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Summary for: Havel in English: Expats.cz invites you to a night of theater in PragueIf you want to understand Czech culture, theater is a good place to start. Theatrical tradition runs deep here and Prague's historic stages were once epicenters of political resistance, where revolutionary ideas were as much a part of the program as the plays themselves.
Few playwrights embody that tradition more completely than Václav Havel. His legacy is tied to a number of the city's intimate venues, including Old Town's Celetná Theater, where the dissident and future president regularly attended performances, stayed to talk with the actors afterward, and felt, by all accounts, genuinely at home.
To claim your tickets and reserve your seat for Tuesday's performance, call 608 327 107 or send an email with your name, contact information, and the number of seats to rezervace@divadlovceletne.cz with the code HAVEL50 in the subject line. You may pay via bank transfer in advance or at the venue directly before the show.
On April 14, the Celetná kicks off an impressive English-language run of Havel's 1968 play The Increased Difficulty of Concentration, performed by the Kašpar Theatre Company in its historic space. Expats.cz readers are invited to attend the premiere for half price; use code HAVEL50.
Members of the Expats.cz team will be there for opening night, and after the curtain comes down, you'll have the chance to mingle with fellow theatergoers and chat with the performers.
THE PLAY
Eduard Hummel is a man with a wife, a mistress, a secretary, and a nagging sense that happiness is still somewhere just out of reach. The Increased Difficulty of Concentration is Havel at his most darkly comic, a sharp, funny play about desire, distraction, and the absurdity of trying to measure contentment.
The production is directed by Šimon Dominik and carries the patronage of both the Mayor of Prague 1 and the Capital City of Prague. The English-language version runs for 15 performances through September with a fall repertoire in Czech.
To claim your tickets and reserve your seat for Tuesday's performance, call 608 327 107 or send an email with your name, contact information, and the number of seats to rezervace@divadlovceletne.cz with the code HAVEL50 in the subject line. You may pay via bank transfer in advance or at the venue directly before the show.
The venue
The Celetná Theater occupies a corner of Prague's Old Town that has hosted performances since the mid-18th century. The building, the Manhardt Palace, wears an early Baroque two-tone facade. Before or after the show, the theater's café is worth arriving early for. It opens onto a terrace overlooking the palace courtyard.
THE CAST AND CREATIVE TEAM
Ondřej Novák, Tereza Slámová, Kateřina Zapletalová, Johana Koubová, Barbora Vyskočilová, Štěpán Coufal, Kryštof Kotek, and Petr Halíček.
Translation by Štěpán Šimek. Set design by Karel Čapek, costumes by Anna Hrušková, music by Petr Malásek, dramaturgy by Lenka Bočková, language consultancy by James Beaumont.
We look forward to welcoming you.
The Increased Difficulty of Concentration Premiere: Tuesday, April 14, 7:30 p.m. Celetná Theater, Celetná 17, Praha 1. The play runs two hours and ten minutes, including an intermission.
