History

It was a coincidence that the Dejvické divadlo (The Dejvice Theatre) came into existence. In June 1992 the Na Petynce Rock Club, a part of the Prague 6 District Community Centre, had to be closed since its building had been restituted to its original owner. The Prague 6 Municipal District decided to remodel another space that fell under the District Community Centre as well – a former gymnasium in the Zelená Street. However, the location of the hall in an inhabited apartment block turned out rather unsuitable for a rock club. Instead, a theatre came into existence under the District Community Centre, later known as Spektrum K. Eva Kejkrtová Měřičková was the Centre's director since 1990. The Dejvické divadlo became later a semi-budgetary organization of the Prague 6 Municipal District and since 2003, it ranks among non-profit organizations. The organization includes – apart from the theatre itself – also the Rosénka folklore ensemble that was founded in 1982 already as a part of the District Community Centre.  

The first performance of the Dejvické divadlo took place on 14. October 1992. Matěj Kopecký’s play Johannes Doctor Faust was performed by a new ensemble, members of which came to the Dejvické divadlo during their studies of alternative and puppet theatre at the Theatre Faculty of the Academy of Performing Arts. This ensemble was led by teacher and director Jan Borna who became an artistic director in 1993. In the same year the Dejvické divadlo was granted professional status by the Ministry of Culture.

The original ensemble performed at the Dejvické divadlo for four seasons. One of its greatest successes was J. A. Pitínský’s production Sister Anxiety that was awarded the Alfred Radok Award for Best Play in 1995 and the Dejvické divadlo became Theatre of the Year for the first time.

In September 1996, the ensemble along with Jan Borna joined the newly established Divadlo v Dlouhé. In the Dejvické divadlo it was replaced by a new ensemble led by Miroslav Krobot, director and teacher at the Department of Alternative and Puppet Theatre of the Theatre Faculty of the Academy of Performing Arts, who remains the artistic director to the present day.

The core of the ensemble consisted of all students of Krobot’s graduating class at first, but in the course of time it has changed substantially (of the original members three actresses remained in the Dejvické divadlo – Klára Melíšková, Jana Holcová and Zdeňka Žádníková). The ensemble has been enriched by a very strong group of actors in their 30s: Ivan Trojan, Lukáš Hlavica, David Novotný, Martin Myšička, Igor Chmela. Later they were followed by younger members as Pavel Šimčík, Lenka Krobotová, Jaroslav Plesl, Tatiana Vilhelmová, Simona Babčáková, Martha Issová and Václav Neužil. Hynek Čermák is the newest addition to the dramatic ensemble.

Contemporary drama plays an important part in the Dejvické divadlo’s dramaturgy, both foreign (Joe Penhall: Landscape With Weapon, Dennis Kelly: Debris, Patrick Marber: Dealer’s Choice and others) and domestic. The theatre initiates a production of original Czech texts (Petr Zelenka: Tales of Common Insanity, Teremin, Dubbing Street; Miroslav Krobot: The Syrup, Brian; Karel František Tománek: KFT/Reality Sandwiches®, Wanted Welzl; Viliam Klimáček: Dungeons & Dragons and others) and puts emphasis on cooperation with artists of the same generation and similar opinions as well (Jiří Havelka: Black Hole, Petra Tejnorová: Bluebeard/draebeulB and others). But at the same time, adaptations of world literature works (Oblomov by I. A. Goncharov, Elective Affinities by J. W. Goethe and others) and classic plays (Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Twelfth Night, Gogol’s The Government Inspector, Checkov’s Three Sisters and others) are an integral part of the Dejvické divadlo’s repertory.

In 20 years of existence the Dejvické divadlo has been awarded the Radok Prize as the Theatre of the Year four times. The performances Tales of Common Insanity and The Man Without a Past were awarded the prize for Best Play of 2001 and 2010 respectively. Many actors of the Dejvické divadlo won prestigious theatre awards, e. g. Ivan Trojan (for his role of Oblomov), David Novotný (for his title role in The Man without a Past) or Václav Neužil (for his role of Mugsy in Dealer’s Choice).

Two successful films directed by Petr Zelenka were based on the Dejvické divadlo’s plays – Tales of Common Insanity and The Karamazovs.

The Dejvické divadlo is nowadays one of the most attended and most popular Czech theatres.