TRIP TO BRNO
Family confrontation and “family silence” – in the shadow of a burdensome secret. A reopening of old grievances through glimpses into the past – in a hypnotic timelessness of the family home. A return of the cosmopolitan thirty-something Louis from the intellectual Paris to the countryside – directed by HaDivadlo’s artistic director Ivan Buraj. With a dramaturgical introduction by the director. Bus departure from Olomouc at 5:45 p.m. (meeting at the parking lot at Billa / Legionářská Street), return around 11 p.m. More information at info@divadelniflora.cz

Buraj ingeniously escalates the tension to a phenomenal crisis and catharsis.
Tomáš Kubart, Divadelní noviny

“What really struck me about the text was its authenticity and the theme of returning to one’s family. Louis, coming from the countryside but living in a big city, returns back home to find understanding in a difficult life situation,” says director Ivan Buraj, explaining the choice of the material in HaDivadlo’s season called The Loss of Illusions. The hero does not get understanding, the atmosphere takes on a dreamy, almost hallucinogenic mood, as if it were taking place only in his imagination, the dialogues are choppy, reminiscent of an absurd drama. “I believe that the issue of cultural differences within families mirrors the society-wide problem of communication bubbles, which are becoming more and more impermeable,” adds Buraj, who has already explored the topic of generational passing in the “kitchen drama” Naši (Ours), presented at the 25^th Flora.
Jean-Luc Lagarce’s personal confession It’s Only the End of the World belongs to the French “literature of return” represented by Didier Eribon, Annie Ernaux, Michel Houellebecq and Édouard Louis, who chose his pseudonym after the main character of Lagarce’s play.
Where are the limits of selfishness in family relationships and how important is it to protect one’s illusions about others? What is home? And how often should we come home?
A production at the border of reality and model. Theatre as a computer game. A family simulator.

directed by Ivan Buraj

translation Kateřina Neveu
dramaturgy Milo Jurani
dramaturgical collaboration Anna Prstková
stage design Debora Štysová
sound design Matúš Kobolka
costume collaboration Sofia Plaskonisová 

characters and cast
Louis Radim Chyba
Suzanne Magdalena Kuntová
Antoine Jáchym Sůra
Catherine Sara Venclovská
Mother Marie Ludvíková
also starring Ema Červenáková (guest), Kateřina Kumhalová and Tereza Švandová

WARNING: A strobe is used in the performance.

premiere 18 November 2023

Ivan Buraj (1988) was born in Bratislava. Since 2015, he has been the artistic director of HaDivadlo, where he has created, among others, a series of interpretations of classical plays by Chekhov, Ibsen or Havel. A graduate of directing at the JAMU, he attracted a great interest with his ambitious adaptation of Broch’s trilogy The Sleepwalkers. With staging Gorky’s Provincials (Divadelní noviny Award 2019), Buraj initiated a line of productions dealing with realism in the context of the crisis of an individual isolated in their inability to perceive others.
Another distinct line that threads through Buraj’s work is the reflection on climate change and the effort to integrate radical ecology into the theatre process. In light of this belief, he directed the productions Naši (Ours), Vnímání (Perception) and Kosmos (at the National Theatre), which together with the productions Maloměšťáci (Provincials) and Stiller (at Studio Hrdinů) form Buraj’s trilogy of critiques of anthropocentrism. In HaDivadlo, he has long been developing an engaged repertoire, leading to the creation of film remediations (Provincials, Eyolf), and has participated in the creation of original theatre texts (Ours, Humanism 2022).
From the 2025/26 season, Ivan Buraj is joining Divadlo v Dlouhé in Prague as artistic director. The Flora Theatre Festival has been consistently following his artistic work, and in 2022 offered five of his productions as part of his directorial profile.

HaDivadlo, which is celebrating his jubilee this year, was officially founded in 1974 in Prostějov as Hanácké divadlo, but the amateur ensemble soon established itself as a professional studio theatre with a distinct authorial style. In 1985, they moved to Brno, where they merged with Ochotnický kroužek to form Kabinet múz. After some minor mishaps with their residence, they settled down in the former cinema of the Alfa Arcade in 2004, where they celebrate a double anniversary this year.
Since 2015, Ivan Buraj has been the artistic director of the theatre. Apart from German-language texts, the repertoire includes mainly original plays tailor-made for the company (Naši – Studie rozhovoru o klimatické krizi/Ours – A Study of a Conversation About the Climate Crisis; Vnímání/Perception; Humanismus 2022/Humanism 2022; Moravský kras/The Moravian Karst; Queer Runner).
As a theatre of demanding but not elitist dramaturgy, HaDivadlo takes steps towards the audience – they organize introductions to performances, talks, lectures, programmes for students, and community events to support minorities. They work closely with the platform for performing arts Terén.

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Dramaturgical introduction to the production by Ivan Buraj
https://www.youtube.com/watch… 

Podcast Ponor with director Buraj and dramaturge Milo Jurani about the 49th season of HaDivadlo called The End of Illusions and the production 
https://rss.com/…nor/1219407/ 

Interview with acress Marie Ludvíková 
https://vltava.rozhlas.cz/…-j-a-9175555

photo Terezie Fojtová