“School is supposed to prepare for life and unfortunately, that is what it really does. In secondary school, you get to know closely all the dementia that you will later encounter in the authorities’ offices, at work or in a pre-trial detention cell.”
A critical probe into the institutionalised world of today, Úvod do současné trapnosti (Introduction to Contemporary Awkwardness), opens up a particularly topical issue on the Olomouc stage: the fate of modern man in corporate society. The stage production is based on a book of the same name comprising an edited collection of satirical articles by Jakub Ryška and Pavel Šplíchal previously published on the popular, award-winning blog Prigl.cz. “The common denominator for all the blog posts is the sarcastic, almost smarty-pants tone, which led us to the idea of conceiving the production as a bit of an odd and hilarious training course,” comments the director Adam Svozil on the intention of the theatrical adaptation. The creative tandem of Svozil and Jankovcová uses the story of three classmates with different family backgrounds to demonstrate the futility of struggling for a “better” future. In their polemic, the authors follow the individual’s journey from hope to resignation, keeping their perspective detached and wry.
adaptation and directed by Adam Svozil and Kristýna Jankovcová
based on Jakub Ryška, Pavel Šplíchal
video and visuals Zdeněk Vévoda, Kristýna Jankovcová
light and sound Ondřej Zunt
cast
Mark Kristián Hochman, Radka Caldová and Tomáš Žilinský
premiere 15 October 2021
Adam Svozil (1991) and Kristýna Jankovcová (1992) met while studying directing at the Department of Dramatic Theatre (DAMU) and formed a successful creative tandem while still at school. Their graduating production, The Ritual Slaughter of Gorge Mastromas by British playwright Dennis Kelly, won the Mark Ravenhill Award for the best Czech theatre production of a new play in 2015. Their other joint projects include the authorial reading Já, mé druhé já a já (Me, My Other Self and I), based on Jiří Vaněk’s bestselling novel Sebedrás and staged at A studio Rubín, and an adaptation of the multi-layered short story collection Brief Interviews with Hideous Men by D. F. Wallace, created for the theatre Divadlo Na zábradlí. Both productions were also adapted for the radio under their direction.
They are both laureates of the Josef Balvín Award 2019 for staging the play Winter Solstice by Roland Schimmelpfennig. The Olomouc native Adam Svozil continues presenting contemporary drama in artistic cooperation with Kristýna Jankovcová and as an in-house director at the South Bohemian Theatre in České Budějovice, where he has so far put on the stage three texts by contemporary authors: the Canadian drama An Almost Perfect Thing, Dennis Kelly’s monodrama Girls & Boys and the environmental play Lungs.
Divadlo na cucky is an open space for culture on the Lower Square (Dolní náměstí) in the centre of Olomouc. Alongside its own productions, the theatre also presents guest artists, organises creative workshops for all generations and promotes social dialogue through discussions and lectures.
The specific selection of staging teams and personalities (Michal Hába, Patrik Lančarič, Šimon Spišák, Júlia Rázusová, Adam Svozil, Lucie Ferenzová, among others) shapes the theatre’s distinctive poetics, which tends towards experimentation and exploring new means of communication. The theatre reflects on current social issues such as nationalism, the polarisation of society, the impact of social media and feminism.
The production and orientation of the theatre was strongly influenced by its artistic director Silvia Vollmann together with the former director Jan Žůrek, who was replaced by Alžběta Kvapilová in 2021.
................
Jakub Ryška and Pavel Šplíchal's blog which the production is based on
http://prigl.cz/
photo Marcel Skýba
