RIGHT YOU ARE (IF YOU THINK YOU ARE) Truth is multifaceted: it can be absolute, relative, partial, complete, cruel, general, great... And everyone has their own. A comedy about getting lost in the search for our own – often marginal – truth while overlooking what really matters. Yet, the E = mc² equation still holds true. The play by Luigi Pirandello, one of Italy’s greatest playwrights and a Nobel laureate in Literature, is part of his trilogy ‘theatre-in-the-theatre’ (also including later plays Six Characters in Search of an Author and Tonight We Improvise). Director Michal Vajdička approached his proven team of artists and long-time collaborators of the Dejvice Theatre for the production, which brings him back to this theatre after six years. ‘We are indeed aware that in these times infested with various conspiracy theories, where even the E = mc2 equation no longer applies and the Earth flattens, Pirandello’s comedy Right You Are (If You Think You Are) could, on the surface, be interpreted as a defence of everybody’s right to voice any opinion. Therefore, our interpretation emphasises the concept of conspiracy as an instrument for dividing society and deflecting their attention from more substantial and important issues.’ says the director.
A theme included in the plot by the director and skilfully intertwined with the author’s ideas resonates quite intriguingly in this new production. The underlying message is that, nowadays, people are so overwhelmed with nonsense, petty disputes, and trivialities that they are incapable of ever noticing the real danger at hand – and then can’t help but wonder where it all went wrong.
– JANA MACHALICKÁ, Lidové noviny
The play, which is loaded with dialogues and arguments and populated by a large number of characters, is a perfect fit for the well-established Dejvice ensemble. The actors play their roles as clearly fleshed-out and easily understandable characters, yet they manage to avoid turning the performance into a needless parody. The unrevealed secret and constant guesswork help Vajdička keep the audience on their toes right until the end.
– TOMÁŠ ŠŤÁSTKA, MF Dnes
The play, Right You Are (If You Think You Are), is a new, audience-friendly piece in the Dejvice Theatre repertoire that is sure to entertain and more thanks to a dense Sicilian atmosphere. For attentive audiences, the production also offers a contemplation on the potentially grave symptoms of clinical obsession by dissecting other people’s lives.
– RADMILA HRDINOVÁ, novinky.cz
MICHAL VAJDIČKA (1976) He worked as a lighting technician and professional light designer at the Drama Section of the Slovak National Theatre and in the Bratislava Dance Theatre from 1993. In 2004 he graduated in theatre directing under Petr Mikulík at the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava. While he was still a student, his production of The Lonesome West met with success at the international festival of theatre schools Setkání / Encounter in Brno and at the domestic festival Istropolitana. As a director he then worked with many Slovak and Czech theatres (Drama Section of the Slovak National Theatre, State Theatre in Košice, Andrej Bagar Theatre in Nitra, Dejvice Theatre in Prague, Vinohrady Theatre in Prague, National Theatre Brno). From 2014 to 2016 he was the artistic director of the Dejvice Theatre, with which he has continued cooperating as a director from the 2011–2012 season onward. He later moved to the position of director of the Drama Section of the Slovak National Theatre (2018–2019), and in this season, he has become an in-house director of the Drama Section of the National Theatre in Prague. Two basic lines can be traced in his directorial work. The first focuses on producing classical drama (above all the plays of Chekhov, Shakespeare, Pirandello and the adaptation of works by Slánčiková-Timrava). The other focuses on contemporary foreign drama with an emphasis on the black comedies by Martin McDonagh and Irvine Welsh. Many of his productions have been presented at the Divadlo international festival: All for the Nation (Andrej Bagar Theatre in Nitra, 2009), A Blockage in the System (Dejvice Theatre, 2012), The Kindly Ones (Slovak National Theatre, 2015), Resurrection (Dejvice Theatre, 2017) and Before Sunset (Slovak National Theatre, 2019).
DEJVICE THEATRE The theatre was founded in 1992. Following the departure of the original company and its head Jan Borna in 1996, director Miroslav Krobot served as the new artistic head to the end of the 2013–2014 season. From 2014 to 2016 the artistic head was Michal Vajdička, who had been working with the theatre from 2011 as director of A Blockage in the System and Seagull. Since January 2017 the new artistic head has been Martin Myšička who joined the theatre’s company as an actor in 1997. The theatre’s dramaturgy goes in several directions. As well as showing original plays by contemporary European and world authors, the theatre focuses on works by distinguished Czech and Slovak playwrights who write their work directly for the Dejvice Theatre’s company, and in most cases also participate in directing it (J. A. Pitínský, Miroslav Krobot, Petr Zelenka, Jiří Havelka, Karel František Tománek, Viliam Klimáček, Petra Tejnorová, Daniel Majling and others). A distinctive interpretation of world classics is another significant component of the dramaturgy. During its existence, the Dejvice Theatre has five times been declared Theatre of the Year, with further significant awards being won both by productions and individual members of the company. The 2019–2020 and 2020–2021 seasons were affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. Yet, despite the closure of the theatre for the public due to government’s orders, new productions were created. The waning pandemic also hindered the production Right You Are (If You Think You Are), where the first performance had to be postponed twice and only took place in April 2022, instead of November 2021 as initially planned.
