Director: Patrik Lančarič
Dramaturgy: Vladimír Fekar
Set design: Michal Syrový
Costumes: Michaela Semotánová
Music: André Previn
Translation: Zuzana Josková
Musical direction: Jakub Klecker (conductor)
Ensemble: Bohuslav Martinů Philharmonic Orchestra
Movement collaboration: Hana Achilles
Running time: 70 minutes
Two men in a psychiatric hospital. Ivanov is a real patient, a schizophrenic who hears an orchestra in his head. He is firmly convinced that he is its conductor. Alexandr has been forcibly committed because of his political views. Two patients, two different realities.
Alexandr is visited by a doctor. He can be released from the institution—he only needs to say that his criticism of the system is the result of a diseased mind. How will Alexandr’s son Saša respond to this situation, as he himself is exposed to the manipulation of thought by his teacher?
The play is full of idiosyncratic linguistic humour, playful authorship, and wit, yet at the same time it unequivocally condemns totalitarian practices that strip individuals of their personality and firm convictions. With this play, written in 1977, Tom Stoppard commented on the fate of his country of origin. He dedicated it to two courageous dissidents: Vladimir Bukovsky, who openly exposed the abuse of psychiatry by Soviet authorities, and Viktor Fainberg, who took part in the protest on Red Square on 25 August 1968 against the occupation of Czechoslovakia.
The music of the American composer of German origin, four-time Academy Award winner and ten-time Grammy Award recipient André Previn, is not stage music in the traditional sense; to a certain extent, it functions as an acting character in its own right.
