Divadelní revue (Czech Theatre Review) 2019 · no 1

vol. 30 · July 2019 · no 1

Summary

The first issue of 2019's Czech Theatre Review brings forward two peer-reviewed analyses. The first essay by Julie Kočí titled “Paradoxes and Excesses of the Czechoslovak Ballet after 1948 Communist Coup d'état” examines the scenic montage Peace! Dance Manifesto in 11 Acts (1951, co-created by J. Rey, E. Gabzdyl, J. Šust, M. Kouřil and A. Švecová) in the context of post-1948 cultural politics. The essay combines the methodology of dispositif, as well as material analysis of the dance production. Examination of both Peace! and the current cultural-political dispositif reveals the ideological control mechanisms over the original art production implemented by the ruling Communist Party. Discussing concrete examples, the essay points out the projections of existing ideological priorities of the ruling party into the plot and aesthetic concept of Peace! This perspective broadens an insight into the paradoxical reflections of Peace! by the ballet ensemble of Prague National Theater, whose head was S. Machov, and by anonymous representatives of the ministerial bodies of Communist cultural policy. Dominika Larionow's essay “Tadeusz Kantor — the set designer uses a prop, space and costume” seeks to examine set design work of Tadeusz Kantor. Kantor gained worldwide fame as the director of Polish authorial theatre Cricot 2, which in the second half of the 20th century became famous for performances such as The Dead Class (1975) or Wielopole, Wielopole (1980). Few people know that Kantor was a set designer by profession. With a thorough analysis of his great artistic achievements covering over 50 years of professional activity, the author analyzes Kantor's concepts of space or employment of object in art. The article discusses both early spectacles like Death of Tintagiles, Balladyna, or The Return of Odysseus from the 1930s and 1940s, and those already mounted in the times of Cricot 2: The Madman and the Nun, Lovelies and Dowdies, or I Shall Never Return. The essay observes the evolution of the artist: from the avant-garde beginnings influenced by the constructivism (Vakhtangov, Schlemmer) to the development of his own aesthetics, in which the subject-actor and the surrounding reality was the most important feature of Kantor’s metaphorical world. In her “Portrait of František Malkovský. Czech ‘danseuer libre’ in France between 1910— 1948”, Natálie Nečasová introduces a professional career of the Czech dancer František Malkovský / François Malkowsky (1889—1982) who resided for the most of his lifetime in France. Influenced by the dance reformist Isadora Duncan and modernist dance art, Malkovský produced in France his own dance performances and established his own school in which he followed the philosophy of dance represented by I. Duncan or her brother Raymod. The paper is accompanied with the translation of Malkovský's short “Essay on the Natural Motion”. The presented issue contains an interview with the Czech theatre scholar, educator, reviewer, and publisher Jan Dvořák. Three book reviews report on Krzysztof Pleśniarowicz’s Polish monograph on Tadeusz Kantor called Kantor, Christopher Balme's Slovakian translation of The Introduction to Theatre Studies, and the Czech publication Czech Theatre Photograph, 1859— 2017 and the exhibition of the same title. The special section “Bibliography” covers a professional publishing career of the Czech theatre scholar Ljuba Klosová who celebrates in June 2019 her 90th birthday. The list of her work introduces a short portrait “Ljuba Klosová: A Narrator of Actors’ Destinies”.

analyses

Julie Kočí
Paradoxes and Excesses of the Czechoslovak Ballet after 1948 Communist Coup d'état [peer-reviewed article]

Dominika Łarionow
Tadeusz Kantor — Set Designer uses a Prop, Space and Costume [peer-reviewed article]

portrait

Natálie Nečasová
Portrait of František Malkovský. Czech ‘danseuer libre’ in France between 1910—1948 [essay]

František Malkovský
Essay on the Natural Motion [document]

interview

Inteview with the Czech theatre scholar and publisher Jan Dvořák What matters the most is to live in what you choose and pick. (Martin J. Švejda)

reviews

Jan Hyvnar
On Kantor and his Play with Memory (Krzysztof Pleśniarowicz: Kantor) [review]

Martin Bernátek
Frameworks of our Discipline (Christopher Balme: Úvod do divadelnej vedy) [review]

Martin Vlček
What is theatre photography? (Česká divadelní fotografie 1859–2017)

new book releases (January–April 2019)

award

Results of the 10th biennial Václav Konigsmark's Award of the Czech Association for Theatre Researchbibliography

documents

Markéta Trávníčková
Ljuba Klosová: A Narrator of Actors' Destinies

Markéta Trávníčková
Ljuba Klosová's bibliography

Julie Kočí
Paradoxes and Excesses of the Czechoslovak Ballet after 1948 Communist Coup d'état.
The analysis examines the scenic montage Peace! Dance Manifesto in 11 Acts (1951, co-created by J. Rey, E. Gabzdyl, J. Šust, M. Kouřil and A. Švecová) in the context of post- 1948 cultural politics. The essay combines the methodology of dispositif, as well as material analysis of the dance production. Examination of both Peace! and the current cultural-political dispositif reveals the ideological control over the original art production implemented by the ruling Communist Party. Discussing concrete examples, the essay points out the projections of existing ideological priorities of the ruling party into the plot and aesthetic concept of Peace! This perspective broadens an insight into the paradoxical reflections of Peace! by the ballet ensemble of Prague National Theater, whose head was S. Machov, and by anonymous representatives of the ministerial bodies of Communist cultural policy.
Contact: Julie Kočí | Theatre Studies Departement, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic | julie.koci[at]centrum.cz

Dominika Łarionow
Tadeusz Kantor — the set designer uses a prop, space and costume.
The article seeks to examine set design work of Tadeusz Kantor. Kantor gained worldwide fame as the director of Polish authorial theatre Cricot 2, which in the second half of the 20th century became famous for performances such as The Dead Class (1975) or Wielopole, Wielopole (1980). Few people know that Kantor was a set designer by profession. With a thorough analysis of his great artistic achievements covering over 50 years of professional activity, the author analyzes Kantor's concepts of space or employment of object in art. The article discusses both early spectacles like Death of Tintagiles, Balladyna, or The Return of Odysseus from the 1930s and 1940s, and those already mounted in the times of Cricot 2: The Madman and the Nun, Lovelies and Dowdies, or I Shall Never Return. The essay observes the evolution of the artist: from the avant-garde beginnings influenced by the constructivism (Vakhtangov, Schlemmer) to the development of his own aesthetics, in which the subject-actor and the surrounding reality was the most important feature of Kantor's metaphorical world.
Contact: Dominika Łarionow | Instytut Historii Sztuki, Uniwersytet Łodzki, Lodž, Poland | dominikalarionow[at]autograf.pl