Projects

The aim of the project DIALOGUES ON ESCAPE is to challenge negative perceptions of immigrants among majority society, through the use of theatre as an original and strong means of communication.  

Junior and secondary school students in particular form a group whose opinions and prejudices are just developing and where it is possible to change and shape their attitudes towards questions surrounding racism and immigration.

The main aim of the theatre project is to change attitudes and to remove prejudices regarding immigrants and those with different cultural traditions among junior and secondary school students and, through this, wider society. We believe that the project will lead to an improved awareness among the target group on the given problems and provide young people with an emotional experience which will shape or change their attitudes towards people who have come to look for a new life in Czech Republic.

Theatre performance Dance through the fence



Supported by a grant from Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway through the EEA Financial Mechanism and the Norwegian Financial Mechanism intermediated by the Civil Society Development Foundation (NROS).

                        

With the support of:

Created as part of Archa Theatre’s long-term project Dialogues on Escape, Dance through the fence records various phases of the life of a refugee: actors and dancers interpret the authentic accounts of people with uncertain fates, people who are looking for a new life.

Dance through the Fence is a theatrical mosaic which, on the basis of long-term co-operation between professional artists and asylum seekers, tells the authentic stories of Chechen, Burmese, Georgian and Kurdish refugees.

Before each performance, the audience were able to join in creative activities, based on creative work undertaken in refugee camps and led by Radka Dohnalová.

Dance through the fence was also be accompanied by an exhibition in the theatre foyer, presenting photographs from David Kummerman, video-installation from Nadim Mohamed and creative work from the residents of refugee camps at Bělá pod Bezdězem and Přílepy.

Theatre incorporating video-projection, live music and physical theatre. In Czech, with explanatory texts in English. No language barrier rate: 50%

Concept and Direction: Jana Svobodová
Written by: Hana Androniková
Music: Michael Romanyshyn
Featuring: Eva Hromníková, Daniel Raček, Petra Lustigová, Philip Schenker, Jing Lu, Jan Březina, Gugar Manukjan, Abdulrahman Kasem

All Star Refugee Band: Gugar Manukjan (accordian), Abdulrahman Kasem (oud, singing), Jan Středa (trumpet), Adam Koller (drums), Michael Romanyshyn (clarinet), Jindřich Krippner (clarinet, saxophone)

Download songs created for the performance by the Allstar Refugee Band!

On film: Jan Budař, Jan Kraus, Václav Moravec, Jiří František Potužník

Production: Pavlína Kalandrová, Jindřich Krippner
Technical co-operation: Vladimír Hubička
Photography: David Kummerman
Documentary film: Jan Šípek
Graphic design: Adam Uchytil

Premiere: 11th of March 2008 at 8pm at Archa Theatre

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FROM THE PRESS

“The performance takes place throughout the entire space of the Archa Theatre. The audience follows a trail from one stage to the next, each with a different story. A major part of the show is the ‘klezmer’ orchestra led by the USA’s Michael Romanyshyn. Jing Lu from China as a bizarre singer of shrill Chinese tango is irresistible.”
Nina Vangeli, Hospodářské noviny

“With this project Archa Theatre has crossed the boundary of pure artistic theatre towards social and documentary drama. It is a worthwhile and important theatrical enterprise.”
Vladimír Hulec, Reflex/exonline

Thank you. Dance Through the Fence was one of the most powerful theatre experiences of my life and I mean that in the most positive sense of the word.
Audience response on www.myspace.com/allstarrefjudziband

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We would like to thank: The Refugee Facility Administration of the Ministry of The Interior of the Czech Republic and Czech Television.

The premiere of the project was presented as part of the One World festival.

Supported by a grant from Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway through the EEA Financial Mechanism and the Norwegian Financial Mechanism intermediated by the Civil Society Development Foundation (NROS).

         

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INTERVIEW WITH JANA SVOBODOVÁ ABOUT THE PROJECT DANCE THROUGH THE FENCE

The director Jana Svobodová is working on what is now her third performance where professional performers come together with refugees who are looking for a new home in Czech Republic. The first big project,  At 11.20 I Will Be Leaving You, took audiences into refugee camps, the second project Strange Neighbour was created in the administrative building Danube House in Prague’s Karlín district. This time, however, Dance Through The Fence, is staying in the theatre, although it is far from being an ordinary performance….

In what ways is the current project different from the ones which have gone before?

I will start with what they have in common. All the projects carry the message that we no longer, and will not in the future, live in a culturally homogenous society.

And it what way is it different? In the previous performances, immigrants have appeared on stage alongside professional actors, musicians and dancers. We tried to create the conditions, in a theatrical context, where everyone had an equal position. We looked for a general life situation which everyone had experienced and on which it was possible to build an emotional consonance between the audience and refugees from Chechnya, Tatarstan, Burma, Angola and other countries.

This time we are telling the authentic stories of Khupi, Gugar, Marina and Kasem. These people are of course not just the subjects of the narration, but also active participants. They are the authors, dramaturges, consultants and often even the directors of their own stories. The positions have been divided differently. The actors are in the role of intermediary of the stories.

How did you choose the right intermediaries?

I chose awfully carefully and spent a long time looking. Even if someone is an outstanding actor, that doesn’t necessarily mean that he or she has a capacity for social sensitivity. In a certain way the phrase “leave your ego at home” is very apt here. The performance is not about them, but about someone else. I looked very carefully for actors, dancers and performers who have experience from work outside the theatre. Petra Lustigová, for example, works in hospitals as a clown doctor. That requires a very similar approach. A person must use his or her talent to accomplish something other than the presentation of “high art” to the audience.

In the end we put together an interesting team, including some people who we had worked with before (Eva Hromníková, Petra Lustigová, Jing Lu). I knew Philip Schenker from previous work in independent theatre here and abroad. The team also includes the dancers Daniel Raček  and Honza Březina.

Did a very close relationship have to develop between the performer and the immigrant beforehand?

This sort of project is always a risk. It was not a given that Daniel Raček would be able to empathise with the Kurdish refugee Kasem. First of all I explained everything to him, and then we went to meet Kasem in the refugee camp. At that point, it became clear to me that Daniel was the right person. Not to boast, but I wasn’t wrong in a single case. But the search took me six months.

Another member of our team is Michael Romanyshyn, our band leader. Michael, who was trained in Peter Schumann’s Bread and Puppet theatre, knows how to create a band from people of various levels of accomplishment on musical instruments. In his band, virtuosos like the jazz trumpeter Dave Douglas play alongside farmers, who had scarcely held a musical instrument beforehand. I don’t know anyone like that in Czech Republic. I wanted all the participants of our performance to play in the band, and Michael created a system in which everyone could find their place in the orchestra. I see this as the basic principle of the whole performance. Each individual contributes what they can and doesn’t just flaunt what he or she is best at.

Did any cultural differences come to light during the rehearsals?

It is cultural differences that we are generally looking at. During rehearsals, however, personal characteristics, experiences, cultural habits were all mixed in together. So I can’t really differentiate. I don’t know if it is a Chinese national characteristic, but rehearsing with Jing Lu can sometimes be very difficult. Either she is embarrassed or she giggles. On the stage, however, she is fantastic. If I had to judge what Kurds are like from what I know of Kasem, I would say extraordinarily careful and sensitive people. Up the moment when, in creative fervour during improvisation, he nearly injured his partner.

The important thing is that we created a safe environment during our work, where each person can openly give their opinion. When, for example, we talk about Islam, it is possible to go wrong. Therefore it’s good to have someone who will say “hang on, it’s not like that at all”

What about being a refugee in itself? Have you personally ever thought about fleeing your country?

That’s a good question. Perhaps it would be easiest to say no. But I openly admit that when I first travelled to the US in 1988, I thought about it. I had been invited there by the Bread and Puppet theatre. I longed to stay and do more work with them, but at the same time I knew that I wasn’t allowed. That knowledge was awfully traumatic for me. I said to myself that, if I hadn’t had a daughter, who the regime was holding hostage here at home, then I would have stayed. Perhaps it is a good thing that I didn’t actually do it in the end, and found my own path. In any case, though, it was a real temptation for me.

I am doing this work because I want to say: Don’t look down your nose at immigrants. Because you never know if, in a few years time, you couldn’t be in the same situation. We can’t be so confident and conceited to think that it couldn’t happen to us and that bad things happen far away to the east and south of us.

The Archa Theatre in cooperation with the Administration of Refugee Facilities presented the theatrical project AT 11.20 I WILL BE LEAVING YOU! It was a component of the government campaign against racism for 2005.

AT 11.20 I WILL BE LEAVING YOU!  arose from a series of smaller performances that were presented under the title Quest for a Dream which took place at various refugee camps throughout the Czech Republic and at the Archa Theatre in the spring of 2005. Spectator and professional response to these performances proved that the style developed by the artists for the presentations was effective. A large scale project was built upon this foundation.

The objective of AT 11.20 I WILL BE LEAVING YOU!  was to present refugees as accomplished creative personalities and bring the attention of the media to the issue of refugees in order to confront and transform the prejudices held by the majority of Czechs. The project stems from experiences gained from long-term theatre work in refugee camps in cooperation with the Administration of Refugee Facilities in the Ministry of Interior, Czech Republic.
 
The goal of the project was to create a dramatic performance at the Bělá pod Bezdězem – Jezová refugee camp and present it to the community.  From the beginning the project actively drew refugees into the creative process of staging a theatrical show. Working together, professional artists and asylum-seekers developed a new artistic form that could be described as “social-specific”. This form uses theatre as a strong instrument of communication and  means of exposing obstacles to tolerance and understanding between the ethnic minorities and majorities in the Czech Republic.
 
The performance had the benefit of mixing languages and various ethnic musical elements. The concept and direction of the piece proceeded from the specific local and architectural elements of the camp, the abilities of those involved, and above all the stories of the people who have left their old homes and have yet to find new ones.

The presentation AT 11.20 I WILL BE LEAVING YOU!  drew audiences from the towns surrounding the camp as well as the larger cities of Central Bohemia (Mladá Boleslav, Liberec, Jablonec, Ústí nad Labem) and Prague.

Location:  Bělá pod Bezdězem – Jezová Residence Centre

Author: Jana Svobodová
Creative team: artists from the Archa Theatre and refugees from the Bělá pod Bezdězem – Jezová Residence Centre.

It started with a short text message on a cell phone: “At 11:20am I will be leaving you!” How easy it is these days to make an announcement! What type of consequences can this short sentence have?
For more than two years we have been going to refugee camps with the idea of a performing. Where could we find a common theme? How could we connect so many diverse stories? From my conversations with people who decided to seek asylum in our country, it became clear that the most painful aspect of leaving their homes was the loss of their loved ones. There are women here whose husbands vanished in war. There are men here who left their families and are now trying to get in touch with them. There are men here who had to leave their lovers so quickly that they could not even say goodbye. There are children here who have never seen their fathers. There are families here so torn from the network of relatives (grandparents, uncles, aunts, and cousins) that makes life easier in their company.
And it only took an instant. Pack a couple things and head off.
We all long for journeys. We all know that familiar longing to head off in the direction of the setting sun.
Most of the refugees actually did head west into the setting sun. Of course it was not a romantic notion that sent them on their way. Their reasons were much more prosaic. War raging in some places; dictatorships in other places. Poverty afflicting countries while natural catastrophes ravage others. Then there are countries with all of these problems occurring at once.

Tales of people on journeys are always exciting. Tales of people standing still are forgettable. Here we are with those who are standing and waiting. They requested asylum in this country and they believe that it will be possible for them to live here. Some wait months, others years. Their children speak Czech and slowly are forgetting their mother tongue. I am convinced that theatre can play an important role here. A theatre performance is an act of coming together. In our case it is not only the coming together of actors on stage, but above all the coming together of cultures. Many of the actors in today’s show have never acted in a play, have never held a European musical instrument in their hands, have never sang and danced in public. Often they did not even know they had these talents. All of the sudden there is the opportunity for them to prove that they can do something. Our theatre performance is proof that together we can accomplish something. That is still worth something in this country.
Jana Svobodová, director of the performance
 
When they hear the word theatre, immediately most people will always imagine a great hall on the square (or on the riverbank), where they can spend an evening with elegantly dressed people and while away the time observing the actors who are on the stage performing some dramatic piece. That 19th century tradition of city theatre is so powerful it persists even today. Throughout the world, and also here, we can discover theatre cultures that have different roots than those of the so-called marble theatres. A building is not always necessary for theatre. It does not always have to be played on a stage.

Theatre can take many forms. The one basis however is community. Theatre arises from the communication between the audience and the actors, dancers, singers, which is immediate, it is reciprocal and occurs in one single moment. Dramatic art stems from collective work. Its weakness, but also its strength and power, result from this.
The Archa Theatre has one of the best-equipped theatre halls in Europe. In 2002 the flood that hit Prague destroyed it. It took more than a year before we could—with enormous effort—restore it to its original state. Paradoxically, it was during this work that we realized that Archa Theatre is not only a space under Na Pořičí street in Prague. Archa Theatre is above all a mission.

The theatre is a place for unusual encounters. One such encounter is meeting with people who find themselves at a critical point in their lives. People who have wound up in a refugee camp and are waiting to receive asylum, this is clearly the situation they are in. The long wait saps their strength and their social habits. Cooperation on a theatrical performance gives returns their self-confidence in their own talent.

In today’s electronic age of intermediated information we believe that theatre has, thanks to its immediacy, a huge importance. A theatrical performance is indeed unrepeatable. No theatre performance can be played identically again. It is impossible to rewind and replay it like a film. Theatre occurs only here and now. The miracle of it lies in its ephemerality.

Already during the preparations for our performance there were a great deal of these unrepeatable experiences: the initial meeting full of both mistrust and expectation, the interaction between hip hop musicians and a deaf child, the collaboration between academy trained composers and musicians who cannot read a note. These are just three examples of the fragile moments that engendered this shared work.

I would like to thank the Administration of Refugee Facilities for providing us with the opportunity to experience these moments. I believe that this is just the beginning of our work together.
I am proud that our performance became a part of the project Together Against Racism.
Ondřej Hrab, Director of Archa Theatre

Premiere: 6th of October 2005

This project was also accompanied by the documentary film, AT 11:20 I WILL BE LEAVING YOU! from filmmaker Pavel Koutecký. He documented the preparation for the show as well as the fates of individual refugees including Kumba from Angola and Khupi from Burma, who participated in the performance. It was premiered at Archa Theatre on 23 February 2006.

From the Press:

A Heart Over the Refugee Camp--Prague’s Archa Theatre goes out among people who await their fate
Tyden, October 31st 2005

Photos by Tomáš Vodňanský and Jiří Volek:

In April 2005 Archa Theatre participated in the worldwide celebration of the bicentenary of Hans Christian Andersen. The theatre announced a thematic cycle inspired by Andersen’s life and works Andersen. In one of these performances, A Child in Her Mind, the directing duo Skutr invited the then pregnant actor, dancer and choreographer Adéla Laštovková Stodolová and the Polish actress, puppeteer and new mother Paulina Dymalska to cooperate in the performance.

Few things are as momentous as a girl’s metamorphosis into a mother. She eats all the time, is moody, can’t smoke, can’t knock a few back. We would rather see her sit at home and be careful, for god’s sake! She has lots of dreams and unforgettable experiences. She has an awkward body, nothing fits, and she doesn’t feel sexy at all. We offer you a glimpse into the mysterious world of two girls — in a performance about where fantasy ends and reality begins. What it’s like when the whole fits into one round belly.

The limited series of documentary performances about the child in an adult’s body was livened up with discussions.

The project was made possible by the Vyšegrad fund and was presented at the Dance Platform festival.

Direction:  (Martin Kukučka, Lukáš Trpišovský).
Stage Design: Jakub Kopecký
Costumes: Daniela Klimešová
Music: Petr Kaláb Percussion: Jakub Kopecký
Featuring: Adéla Laštovková Stodolová (ČR) and Paulina Dymalska (PL)

Premiere: 23rd of Apríl 2005

photos by Hynek Glos:

Site-specific project as a part of the Government campaign Together Against Racism

The theatrical performance Strange Neighbour builds loosely on Archa Theatre’s project “At 11.20 I Will Be Leaving You!”, which played with huge success at the Bělá pod Bezdězem refugee camp, and was watched by almost 1600 people in total. In contrast to this project, which offered ordinary spectators the opportunity to enter the refugee camp and tried to portray refugees as talented and creative personalities, Strange Neighbour aimed to uncover the fates of a few specific individuals as they gradually integrate into the reality of life in the Czech Republic.

What experiences do those refugees who are granted asylum and are now trying to become our neighbours go through? What must they give up, how must they adapt, and how do we have to adapt so that we no longer refer to them as ‘strange neighbours’?
 
The show was the product of close collaboration between professional artists, asylum-seekers and performers from the hip-hop scene. The real-life stories of refugees Marina, Gugar, Jing-Lu and Khuppi were brought to life through superb music, in which Gugar’s Armenian accordion, Cossiga’s singing and beat box and Dowis’ rap all intermingled. The show was also visually powerful - Director Jana Svobodová engaged the German stage-designer and multimedia artist Dominik Rinnhofer, who had previously collaborated with, among others, the world-renowned Canadian Director Robert Lepage.
 
The location of the performance, the super-modern administrative building Danube House in Prague’s Karlín district, also played a significant role in the show. With its futuristic environment, unencumbered with tradition and prejudice, it acted as a catalyst, bringing together businessmen, refugees, theatregoers and ordinary spectators.

Concept and direction: Jana Svobodová
Music: Ivan Acher and Michal Nejtek
Sociological collaboration and audiovisual effects: Ivo Bystřičan
Starring: Petra Lustigová, Marina Ekazeva Movlakchan, Štěpanka Glogarová, Jing Lu, Cossiga, Khupi, Dowis, and Josef Rosen.

Developed in Archa Theatre’s Archa.lab

The performances took place as part of the Czech government campaign United Against Racism and in cooperation with the Administration of Refugee Facilities

We would like to thank Europolis Real Estate Asset Management s.r.o. for their support.

From the Press:

Strange Neighbour: The world of refugees in Czech Republic.
Pražský deník - Hana Válková, September 25th 2006

A glimpse of the future
The Prague Post - Steffen Silvis, September 20th 2006

SKUTR and Rost’a Novák present a one man show of puppetry and acrobatics from a descendant of the most famous family in Czech puppetry and circus.

We admit it’s great being a performer. Being a performer while also being the child of performers is a bit complicated though. What about being the child of a child of such children? Rosťa Novák is the 8th generation descendant of the puppeteer Matěj Kopecký. This is what the show is about: about tradition and contemporary life, about this world and ours, about history and modernity, about solidarity of family and friends, about physical experience and communal enjoyment…

Starring: Rosťa Novák.
Special guests: trampoline, Faust, Mephistopheles, Punch, carousels, candy, caravan, and family
Directed by: (Martin Kukučka, Lukáš Trpišovský).
Kinetic cooperation: Martin Vraný
Stage: Lukáš Kuchinka
Costumes: Daniela Klimešová
Music: Petr Kaláb.
Video sequence: Silencio
Light design: Adam Uzelac, Lukáš Kuchinka

Developed in Archa Theatre’s Archa.lab

Premiere: 19th of April 2006

VIDEO.....

Physical theatre, acrobacy, dance, puppetry & some spoken Czech. No language barrier rate: 60%

From the press:

"8 Birds Black and Tits Great, directed by those twin Skutr geniuses, Martin Kukučka and Lukáš Trpišovský, is a lone-actor piece that serves as both an artist‘s statement and a history of [Novak‘s] tribe. It‘s a multimedia, multidisciplined work that weaves puppetry, fi lm, acrobatics and stage acting together. It‘s a circus of one, missing only the sawdust."
     Steffen Silvis, The Prague Post, June 21-27, 2006

"Like Novák himself, 8 Birds Black and Tits Great is a meeting place of the past and present. It’s also a promise for the future. Novák is nothing if not an engaging performer, whose dedication to his craft — or crafts — should put less serious performers to shame. He’s a dynamic stage presence who is never in the limelight to serve himself. Though a one-man show, 8 is much more than a showcase for a young performer’s talents, as Rosťa Novák contains something much greater than himself: An entire world lives inside his performance."
     Steffen Silvis, The Prague Post, June 21–27, 2006

"The new piece by SKUTR and Rostislav Novák could well be the performance of the year."
     Tereza Spáčilová, Instinkt, April 13 2006

Saga of the Kopecký dynasty: Timeless play-acting
Lidové noviny – Jana Machalická  May 5th 2006

A stage poem on one man and six people who together experience a strange encounter.

New authorial project created in Archa Theatre’s Archa.lab, as part of the thematic cycle “Tradition – Convention - Instinct”.

The weep-songs are traditional Slavic songs for the dead. This tradition is the loose inspiration for the new production, which confronts the old world of our great-grandfathers with contemporary central-European life. Do will still carry the roots of our old traditions within us, and can we manage to uncover them? The new project combines physical theatre and traditional Slavic songs.

Premiere of a new authorial project created in Archa Theatre’s Archa.lab, as part of the thematic cycle “Tradition – Convention - Instinct”.

Directed by:  (Martin Kukučka/Lukáš Trpišovský)

Featuring: Dora Bouzková, Zuzana Stavná, Adéla Laštovková Stodolová, Rosťa Novák, Jakub Prachař, Josef Rosen, Matija Solce

A physical and musical performance. No language barrier rate: 70%

From the press:

“They use the phraseology of physical theatre and the setting guarantees rhythm, tempo and energy. But they wouldn’t be SKUTR if they didn’t bring in winning humour, playfulness and hyperbole…”
     Jana Machalická, Lidové Noviny, 26/09/07

“Just as with all SKUTR’s projects, it is truly synthetic theatre, combining physical theatre, spoken word and singing…………real laboratory work of stage miracles, which is of course founded on the outstanding technical preparation of the actors-performers. When watching the performance you can create your own story, but all that is required is to simply immerse oneself in this scenic poem and relish its atmosphere. In both cases, it is well worth it!”
     Jana Soprová, Scena.cz, 23/09/07

Original project created by director Jana Svobodová’s team of stars from the Czech hip hop scene, such as Dowis, Cossiga, Rosen, as well as Chinese actress Lu Jing and composer Michal Nejtek.

During the day Martin does maintenance for an apartment block; at night he spray-paints the metro. Petr wants to dance but does not know how. Richard yearns to sing, but lost his voice. How do you earn appreciation and respect? How do you find your own gift? Is it possible to become an artist without an artistic education?

In DREAMING.ANDERSEN the stories of artists from the street confront the story of Hans Christian Andersen whose road to fame was lined with failure, disappointment, humiliation and ridicule. Here we have the matchstick girl—a Chinese girl who seeks her dream in Prague. We also have a composer who creates music from every sound he hears. And above them all hovers the spirit of the famous writer, whose fate kept him from becoming a dancer, a poet, or a singer and who took so many years to find his true talent.

As the celebrations for Andersen’s bicentennial are ending, what can we take away from it?

DREAMING.ANDERSEN was written and created by Jana Svobodova’s artistic team composed of Czech Hip-Hoppers, a Chinese actress, and a composer.

Concept and Direction: Jana Svobodová.
Directing and scenography cooperation: Dowis and Cossiga
Music: Michal Nejtek.
Featuring: Dowis, Cossiga, Rosen, Jing Lu and Michal Nejtek.

Premiere: 18th of March 2006

VIDEO

DREAMING.ANDERSEN was presented in autumn 2006 at the European Dream festival in New York.

Theatre combining rap, hip-hop, shadow theatre, movement and visual effects. No language barrier rate: 60%

From the press:

"The clever Czech title SenAnderSen (sen = dream) is not easily translated. But this search for artistic meaning through the work of Hans Christian Andersen is readily understandable. Five artists struggling to fi nd their artistic voices discover inspiration in Andersen’s writings and his life. Created to mark the recent Andersen bicentennial, this is a dream of music, movement and magic lanterns, with some imaginative takes on The Ugly Duckling and The Little Matchgirl. The final image in the piece will take your breath away."
     Prague Post, June 21, 2006

"A Contemporary Quest for a Dream Inspired by Andersen. A wealth of original ideas fi ll the show. The show revolves around shadow-play, hip-hop and beat-boxing, modern technology, and also humorous situations."
     MF Dnes, 21. 3. 2006

"Chinese actress Lu Jing provides the extremely modern play with a hint of naivite and flavors of the orient. Humorous and absurd scenes balance the melancholic mood. DREAMING.ANDERSEN – this is hip-hop theatre from Archa."
     Kateřina Červenková, Musicserver.cz

The Prague Post: 21st June 2006
Picks: DREAMING ANDERSEN

Modern quest for a dream inspired by Andersen
Mlada Fronta Dnes: 21st March 2006

Four “chatters” meet for a moment in an Internet chat room. What type of people enter this virtual world, and why?

Script and direction: SKUTR.

Online chat: this is my screen-name!.. this is my nickname!.. who am I?..and who are you?..why are you here?..are we here at this moment?.. J…

A physical show that translates internet communication’s pixels into beautiful and brutal acrobatics.

Four "chatters" meet for a moment in a chatroom. Each of them has their own reason to be on-line. Our first chatter seeks a lover. The second guy enjoys exposing the weaknesses of others. The third chatress will provide you with a complete psychoanalysis, even when you don’t want one. And the fourth, she just wants to play, nothing personal… nothing personal!!!
Thanks to virtual reality, all of them reveal a piece of themselves. What’s chat and what’s reality? What is real today?

What type of people enter the online world, and why? Can online communication affect our real lives? Chatting urges us toward self-reflection and self-projection. How well do we self-project and how deeply do we self-reflect? Let’s just follow these four “chatters”…

Created as part of Archa Theatre’s contemporary thematic cycle "Chat" and with the support of the City of Prague.

Concept, script and direction: (Martin Kukučka, Lukáš Trpišovský)
Stage: Jakub Kopecký
Costumes: Daniela Klimešová
Music and soundscape: Petr Kaláb.
Animation: Aleš Baumgartner.
Featuring: Dora Bouzková / Zuzana Stavná, Adéla Stodolová, Rostislav Novák, Josef Rosen

Premiere: 14th October 2004

Nickname has been presented at the festivals:
ZLOMVAZ 2004 (Prague), ČINOHERNÍ AUTORSKÁ DÍLNA 2005 (Ústí nad Labem), BELEF Festival 2005 (Belgrade), SIRENOS Festival 2005 (Vilnius), Week of Czech Culture Festival (Bucharest) 2006

Physical theatre, some spoken Czech. No language barrier rate: 50%

From the Press:

"Perfect light design followed by precisely used, well timed, exact digital animation, sharp techno-music, strong and harsh physical acting are the qualities that Skutr´s show is based on. With regard to topic and technology, it is one of the most up to date shows of contemporary Czech theatre."
     Vladimír Hulec, Time In Prague, November 2004

"Martin Kukučka and Lukáš Trpišovský (Skutr) are a truly original duo for the themes and research they transfer to the stage, and for the form given to these themes. They are young, confi dent and authentic. They mature like wine and they are not afraid of exploring disturbing problems and cutting to the quick".
     Iva Volánková, World and Theatre (Svět a divadlo), June 2004

An on-line theatre performance for four players.

"A wonderful textbook of 'chatting' for the uninitiated, as well as a fun show for those who already have a handle on it. And all of it accompanied by the rhythms of beatboxers Freaky Jesus and Cossiga." Instinkt, 8.9.2006

An Archa Theatre project which looks at the pitfalls of modern communication. Internet communication seems to be an easier, more effective and more fun way of meeting people than direct human contact. Is this really the case? Aren't these so-called communication technologies just cleverly planted traps?

Chat is a virtual form of conversation, in which two or more people communicate with each over the Internet. The people don't have to know each other and can even each be sitting at computers located at opposite ends of the globe. They do not use their real names, but use an alias, which is called a nick. Their hidden identity allows them to create a whole new persona. They become characters in a communication game. As characters, they can meet in virtual "rooms". They can "talk" together about loneliness, or "go" to an adjoining room, where they "whisper". The discussion can be general chitchat or related to a specific topic.

In our performance, a manager in an advertising agency meets a nurse on the Chat over the course of four nights. Within a short time, they find out that what brought them together in this virtual meeting, in addition to loneliness, is a passion for games. Each of them creates several virtual characters, into which they project their hidden hopes, dreams and passions. This adventurous and potentially wounding virtual meeting creates an urgent desire for them to meet in the real world. Is there an end to the game? Is it possible that their game can have a happy end?

The story is prepared in the stylized language of Internet communication. This language has its own vocabulary, special grammar and, in addition to new words, is also based on symbols and graphic illustrations. The whole performance is a type of theatrical comics full of surprising twists, transformations, technological plays, fun and outright sentimentality. The rhythm of the performance has been set to the beatbox music of Freaky Jesus and Cossiga.

This performance was created with the support of a grant by the City of Prague and was part of Archa Theatre's "Chat" cycle for the 2003/2004 season.

Direction: Jana Svobodová
Theme: Nina Rutová
Script: Mazda
Costumes: Pavlína Michálková
Computer graphics and rap: Dowis
Featuring: Vladimíra Krčková or Petra Oswaldová, Rostislav Novák, Freaky Jesus (Michal Nedvěd), Cossiga (Jaroslav Vanický) and  Dowis (Aleš Jindra).

Premiere: 16th of December 2003

Chat – Dangerously Easy Liaison has been presented at theatre festivals in Cardiff, Tokyo and Vienna.

VIDEO

Theatre combining rap, hip-hop, movement and visual effects. No language barrier rate: 50%

From the Press:

“The basis of the visually and technologically ambitious, although at the same time intimate, project is the world of chatting (chat – communication in the virtual net environment). He who is not familiar with the world of the Internet does not have to be afraid of the performance under its techno-sheen, there is a typical story about the desire to fi nd kindred spirits… A good tip on where to take your internet acquaintance for the first date.”
     Tomas Pospiszyl, Tyden, January 5, 2004

“This combination of projected images and outstanding live acting is incredibly interesting and produces a specifi c feature of the presentation. All of this together creates an unrepeatable stage expression that engages every member of the audience. The expressive means of this piece of alternative art give us a peek into the destructive process caused by digital capitalism.“
     Jiro Inoue, Engiki Book Theatre Magazine, Tokyo, September 2005

Chat receives a glowing--and somewhat Marxist--review for its Japanese performances!
November 21st 2005

Dangerously easy relations at Archa
Atlas.cz - Michaela Trochová,  24th March 2004

The best genius is a dead genius. We invite you into the company of dreamers, whose dreams…are sometimes somewhere realized.

Described by Lidové Noviny’s Jana Machalická as “Poetry on the stage”, SKUTR’s highly physical “Understand” utilizes, dance, acrobatics, acting, audience interaction, a live percussionist, and stunning visual metaphors to invite us into the world of four children and their dreams. Understand is a highly physical and magical performance which balances precariously on the tightrope between tragedy and comedy. The work and fate of Hans Christian Andersen inspired the creators of this piece but Understand is neither a dramatization of any of Andersen’s tales nor a theatrical biography of his life. The show deals with dreamers, lunatics, and neurotics, people like Andersen himself. Four characters simultaneously seek a way to fulfill their longings for flight, for self-realization, for a home, for a partner. Understand was created by the successful team behind the show Nickname and is a contribution to Archa’s Season of Andersen.

Performance created with the support of the City of Prague.

Directed by: (Martin Kukučka, Lukáš Trpišovský)
Acting: Dora Bouzková / Zuzana Stavná, Adéla Laštovková Stodolová, Rostislav Novák, Josef Rosen.
Stage design: Jakub Kopecký
Costumes: Daniela Klimešová
Music: Petr Kaláb
Production: Helena Rousová and Jiří Sulženko
Percussion: Jakub Kopecký

Premiere: 29th of October 2005 

Understand was presented at the international DIVADLO 2006 festival in Plzeň.

Crossover theatre, combining physical theatre, acrobacy, dance and some spoken Czech. No language barrier rate: 60%

From the press:

“A magical, poetic tribute to imagination and playfulness.”
     Jana Machalická, Lidové Noviny, November 2005

“SKUTR, aka the directing duo of the young DAMU graduates Lukáš Trpišovský and Martin Kukučka, is already an established theatrical mark. It works fl awlessly in connection with Prague’s Archa.”
     Kateřina Kolářová, Reflex, November 2005

“It’s heartwarming that the youngest generation of directors is interested in something so “uncool” as composing a poem on stage. In addition to this Skutr specifi cally utilizes the desired “multi-genre” and endows it with their own sense.
     Jana Machalická, Lidové Noviny, November 2005

“It is a short gripping poetic performance that perfectly evokes a child’s perspective: everything here serves the play, and the play is a serious thing. This school of strict and exact poetic vision, which has formed around the faculty of alternative acting, is bearing remarkable fruit.
     Olga Walló, idnes.cz

Dreams and fools according to Andersen
Lidové noviny – Jana Machalická,  November 3rd 2005