May 19th Thu, 6:30 PM – 8:00 PM | HaDivadlo Brno | zájezd
Marlen Haushofer THE WALL HaDivadlo Brno
The story of a woman who suddenly found herself on a deserted territory enclosed by an impermeable wall. How can one adapt to the rhythm of nature? How to find food? Whom to talk to…? Charismatic Tereza Hofová as “An Alpine Robinson” in an adaptation of the allegorical novel. Final production of this year’s section “Focus: HaDivadlo” directed by Kamila Polívková. Discussion follows.
The bus departs at 5 pm from Olomouc (meeting point at Billa / Legionářská street), more information: petra.pankova@divadelniflora.cz
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As the protagonist, Tereza Hofová controls and manipulates everything while leading an inner monologue. With her natural empathy, personal charisma and ability, she uses words and minimalist actions to reveal the nuances of situations, but above all, she opens up the strange corners of the human mind and probes the motives of her character’s thinking and actions.
Vladimír Hulec, Divadelní noviny, 27 December 2021
Although the stage action is at times very boisterous (and playfully comical!), due to the predominance of the spoken word it can give the impression of being just a visual accompaniment to a radio play. Nevertheless, the conditions are set for an experience that would be impossible outside the theatre. With the help of music (Aid Kid) and the accompanying sound design, almost horror-like sequences are created, in which the audience can feel the weight of the heroine’s isolation.
Iva Heribanová, Divadelní noviny, 1 November 2021
The cult novel The Wall (1963) by Marlen Haushofer is now one of the absolute classics of Austrian literature. Written in the form of diary entries, the prose evocatively reflects on the experience of an individual torn from her everyday, automated life. The central character, played by the bravura Tereza Hofová, becomes isolated in the midst of the wild nature of the Alps and finds herself on the brink of self‑knowledge, taking stock of her true abilities and needs. Everything that seemed useless and mundane to her becomes, in the context of new events, the basic principle of survival.
This almost documentary-like portrayal of the heroine’s adaptation to the radical life change, performed by the HaDivadlo ensemble under the direction of Kamila Polívková, becomes an allegorical pilgrimage across the knowability of the world from which we are fatally disconnected.
adapted and directed by Kamila Polívková
translation Kateřina Lepic
dramaturgy Anna Prstková a Ivan Buraj
set, light design Antonín Šilar
dramaturgy Anna Prstková a Ivan Buraj
set, light design Antonín Šilar
costumes Zuzana Formánková
music Aid Kid
sound Aid Kid and Dominik Dolejší
music Aid Kid
sound Aid Kid and Dominik Dolejší
cast Tereza Hofová guest performance, Marie Ludvíková / Mariana Chmelařová guest performance, Táňa Malíková / Mark Kristián Hochman, Magdalena Straková, Jiří Svoboda, Kamila Valůšková, Jiří Miroslav Valůšek
premiere 16 October 2021
The versatile artist Kamila Polívková (1975) has since 1996 created stage costumes and set designs for dozens of productions both in the Czech Republic and abroad, where she regularly appears as a guest alongside Dušan D. Pařízek. Between 2004 and 2012, she worked as a costume and set designer at the Prague Chamber Theatre, where she also debuted as director with a dramatization of Thomas Brussig's novel Heroes Like Us (2009), followed by Faith, Love, Hope (2010) and Sam (2012), among others.
She is currently one of the in-house directors of Studio Hrdinů, but has also collaborated with HaDivadlo in Brno (Macocha, Prezidentky/First Ladies) and the National Theatre in Prague (online project Ghosts Are Only Humans Too, 2021).
HaDivadlo theatre is situated in Brno, however, it was officially established in Prostějov in 1974 as Hanácké divadlo (director Svatopluk Vála and dramaturg Josef Kovalčuk were associated with it). Soon after it worked its way up from an amateur group to a professional studio stage with demanding dramaturgy.
They moved to Brno in 1985 and by merging with Ochotnický kroužek of J. A. Pitínský, the Kabinet múz was created. After some minor mishaps with their residence, they settled down in the former cinema of Alfa Pasáž in 2004. Remarkable personalities have participated in forming the unique poetics of the theatre such as the director and playwright Arnošt Goldflam, the actor and author Miloš Černoušek (aka Cyril Drozda), the musicians Jiří Bulis and Václav Koubek, the actors Ján Sedal, Marie Ludvíková and Miloslav Maršálek and the directors Jiří Pokorný, Břetislav Rychlík, Oxana Smilková, David Jařab, Luboš Balák and Marián Amsler.
Since 2015, Ivan Buraj has been the artistic director of the theatre. Apart from the German language texts: apart from Broch’s Sleepwalkers, also Bernhard’s slapstick The Force of Habit, Lotz’s drama Ridiculous Darkness, Müller’s memento The Message, Haushofer's Wall or Büchner's Woyzeck – part of the Flora 2021), the theatre repertoire includes production tailor-made for the theatre (Pitínský stage essay ’68, collective projects Ours and Perception or Austerlitz's experiment There Is a Show Going On During the Length of the Show).
Kamila Polívková works regularly with the theatre, she staged Schwab's First Ladies (Divadelní noviny award 2020) or the novel adaptations: Macocha after Petra Hůlová (2019) and The Wall by Marlen Haushofer, which is part of this year's Flora. Each season at HaDivadlo is framed by a specific theme reflecting the current issues in the society (such as Sources, Work or Adaptation). This year's motto „Degrowth“ is in the times of overproduction emphasizing the sustainability, even in the theatre sphere. Instead of bringing new premieres, HaDivadlo ingeniously „recycles“ older production through creative interventions with accent on fresh reflection of social and environmental topics, as will the creative team describe in the thematic discussion.
“It has been and still is a theatre involving an uncompromising search for current theatre language, although it has a tradition of intimate gesture and awareness of its own peripheral nature,” Ivan Buraj described the five-year course of the theatre in an interview for Art Zóna. As a theatre of ambitious yet not elitist dramaturgy, it takes action towards the audiences by organising dramaturgical introductions to productions, discussions after them, seminars and other programmes for secondary school students. They closely cooperate with a new platform for performative art Terén, which originated in Brno and operates as the third stage of the Centre for Experimental Theatre alongside the renowned repertory theatres – Husa na provázku Theatre and HaDivadlo.
photo Jakub Hrab
