EXIT 89

Horror with a human face at Divadlo Archa

Expats.cz Staff

Written by Expats.cz Staff Published on 10.12.2008 14:38:11 (updated on 10.12.2008) Reading time: 2 minutes

Encore performances of the critically acclaimed Czech-German “tragic operetta” on December 16, 17 and 18, 2008, 8:00 p.m. at Archa Theatre

The musical staging subtitled Horror with a Human Face was written specifically for Archa Theatre by librettist Jaroslav Rudiš and German author Martin Becker with music composed by Michal Nejtek. The show is directed by Jiří Havelka. EXIT 89 is Archa´s contribution to the Project 68/89 – Divadlo.Doba.Dějiny. part of the Zipp Czech-German cultural project, an initiative of the German cultural fund.

EXIT 89, which the authors have called a tragic operetta, takes place at a service station on the D1 motorway. In 1992, the former leader of Czechoslovakia Alexander Dubček died here in a tragic road accident. Six people from very different walks of life meet at the station on the anniversary of the accident. The protagonist is Karel, a government limousine driver and a great admirer of Dubček’s. Karel has a bullet lodged in his head, an injury which he suffered during the demonstrations in front of the Czech Radio building in 1968. The bullet shifts around, causing hallucinations, blackouts and sudden recollections.

The co-author of the play is Jaroslav Rudiš: “EXIT 89 brings together six stories from 1968 to 2008. There are trucks, Czech-German love affairs, accidents, memory losses, the end of one and the birth a new utopia in a memorial to Alexander Dubček.”

Director Jiří Havelka: “For us it is mostly a play about memory, about how history is formed by human memory and that human memory creates human identity and indeed the identity of an entire nation. It´s a kind of historical review in the colours of Ein Kessel Buntes.”

The bilingual operetta is performed in Czech and German (with simultaneous interpretation). The music composed by Michal Nejtek is played on stage by a live orchestra.

Story: Martin Becker, Jaroslav Rudiš
Written by: Martin Becker, Jiří Havelka, Jaroslav Rudiš
Director: Jiří Havelka
Music: Michal Nejtek
Sets: Dáda Němeček
Artistic director: Ondřej Hrab
Costumes: Jana Smetanová
Featuring: Ján Sedal, Marie Ludvíková, Jiří Hána, Philipp Schenker, Jakub Žáček, Zuzana Stavná, Petr Reif.

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