A WHOLE LIFE IS NOT ENOUGH An old house in the foothills. The furnaces burn with a sacred flame. The bread rolls turn golden, the land awakens. It is springtime. Like the nature, amateur actors wake up as well. In Nová Paka. Where everyone knows that a whole life is not enough. Where life passes in a bakery. Where life passes on stage. On the day of the spring equinox, the furnaces suddenly go out. The power in the bakery is cut off. Nothing left to make but no-bake cakes. Even the prehistoric Neanderthals, connected with the spirit of nature, knew this. But where to find the secrets of the ancient recipes? Perhaps the souls of the long dead could help. A brand-new, uncompromisingly realistic comedy about the hard life of modern spiritualists hints to many authentic, deeply human stories, sparkled with traditional, smartly dark humour of people living in the foothills of the Giant Mountains. The play tells a highly topical story lovingly dedicated to the playwright’s favourite authors Alois Jirásek and Karel Jaromír Erben and, of course, to his beloved East Bohemia, because there is no other place like Nová Paka.
Levínský pretty soon takes off (...) the realistic foundation, quite reminiscent of a social drama, into unexpected pirouettes, nonchalantly spinning into dark comedy and totally wild exaggerations. Crazy sequences are interspersed with spiritualistic séances, which Frič directs with great ease and a sense of comic detail – the participants lean over the table and stare in amazement to the camera, which transmits the picture live on the projection screen. But the plot thickens, turning into a pulp fiction that leaves behind dead bodies and blood stains. (…) Simply put, in Bohemia and Moravia, no horror is so terrible there can’t be a happy ending, even if our improvisations go awry. True, we are somewhat fanatical and easily raise to the bait, but who cares. Levínský’s black grotesque will not make anyone sad, though. The production further confirms the ensembles’ apt interplay, as this is primarily a sitcom that relies on plot twists and precisely timed actors’ performances.
– JANA MACHALICKÁ, Lidové noviny
The production mixes a Tarantinoesque pulp fiction with the Czech animated classics Pat & Mat (The Clumsy Tinkers). (...) The tempo is uncharacteristically slow for the genre, but not sluggish. (...) Rather than piling up gags, Frič always leaves time for a random absurd joke (his signature trait) or a digression in the form of a serious discussion on a distant topic (which in turn is characteristic of Levínský). Timing is perfect, though, which is vital for this theatrical form. There is another thing worth mentioning: the reminder of the typical Czech trait (think of Havel, perhaps) of finding a noble moral justification for one’s actions, in which all the characters excel.
– VLADIMÍR MIKULKA, NaDivadlo
JAN FRIČ (1983) A sleeping member of the Society of Dr Krása. An unmistakable theatre personality of his generation. His production Vassa Zheleznova at the Estates Theatre was selected as the Production of the Year of 2021 in the Czech Theatre Critics’ Survey. Apart to directing, he was also involved in some productions as a co-writer (e.g. The Visit, New Stage, 2018) or set designer (e.g. Velvet Havel, Theatre on the Balustrade, 2014). He studied drama direction at DAMU in Prague under Jan Nebeský and Daria Ullrichová. He was an in-house director of the Drama Company of the National Theatre in Prague between 2017 and 2022. He collaborates with traditional theatres (such as the National Theatre in Brno, Klicpera Theatre in Hradec Králové, National Theatre of Moravia-Silesia and Dlouhá Theatre) as well as chamber and alternative scenes (A studio Rubín, Masopust, X10 Theatre, etc.). Frič creates original productions (e.g. BurnOut!, A studio Rubín, 2019), prepares stagings of contemporary drama (The Father Watches Over the Daughter, New Stage, 2022), and also consistently focuses on distinctive adaptations of classical drama (The Bacchae, Estates Theatre, 2023; Oedipus Rex, National Theatre, 2019; Faust, Estates Theatre, 2018, among others). At the beginning of the 2023/2024 season, he decided to interrupt his directing career for economic reasons.
KLICPERA THEATRE The theatre was founded in 1885 and the professional ensemble started its activity in 1949. The theatre achieved its greatest success in the period after 1995, when Vladimír Morávek served as the artistic director for ten years. Morávek elevated the Klicpera Theatre from regional to national prominence with provocative productions that disrupted the established stereotypes, novel stage adaptations of world classics and Czech realist plays, new actors in the ensemble, and a tightly structured dramaturgy. The subsequent artistic director, David Drábek (2008–2017), came with his peculiar approach characterised by exaggerated stylisation, hyperbole, and experimental grotesqueness. The current artistic director, Pavel Khek, has served in this capacity since the 2019/2020 season. The Klicpera Theatre has been voted Theatre of the Year four times in the prestigious Alfréd Radok Foundation Awards. It is also the main organiser of the annual REGIONS International Theatre Festival (formerly the Theatre of European Regions Festival) and the Waiting for Václav festival.
