History

HISTORY

The first performance at the Dejvické Theatre took place on 14th October 1992. The first acting company, who formed the Dejvické Theatre while still studying at the Alternative and Puppetry Department of the Academy of Performing Arts (DAMU) under the leadership of the director Jan Borna, presented itself with their school production of Matěj Kopecký's play Johanes doktor Faust. Jan Borna became the first artistic director of the theatre in 1993.
At that time the theatre formed a part of the Prague 6 District Cultural House, later the Spektrum K - an association of Prague 6 cultural facilities. The status of a professional theatre the Dejvické gained in 1993.
The original acting company worked under the Dejvické Theatre for four seasons. During that time the company produced many memorable productions, among them Jakub Krofta's production of Spoonrivers Anthology, Arnošt Goldflam's productions of a collage of Daniil Chams' texts, a romantic-tragic-heroic opera The Fermentation of the King Vondra XXVI, and the adaptation of Richard Weiner's texts Equilibrium, Jan Borna's productions of The Adventures of Don Quijote, Mrozek's Tango and two productions for children What an Idea! and Sing, clown…. The most outstanding act of the era was the J.A. Pitínský's production Sister Anxiety, which received the Alfred Radok Award for best production of the year 1995, and the Dejvické Theatre was for the first time named the Theatre of the Year.
In September 1996 the first company together with the artistic director Jan Borna left for the newly founded Theatre in Dlouhá, and a new company moved to Dejvické. With the new actors came also a new artistic director Miroslav Krobot, who thus concluded his six-year engagement with the National Theatre.
The core of the new company was formed, once again, by all students of a year at the Alternative and Puppetry Department of DAMU, who brought with them some of their graduating performances (Lysistrate directed by Lucie Bělohradská, The Anatomy of a Gag directed by Miroslav Krobot). Their first premieres in the Theatre were also still originally school productions (retro musical Kennedy's Children and a fairy-tale story The Twelve Moons - both of them directed by Miroslav Krobot.
Gradually the company began to change radically. Some of the original members left and many new others came, largely from renowned Prague and regional theatres. The company did not consist of actors of the same age any more, but these were joined by a very strong group of then thirty-year-olds (Ivan Trojan, Lukáš Hlavica, David Novotný, Martin Myšička, Igor Chmela), who were later joined by younger actors (Lenka Krobotová, Tatiana Vilhelmová, Simona Babčáková, Jaroslav Plesl, Pavel Šimčík). Also many other distinguished actors (Lilian Malkina, Alois Švehlík, Radek Holub, Jitka Smutná, Jiří Macháček, Jiří Bartoška, Nina Divíšková, Linda Rybová, Klára Lidová, Tomáš Pavelka, Zdeněk Dolanský, Monika Trávníčková Maláčová, Hanuš Bor, Igor Bareš, Jiří Ornest, Jiří Langmajer, Václav Mareš, Stanislav Zindulka, Klára Issová…) were approached as guests for theatre's productions.
With the change of the ensemble a space was created for the diversion from the up till now predominant collective creative projects to a repertory accentuating work with the actor and honouring his/her individuality. The theatre has more and more frequently presented pieces by world theatre and prose writers as well as by contemporary Czech and world authors.
In 1998 Ivan Trojan was nominated for the Thalia Award for the role of the Hetman in Gogol's The Government Inspector (dir. by Sergej Fedotov), and two years later the same actor received the Award for the title role in the adaptation of I. A. Gontcharov's novel Oblomov (dir. by Miroslav Krobot).
Dejvické Theatre has became a phenomenon of its kind during its ten-year history, the proof of it is the fact that it has regularly participated on the most prestigious theatre festivals and showcases, and in 2002 received for the second time the Alfred Radok Award for the Theatre of the Year.
 

In 2008 the Dejvické Theatre runs a repertory of ten productions. Apart from the already mentioned Oblomov, it is Zelenka’s Tales of Common Insanity, a play of 2001 (directed by Petr Zelenka; Miroslav Krobot was awarded the Alfred Radok Award for the Talent of the year for the part of Father), then Dostojevskij’s The Brothers Karamazov (directed by Lukáš Hlavica), second play of Petr Zelenka Teremin (directed by the author) with Ivan Trojan in the title role, other productions include Shakespeare’s Hamlet directed by Miroslav Krobot, dramatization of the novel by Johann Wolfgang Goethe Elective Affinities directed by Jan Antonín Pitínský, a comedy by contemporary Hungarian playwright Zoltán Egressy Sorrel, Roasted Potatoes, directed by Lída Engelová, a production directed by Jiří Havelka Black Hole.  In the season 2007/2008 there were premieres of two productions – adaptation of the novel by F. M. Dostojevskij The Idiot (adapted and directed by Miroslav Krobot) and the play of Patrick Barlow 39 Steps (directed by David Ondříček). The last production of the Dejvické Theatre for the time being is the world premiere of the play by the Slovak author Viliam Klimáček Dungeons & Dragons den directed by Karel František Tománek.

Starting from January 2007 the Theatre has broadened its offer for its audiences and patrons. Apart from the existing model of presenting productions from the basic repertory and occasional quests we are launching a continual project entitled OFF ZONE, the main mission of which is to widen the potential of our repertory by presentation of other productions that are not created by our own company, but which will always have a specific connection with our work. We will inform about actual projects in our updated programs.

In July 2004 the contributory organization Dejvické Theatre was transformed into a generally beneficial company, the founder of which is the Prague 6 Municipal District. The Theatre at the same time concluded a four-year contract on financing of the Theatre with the Prague 6 Municipal District with an amount which is being gradually reduced. The financial deficit is additionally covered by a four-year grant of the Capital of Prague.

In July 2008 the relation of the Dejvické Theatre and the Prague 6 Municipal District was further released and the managing bodies of the theatre (the supervisory board and the board of directors) that were being appointed by the founder until now are being elected by the artistic ensemble.