After 10 years, the company returns to the gardens of Kratochvíle Castle. The theme of the upcoming production, which, as in previous years, has been created specifically and exclusively for this venue, is one of the fundamental ideological debates of Western civilization – the concept of utopia and dystopia. The question of how and whether it is possible to organize human society in an ideal and just manner has permeated the history of Western civilization since its inception.
The initial inspiration for the production In the Circle was the model of Kratochvíle Castle, whose space corresponds to the Renaissance idea of a utopian model, a kind of oasis – a paraphrase of a carefree (kratochvilný) paradise garden surrounded by walls in the middle of a wild landscape and the chaos of human bustle. In the upcoming production, this utopian model is confronted with images of contemporary European society and current questions about its direction.
„The nearly two-hour production will take place exclusively on the surface of a 400-meter-long water canal surrounding the Renaissance villa. For this purpose, special structures are being built on the water to allow viewers to watch the theatrical action taking place on the surface and at the bottom of the moat,“ explains Pavel Štourač, the ensemble’s artistic director.
Audiences can also expect the unique visual poetics of Continuum, which made the ensemble famous and which developed at Kratochvíle between 1997 and 2006 as part of the Kratochvílení project and subsequently over the next ten years, when the ensemble worked in unconventional non-theatrical spaces.
