The 2013 Prague Fringe is almost here and, while you should definitely go and check out their program at http://www.praguefringe.com/en/, there are two shows at the fringe this year that I wanted to point out:
False Friends (plays 24.5 – 28.5 from 21:00 – 22:00 at Divadlo Kampa) is a new comedy from the writer of last year’s sell-out show Déjà Vu. A young Australian moves to Prague to be with his girlfriend and is soon harassed by an alcoholic grouch, a hypochondriac divorcee, and a delirious young woman. All three are dead, and the Australian is the man to help them find the light. If only he could understand a word of Czech. Sinister, surreal and side-splitting…
The writer, Stuart Mentha, is someone who has been a part of the Prague Playhouse for a long time. The other people involved, Veronika Bellova, Peter Hosking, Maria Majkusová to name a few, have all worked on Playhouse shows and are good friends of the company. We highly recommend this show!
The Duchess of Malfi (29.5 – 1.6 at 19:30 at A Studio Rubin) from the Prague Shakespeare Company. All the Duchess of Malfi really wants is to make tons of babies with her secret boyfriend. But when her jealous and manipulative family members discover her affair, they set out to ruin her with the help of the vile hunchback Bifidus. It’s a shocking series of murders, double crosses, double murders, triple crosses, madness, spontaneous lycanthropy, and indescribable tortures, culminating in the greatest bloodbath ever performed on stage.
This Prague Shakespeare Company production is filled to the brim with friends of the Prague Playhouse. They are a great group of local actors and the show looks like a sure-fire hit!
Post Category: General
May 23rd, 2013 at 10:03ambrian
The Prague Playhouse production of Tennessee Williams’ The Glass Menagerie opens May 2, 2013 at 19:30! Tickets are now on sale by visiting our online boxoffice.
From the director of last year’s Sweeney Todd, The Glass Menagerie is one of the most well known plays of the iconic paragons of American Theater, Tennessee Williams. It is his most auto-biographical play, dealing with the time when he was breaking out of the roles that were “expected” of him and going out on his own. This decision, however, was fraught with trauma and guit about leaving his family, who depended on him. The entire play brings into relief the decisions which we all make between staying in a role in the family which we are brought up, and who we really are.
We have taken a unique look at the play, actually forming two casts: an American cast, all of whom are American or speak with an American accent with perfect fluency and a Czech cast who, while speaking in English, bring their own unique perspective and cultural knowledge to the process. The American cast is lead by Julie Josephson in the role of Amanda, the protective and demanding mother who only wants the best for her children. Mrs. Josephson comes to our stage directly from America where she has played both on stage and screen. Brian Caspe plays the role of Tom, the rebellious son who must choose between living a lie and striking out on his own. Mr. Caspe is familiar to Prague Playhouse audience members as playing the title roles in both Sweeney Todd and You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown. He is also the founder of the company. India Choquette plays Laura, the sickly and shy sister who is really the focal point of the play. Ms. Choquette is currently an acting student at the Prague Film School and will return to New York to work as an actor there. And the Gentleman Caller is played by Ronald Prokeš, who was a student at the English College of Prague and has acted in many English-language productions including Marat/Sade.
The Czech cast is made up of Dagmar Spain, a Czech-German actor and dancer who choreographed of A Broad’s Way’s production of Dokola. Lukaš Vydržál plays Tom. Laura is played by Alena Doláková, who also performs at Divadlo V Celetné. Adam Vacula plays the Gentleman Caller.
The Glass Menagerie will play at Divadlo Na pradle, Besedni 3 in Prague 1 (near Ujezd) May 2, 3 * , 4, 15 *, 16 & 17 at 19:30 as well as a matinee on May 4 at 14:00. * The Czech cast will play on the 3rd and 15th.
Tickets are 250 Kc for general admission and 220 Kc for students (up to 26) and seniors (65 and over).
Post Category: General
April 17th, 2013 at 11:26ambrian
By Damien Smethurst
Between now and May, when their new production of ‘The Glass Menagerie’ by Tennessee Williams opens, Prague Playhouse will be bringing you a series of short articles which will hopefully give you an insight into how things work behind the scenes in the world of theatre. In light of Prop 8 fight in the United States, todays article is going to focus on props, and more importantly on how they come to be on the stage when they need to be and one of the people responsible for getting them there.
Rachael Collins has been in Prague since late 2007, and she is one of the prop mistresses for this latest play. We managed to talk her into giving up a few minutes of her time to answer a few questions for us. (more…)
Post Category: Events,Theatre
March 29th, 2013 at 02:02ambrian
By Damien Smethurst
“Yes, I have tricks in my pocket, I have things up my sleeve. But I am the opposite of a stage magician.
He gives you illusion that has the appearance of truth. I give you truth in the pleasant disguise of illusion.”
So begins ‘The Glass Menagerie’, the breakthrough play by Tennessee Williams, and the first production
of the year by the Prague Playhouse after their superb productions in 2012.
This is a play about a family, and as seems to be common in theater, somewhat of a dysfunctional one at
that. The play is based on Williams’ own life, and since making its theatrical debut in Chicago in 1944 it
has been considered a modern classic due to the fact it deals with things that we as individuals can relate
to and understand.
The play is based on the fact that to some extent we all feel some level of responsibility to our own
family, and yet at the same time we often feel the undeniable urge to break away from them and get out in
the world to do our own thing, unburdened by other people, no matter how much we might love them. It
also looks at the archetypical Southern lady, trying to keep her family together in the midst of events that
are anything but conducive to togetherness.
As we know, there are people from all over the world in Prague, and we are here for countless different
reasons, but deep down we all have some level of residual guilt about things like leaving our family
behind, and that guilt is the very essence of this play, so it is a production that appeals to everyone,
regardless of background.
The play was first translated into Czech and shown in Prague in 2001 at Divadlo Petra Bezruče, and
that initial run lasted for 5 years before the play finally closed in 2006. Since then, it has been played
at Slovácke Divadlo, Švandovo divadlo na Smíchově, Divadlo Metro and also in small towns such as
Kulturní centrum Rakovník, Moravske divadlo Olomouc, Buran Teatr Brno, and it has generally been
well received by Czechs.
This production however is the first showing of the play in Prague since at least 2009, and the first ever to
be performed in English and with native English speakers.
Post Category: Events
March 10th, 2013 at 11:00ambrian
We will be having auditions for “The Glass Mengaerie” by Tennessee Williams, directed by Steve Josephson on Sunday, February 3 and Monday February 4, 2013. Auditions will be held at Besign Studio: Panska 8, Prague 1. The production will open in May.
Please prepare a 2 minute dramatic monologue in English and be available to read from the script if asked. Please also bring a headshot or recent photo and an acting resume (preferably in English). If you have questions or to schedule an audition time, please write to brian@pragueplayhouse.com with your preferred time.
We will consider non-native English speakers for all of the roles, but all auditioning should be proficient in English.
Play Description:
Amanda Wingfield is a faded, tragic remnant of Southern gentility who lives in poverty in a dingy St. Louis apartment with her son, Tom, and her daughter, Laura. Amanda strives to give meaning and direction to her life and the lives of her children, though her methods are ineffective and irritating. Tom is driven nearly to distraction by his mother’s nagging and seeks escape in alcohol and the world of the movies. Laura also lives in her illusions. She is crippled, and this defect, intensified by her mother’s anxiety to see her married, has driven her more and more into herself. When Tom invites a young man of his acquaintance to take dinner with the family, Jim, the “Gentleman Caller”, he is pounced upon by Amanda as a possible husband for Laura. The world of illusion that Amanda and Laura have striven to create in order to make life bearable collapses about them. Tom, too, at the end of his tether, at last leaves home.
Amanda Wingfield – (40’s-60’s) Laura and Tom’s mother. This faded Southern belle is a proud, vivacious woman. She clings fervently to memories of a vanished, genteel past. Abandoned by her husband, she can appear to be overbearing, admirable, charming, pitiable, and laughable.
Laura Wingfield – (20’s-30’s) Amanda’s daughter and Tom’s older sister. Laura has a bad leg, on which she has had to wear a brace, and walks with a limp. Twenty-three years old and painfully shy, she has largely withdrawn from the outside world and devotes herself to old records and her collection of glass figurines.
Tom Wingfield – (20’s-40’s) Amanda’s son and Laura’s younger brother. An aspiring poet, Tom works at a shoe warehouse to support the family. He is frustrated by the numbing routine of his job and escapes from it through movies, literature, and alcohol.
Jim O’Connor – (20’s-30’s) An old acquaintance of Tom and Laura. Jim was a popular athlete in high school and is now a shipping clerk at the shoe warehouse in which Tom works. He is unwaveringly devoted to goals of professional achievement and ideals of personal success.
Post Category: Acting,Auditions,Theatre
January 15th, 2013 at 09:47pmbrian
We will be having auditions for Zastrozzi, a play by the Canadian playwright George F. Walker in early January 2013.
The play, set in the late 1800s, has all kinds of swordplay, revenge, sex, witty dialogue and banter. It is really fun and should be a blast to be a part of! Peter Hosking is directing.
We will have more details about the production shortly, but if you’re interested, please prepare a 1 minute monologue (can be contemporary or classical) and contact brian@pragueplayhouse.com to be placed on the mailing list for specific times and audition location.
Post Category: Auditions,Comedy,Theatre
December 26th, 2012 at 04:38pmbrian
The Winter Term of the Prague Playhouse Acting Studio will start January 7th. Classes run for 12 weeks (until March 27th). Please visit acting.cz for more details!
Post Category: Acting,Classes
December 26th, 2012 at 04:32pmbrian
We are very excited to bring you the final weekend of A Christmas Carol at Divadlo Inspirace. There are only a few seats left so make your reservation now by going to our online box office.
If we are no longer taking reservations for the show you want to go to, or you find you are able to come to the show last minute, then you should still come! It is quite common for several (5-10) reserved seats to become available at the last moment. So don’t be afraid! Come and ring in the Christmas spirit with us!
Photos by Gunther Doe || Perfect Pixel www.perfectpixel.cz
Post Category: Events,Theatre
December 12th, 2012 at 12:26ambrian
It’s Christmas time, and the Prague Playhouse is once again bringing you Charles Dickens’ timeless classic, A Christmas Carol. In what is fast becoming an annual family tradition, director Michael Pitthan offers a fresh retelling of this tale of Ebenezer Scrooge, who starts the play in greed and selfishness to find his humanity in the end. Pitthan explores the Scrooge in all of us: if Scrooge, the worst of us, can come out of the darkness to find redemption, can we not too come into the light?
Pitthan, a long-time member of the Prague Playhouse, has a background of work in the U.K. which was orientated towards a strong ensemble approach involving performers playing multiple characters. He brings music, dance and song together and invites the audience to actively participate.
(more…)
Post Category: Events,Theatre
November 18th, 2012 at 11:12pmbrian
The Prague Playhouse is looking for performers of all ages who can act, sing, or play music for its upcoming production of ‘A Christmas Carol‘ by Charles Dickens’. We would like to invite actors who can play music or musicians who would like to act to come and audition. The show will have strong elements of movement involved, but this does not mean that we are looking strictly for dancers.
The performances will run from December 5 – December 15.
The audition will be at the Prague Playhouse Acting Studio (Frantiska Krizka 1, 3rd floor, near Strossmyerovo Namesti) from 2-5pm.
Please come with a short monologue prepared of around 1-2 minutes but be ready to take direction and have it changed in various ways. We will want to hear you sing, so come with a short tune prepared. We would like to know if you can play an instrument too, from a basic level to virtuoso, we will not necessarily ask you to play, but if you like you can perform your song accompanying yourself.
We may also ask you to stick around for call backs the same day for some group work, but we will also have call backs over the next two days depending on demand. So don’t worry, we know it’s short notice and we will try to be accommodating and see everyone who is interested if possible.
We look forward to hearing from you.
Questions? Email abby.kraemer@gmail.com or phone 774 803 081.
Post Category: Auditions,Theatre
October 3rd, 2012 at 04:30pmbrian
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