Theatre in Prague

The theatre scene in Prague is quite unique; it is a mix of old and new. I knew that I wanted to experience what the city had to offer in entertainment, so before we left California, I booked tickets for a modern black light theatre performance at the Image Theatre and for a puppet performance of Mozart's Don Giovanni at the National Marionette Theatre.

Monday night we saw the black light show. I had booked tickets for a show called Studio Clip about a man trying to make it in Hollywood.  However, when we stopped by the theatre to pick up our tickets, we realized that the show lineup had changed and we would be seeing was Afrikania. Afrikania, as you might imagine, featured people dressed as African animals dancing under black light. The show featured music, but very few words. I had read that black light theatre is good for tourists because all viewers can understand the actions of the performance. Alternating with the animal dance numbers was the comic relief: a story of a couple visiting a hotel in Africa named Afrikania.  The wife, unhappy with her husband, lavishes attention on the hotel desk man. Afrikania definitely was a different kind of theatre experience.

Afrikania

Tuesday night we walked in the cold a few blocks from the apartment we rented to the National Marionette Theatre. The opera Don Giovanni, written by Mozart, is about a cad who leads women on. In the end, he dies. The moral of the story is, "If you are a jerk, you die."  Good moral.

Mozart is greatly loved in Prague. He became famous there before gaining fame in Vienna.  In fact, the world premiere of Don Giovanni was held in Prague in 1787. Prague appreciated and supported him at a time when Vienna didn't.

I was expecting to see a traditional puppet show, but instead we saw something just a little bit different. The show started with a marionette of Mozart popping out of the orchestra looking a bit disheveled. He smoothed his hair, welcomed the audience, and began to conduct. The music was recorded; there was no live orchestra. Unlike ordinary marionette performances, the heads of the puppeteers of this performance could be seen at all times. Additionally, the puppeteers participated in the performance on occasion. At one point, a puppeteer dressed in black with gloves on climbed down from his perch to the front of the stage to collect his fallen puppet; the puppet had fallen because the action was called for in the opera.  The interaction between the puppeteers and the audience was often comical, as was the occasional appearance of Mozart as director. I wonder what Mozart would have thought of this depiction of him as a little unruly, a little drunk, and a little amorous. With the puppeteers as part of the show and with addition of Mozart as a character in his own opera, the National Marionette Theatre added humor to the opera.

Don Giovanni

Surprisingly, although this is my fourth trip to Prague, I hadn't seen any theatre. I had traveled alone for all of my previous trips to this city.  I suppose I didn't want to go to a show alone. This time, however, G was with me. I'm so glad he was here to share these experiences with.