and theatre artist who goes by the name of petschinka. He can be familiar to the Czech audience mainly because of his radio plays which he records in his own studio – Czech radio adapted for example his grotesque drama Circus Maximus (2015) or Pepik Knedlik (2016) or a play about canonization of John Paul II. Santo Subito (2017).

More information about the production is available in the programme section: https://bit.ly/3wtjIuO