Shakespeare in Transition: Political Appropriations in the Postcommunist Czech Republic

219 Pages·2010·1.57 MB·English

by  Marcela Kostihová (auth.)

Performance Interventions
Series Editors: Elaine Aston, University of Lancaster, and Bryan Reynolds,
University of California, Irvine
Performance Interventions is a series of monographs and essay collections on
theatre, performance, and visual culture that share an underlying commitment
to the radical and political potential of the arts in our contemporary moment,
or give consideration to performance and to visual culture from the past
deemed crucial to a social and political present. Performance Interventions moves
transversally across artistic and ideological boundaries to publish work that pro-
motes dialogue between practitioners and academics, and interactions between
performance communities, educational institutions, and academic disciplines.
Titles include:
Alan Ackerman and Martin Puchner (editors)
AGAINST THEATRE
Creative Destructions on the Modernist Stage
Elaine Aston and Geraldine Harris (editors)
FEMINIST FUTURES?
Theatre, Performance, Theory
Maaike Bleeker
VISUALITY IN THE THEATRE
The Locus of Looking
James Frieze
NAMING THEATRE
Demonstrative Diagnosis in Performance
Lynette Goddard
STAGING BLACK FEMINISMS
Identity, Politics, Performance
Alison Forsyth and Chris Megson (editors)
GET REAL: DOCUMENTARY THEATRE PAST AND PRESENT
Leslie Hill and Helen Paris (editors)
PERFORMANCE AND PLACE
D.J. Hopkins, Shelley Orr and Kim Solga
PEFORMANCE AND THE CITY
Amelia Howe Kritzer
POLITICAL THEATRE IN POST-THATCHER BRITAIN
New Writing: 1995–2005
Marcela Kostihová
SHAKESPEARE IN TRANSITION
Political Appropriations in the Postcommunist Czech Republic
Jon McKenzie, Heike Roms and C.J W.-L. Wee (editors)
CONTESTING PERFORMANCE
Emerging Sites of Research
Melissa Sihra (editor)
WOMEN IN IRISH DRAMA
A Century of Authorship and Representation
Performance Interventions
Series Standing Order ISBN 978–1–4039–4443–6 Hardback
978–1–4039–4444–3 Paperback
(outside North America only)
You can receive future titles in this series as they are published by placing a
standing order. Please contact your bookseller or, in case of difficulty, write
to us at the address below with your name and address, the title of the series
and the ISBN quoted above.
Customer Services Department, Macmillan Distribution Ltd, Houndmills,
Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS, England
Shakespeare in Transition
Political Appropriations in the
Postcommunist Czech Republic
Marcela Kostihová
© Marcela Kostihová 2010
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2010 978-0-230-20324-2
All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this
publication may be made without written permission.
No portion of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted
save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence
permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency,
Saffron House, 6–10 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS.
Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication
may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
The authors have asserted their rights to be identifi ed as the authors of
this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
First published 2010 by
PALGRAVE MACMILLAN
Palgrave Macmillan in the UK is an imprint of Macmillan Publishers Limited,
registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke,
Hampshire RG21 6XS.
Palgrave Macmillan in the US is a division of St Martin’s Press LLC,
175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010.
Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies
and has companies and representatives throughout the world.
Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States,
the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries.
ISBN 978-1-349-30110-2 ISBN 978-0-230-29042-6 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/9780230290426
This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully
managed and sustained forest sources. Logging, pulping and manufacturing
processes are expected to conform to the environmental regulations of the
country of origin.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Kostihová, Marcela, 1974–
Shakespeare in transition: political appropriations in the post-
communist Czech Republic / by Marcela Kostihová.
p. cm. — (Performance interventions)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Shakespeare, William, 1564–1616—Appreciation—Czech Republic.
2. Shakespeare, William, 1564–1616—Translations into Czech—History
and criticism. 3. Politics and literature—Czech Republic—History—
20th century. I. Title.
PR2971.C85K67 2010
822.3'3—dc22
2010027527
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10
Contents
List of Figures vii
Acknowledgements ix
Introduction 1
Part I
1 ‘The End of History’ in Central and Eastern
Europe 17
2 Shakespeares of the Postcommunist World 30
I Shakespeare the politician 30
II CEE’s political Shakespeare 36
III Czech Shakespeare and the history of colonial
resistance 40
IV When in doubt, celebrate Shakespeare 46
V The collision of transitional Czech Shakespeares:
1964 and 1864 50
VI Czech Shakespeare under normalization and
‘real’ socialism 57
VII Postcommunist Czech Shakespeare 60
Part II
3 Translation Wars: Redefining Shakespeare in the
Postcommunist Czech Republic 71
I Brˇetislav Hodek: foreignizing the present 76
II Jitka Sloupová: domesticating Shakespeare for the
young guard 84
III Martin Hilský: Shakespearean heteroglossia 88
IV Czech Shakespeare translation and the
postcommunist future 91
v
vi Contents
4 Katharina ‘Humanized’: Abusing the ‘Shrew’
on Prague Stages 94
I Docˇekal’s masculinist dream 105
II Happy endings at CD 94 116
III A ‘seedy farce’ at the Summer Shakespeare Festival 123
IV Towards a gendered postcommunist society 129
5 Politics of Desire: Postcommunist Czech
Shakespeare and Non-normative Masculinity 132
I Homosexuality in the ‘First Republic’ 137
II Communism and homosexuality 140
III Homosexuality in the postcommunist Czech
Republic 141
IV Performing non-normative masculinity in
postcommunist Czech art 143
V Postcommunist (Shakespearean) masculinity 147
VI Twelfth Night: a study in postcommunist gendered
identity 154
Epilogue: Into the European Union 168
Notes 177
Bibliography 190
Index 205
List of Figures
4.1 Scene from Michal Docˇekal’s production of Zkrocení zlé
ženy (The Taming of the Shrew) at Divadlo Komedie,
Prague. Jirˇí Klem (Baptista) and Alena Štréblová
(Katharina). Komedie Archive, Prague. Courtesy of
Milan Špelda (photographer) 107
4.2 Scene from Michal Docˇekal’s production of Zkrocení
zlé ženy (The Taming of the Shrew) at Divadlo Komedie,
Prague. David Matásek (Petruchio) and Alena Štréblová
(Katharina). Komedie Archive, Prague. Courtesy of
Milan Špelda (photographer) 108
5.1 Scene from Michal Docˇekal’s production of Kupec
Benátský (The Merchant of Venice) at Divadlo Komedie,
Prague. David Pracharˇ (Portia). Komedie Archive,
Prague. Courtesy of Tomáš Didunyk (photographer) 149
5.2 Scene from Eniko˝ Ezsenyi’s production of Veˇcer
Tˇríkrálový (Twelfth Night) at Stavovské Divadlo. Martina
Válková (Olivia) and Michal Slaný (Sebastian). Archiv
Národního Divadla (National Theatre Archive).
Courtesy of Iva Smejkalová (photographer) 158
5.3 Scene from Eniko˝ Ezsenyi’s production of Veˇcer
Tˇríkrálový (Twelfth Night) at Stavovské Divadlo.
Vilém Udatný (Antonio) and Hana Ševcˇíková (Cesario).
Archiv Národního Divadla (National Theatre Archive).
Courtesy of Iva Smejkalová (photographer) 159
5.4 Scene from Eniko˝ Ezsenyi’s production of Veˇcer
Tˇríkrálový (Twelfth Night) at Stavovské Divadlo. Michal
Slaný (Sebastian) and Vilém Udatný (Antonio).
Archiv Národního Divadla (National Theatre Archive).
Courtesy of Iva Smejkalová (photographer) 160
5.5 Scene from Viktor Polesný’s production of Veˇcer
Tˇríkrálový (Twelfth Night) at Letní Shakespearovské
Slavnosti (Summer Shakespeare Festival) in Prague.
vii
viii List of Figures
Jan Novotný (Antonio) and Jirˇí Racek (Sebastian).
SCHOK archive, Prague. Courtesy of Viktor Krombauer
(photographer) 163
5.6 Scene from Viktor Polesný’s production of Veˇcer
Tˇríkrálový (Twelfth Night) at Letní Shakespearovské
Slavnosti (Summer Shakespeare Festival) in Prague.
Jitka Schneiderová (Cesario) and Linda Rybová (Olivia).
SCHOK archive, Prague. Courtesy of Ivo Micˇkal
(photographer) 164
5.7 Scene backdrop to Viktor Polesný’s production of Veˇcer
Tˇríkrálový (Twelfth Night) at Letní Shakespearovské
Slavnosti (Summer Shakespeare Festival) in Prague.
Author’s photograph 165
Acknowledgements
This project would not have been possible without the generosity
of the Czech scholars, researchers, theatre directors, producers and
actors who were willing to share with me their experiences with – and
expertise in – postcommunist Shakespeare. I am thankful to Frantisek
Cˇachotský, Andrea Cerqueirová, Michal Dlouhý, Vojta Durˇt, Vilma
Frantová, Gustav Hašek, Jan Helešic, Miloslav Hlaucˇo, Brˇetislav Hodek,
Jirˇí Hromada, Anna Javorková, Jirˇí Josek, Jana Kavánková, František
Kreuzmann, Zdene˘k Kucˇera, David Matásek, Miroslav Mejzlík, Lenka
Mrvová, Tomáš Pavlík, Lucie Peterková, Zuzana Pokorná, Jan Potme˘šil,
David Pracharˇ, Jan Prˇeucˇil, Daniel Prˇibyl, Ivan Rajmont, Michal Rychlý,
Martin Sitta, Jitka Sloupová, Petra Špalková, Alena Štréblová, Vladimír
Strnisko and Rostislav Trtík for their time and willingness to discuss
their contributions to and views of postcommunist Czech theatre and
Shakespeare’s role therein. I would like to extend much gratitude to
Michal Docˇekal for extensive, enlightening and immensely informa-
tive conversations about his direction, artistic vision and the future of
Czech theatre. Shakespeare scholars and translators Martin Hilský and
Zdene˘k Strˇíbrný have not only shared their work on Czech Shakespeare,
but introduced me to many professionals in the field and generously
offered to comment on early drafts of many of the following chapters.
Materially, this book has been supported by grants, at the early
stages, from the University of Minnesota (Doctoral Dissertation
Special Grant, Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship and the Samuel Holt
Monk-Moses Marston Research Award) and finished with the support
of a series of Hanna Grants from Hamline University. Several insti-
tutions and organizations have willingly allowed me to rummage
through their theatre archives, namely Agentura SCHOCK, Divadlo
Komedie, Národní Divadlo (Czech National Theatre) and Národní
Knihovna (Czech National Library). Others have generously provided
much-needed materials relevant to this project, such as Divadlo
ABC, Divadlo Kašpar and Pidivadlo. I am particularly grateful to the
nimble and generous help of the staff at Divadelní Ústav (Prague
Theatre Institute) who assisted tirelessly with long hours of research,
tracked trends in Shakespeare postcommunist performance, provided
ix