“At the age of ten, I didn’t know words like microwave or coffee maker. Seventy-five square meters sometimes housed up to thirteen of us. Relationships? – What do you mean?”An open and straightforward authentic confession of Iris Kristeková, the heroine of “Příbram stand-up”, who longs for freedom and elementary understanding – under the direction of Miřenka Čechová.

The actress commands an almost bewitching personality, charismatic alto and movement culture. Without a doubt, she has put much more into her first solo project than interpretive theatre allows.
Jana Soprová, Lidovky.cz

“A lot of people have asked if there is anything ‘blown up’ in Iris. There isn't. Of course, that’s how I perceive the events, from my point of view. But everything happened, there is nothing contrived in the stand-up,” says Iris Kristeková in one of the many interviews she has given since the September premiere. Audience and media interest has been huge: in her stand-up with elements of black humour, she confesses her desires and the wrongs inflicted on her by her family and unprofessional therapeutic care. For many years she has tried to cope with transgenerational traumas. She experienced domestic violence and abuse of all kinds in her apartment in Příbram, where sometimes as many as thirteen people crowded into 70 square metres. Despite her extreme social situation, she managed to follow her dream and today she passes on her strength.
The title Iris completes the Invisible trilogy. Choreographer Miřenka Čechová’s unique docu-dance series focuses on women artists who disappear from the limelight and thus the centre of attention – whether due to political events, age, the end of their careers, motherhood or an uneven starting line. The first part belonged to the actress Hana Frejková, persecuted by the communist regime. The second part – which Flora offered last year to great acclaim – dealt with prima ballerina Barbora Vašků Kaufmannová who faced bullying during her studies and at work.

concept and direction by Miřenka Čechová

script Iris Kristeková, Miřenka Čechová
music Martin Tvrdý
costumes Petra Vlachynská
lighting design Filip Horn
production Tantehorse, Jakub Urban

starring Iris Kristeková

premiere 4 and 5 September 2023

Miřenka Čechová (1982), a multi-talented artist – performer, choreographer, director and writer, is one of the most prominent personalities of the Czech dance and physical theatre scene. And she is also a frequent and welcomed guest at the Flora Theatre Festival – last year she presented the productions Ballerinas and Invisible II / Barbora Kaufmannová to great acclaim. She is a co-founder and in-house director of the progressive domestic theatre groups Spitfire Company (together with Petr Boháč) and Tantehorse (together with Radim Vizváry). In her work, she organically combines the word with elaborate movement expression, a solid structure with improvisation based on the present moment, and dance with pantomime. She has developed a distinctive artistic style that relies on a documentary approach and the principles of multimediality.
After graduating from the Dance Conservatory in Prague, Miřenka Čechová studied simultaneously at the Prague DAMU and HAMU – where she defended her dissertation in the field of directing physical and mime theatre. Since 2012, she has been irregularly teaching the course Authorial Creation. During her doctoral studies, she was awarded a prestigious Fulbright Research and Teaching Fellowship at American University in Washington, D.C., where a new course in Physical Theatre was created under her auspices. As an academic, she has also lectured at other American universities, including Florida, Missouri and Pennsylvania.
She has won numerous prestigious international awards for her mostly authorial, solo works. In 2020, Miřenka Čechová published the book Ballerinas (orig. Baletky), which won the Divadelní noviny award for publication and became a precursor to the theatre projects metaBallerinas and Ballerinas. Following her experimental debut Miss AmeriKa (2018), this is her second prose work, in which she draws on her own experiences and diary entries to self-ironically paint a raw, unflinching picture of her studies at the dance conservatory. She is currently working mainly in the docu-dance genre and is directing the Invisible series at her home scene with Tantehorse. The series of productions tells the story of real women artists who were forced to end their top careers for various reasons.

The renowned ensemble Tantehorse is a platform for authors and producers. It creates socially resonant productions at the boundaries of genres and at the same time provides a space and support for emerging artists in the field of dance and art of movement – it has produced for example The Lion’s Den by POCKetART and The Lard by Ridina Ahmed.

Irena “Iris” Kristeková (1982) was born in Příbram as the last of six children. She graduated from the Prague Conservatory. She spent six years at Činoherní studio in Ústí nad Labem, during which time she began working with Miřenka Čechová and the Spitfire Company, where she first encountered her new passion – physical theatre. She is a member of Divadlo v Celetné and also works as a singer.

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Reportage / Czech television
Autobiografický stand-up Iris Kristekové – 4. září 2023 – Události | Česká televize (ceskatelevize.cz)

Interview with actress Iris Kristeková
-https://maomai.cz/…-kristekova/ 
-https://vltava.rozhlas.cz/…edni-9068378
-https://denikn.cz/…-zneuzivani/ 
-https://vltava.rozhlas.cz/…oved-9130483 

photo Vojtěch Brtnický