How to date a feminist

HOW TO DATE A FEMINIST British playwright Samantha Ellis narrates the story (to a large degree autobiographical) of 30-something Kate, who is attracted exclusively to toxic men. Having met an avowed feminist, she decides to change her attitude and build a relationship based on equality. The author explores relations and gender equality in a non-dogmatic way as her contribution to the debate on modern feminism. To this end, she reformed the traditional ‘rom-com’ genre and created a ‘romantic comedy for the 21st century’ – that is a comedy about a relationship where the partners are equal. ‘I wrote the play How to Date a Feminist out of my frustration with the fact that while I’m a feminist at work and among my friends, once I fall in love, all my feminist beliefs instantly fall apart. I felt that my friends and I had only embraced feminism with our heads, not our hearts. Through How to Date a Feminist, I sought to understand why,’ says the playwright Samatha Ellis.

The actors impersonate three characters each, distinguishing among them with subtle yet sufficiently distinct means of expression: tension in the body, posture, expression and tone of voice. Director Ondruch does not stage the play as a pure fiction; rather, the changes in characters and scenes are shown on stage in a form resembling Brecht’s approach. A subtle and firm connection between the actors can be sensed behind the characters. Their mutual energy is sympathetic.
ADÉLE KALUSOVÁ, ČT Art

 Both actors are a joy to watch. (…) This is one of the best productions of the Ungelt Theatre.
JAN KERBR, Divadelní noviny

Barbora Poláková and Marek Adamczyk were a fortunate casting choice. They play together perfectly, and each character is precisely distinguished.
RADMILA HRDINOVÁ, Právo

Director Pavel Ondruch lets the merits of this parody on romantic comedy shine out fully. It is written with insight and understanding of the troubles with finding a partner in the current world, driven by stereotypes and inherited patterns, and refutes the myths about feminism still prevailing in mainstream society.
KATEŘINA KYKALOVÁ, Divadelní.net

PAVEL ONDRUCH (1984) completed studies of acting at JAMU and continued with directing and dramaturgy at DAMU. Milan Hein, the founder of the Ungelt Theatre, saw his graduation production and offered him a collaboration. He started with writing annotations and booklets for the theatre productions, but in 2016 he became Ungelt’s resident dramaturge and director, and since 2018, he is the artistic director of the theatre. In tandem with Milan Hein, he is involved in both the selection of plays and the casting. He directed the productions Egg Shell, The Hill, Dance Hours, Trestle, Japes, How to Date a Feminist, and others. As a director, he also collaborated with the Těšín Theatre, the Antonín Dvořák Theatre in Příbram, the East Bohemian Theatre in Pardubice, the Na Prádle Theatre in Prague, the Polárka Theatre in Brno and the Municipal Theatre in Most.

UNGELT THEATRE was founded by Milan Hein in 1995. From the outset, he conceived this chamber stage as a theatre focused on prime acting and plays for a maximum of three actors. Soon after founding the theatre, Hein invited actress Alena Vránová for collaboration, who helped to define Ungelt’s distinctive acting and directing style, based on minutiae of acting and a thorough reading of dramatic texts, in the production of Wild Spring, directed by Ladislav Smoček. Alena Vránová won the Thalia Award in 1997 for her role of Gertrude in Wild Spring. In the following years, this prestigious award for the best actress or actor went to the stars of Ungelt productions Marta Kubišová (Tell Me on a Sunday), Vilma Cibulková (Picasso) and Richard Krajčo (Rainy Days).