Friendship, but also modern art and snobbery are the themes of the comedy Image, written by French playwright Yasmina Reza. The National Theater in Brno has newly added it to its repertoire. The three male characters on the Reduta stage will be played by Petr Kubes, Petr Bláha and Pavel Čeněk Vaculík.
The premiere takes place this Friday, April 26, with the next repeats on April 30 and again on May 1 and 16.
The 64-year-old French playwright and writer Yasmina Reza made her debut in the 1980s, but broke through in 1994 with the conversational comedy Obraz, sometimes shown in the Czech Republic under the name Kumšt. The text, for which she received the prestigious Molière prize and which was translated into more than three dozen languages, was also performed in several local theaters. For example, in the cast with Jan Tříska, Jan Kačer and Jan Hrušínský, it was directed by Jan Hřebejk in Prague’s Na Jezerce Theater in 2007. The Slovak production with the actors Milan Lasica, Marián Labuda and Milan Kňažek was also well known in Prague.
“The play is excellently written, clever and funny. It can’t lose anything even after 30 years, because Yasmina Reza didn’t write it just to be funny. There’s a lot at stake in the play: whether friendship can be saved,” says the director new Brno production Štěpán Pácl.
The rehearsal took a different form than is usual at the National Theater there. The first read exam took place last September. The rehearsal was not concentrated in the usual six weeks, but interspersed throughout the season. The representatives of the three friends thus had time to get “under the skin” of the characters Marko, Boris and Ivan.
The picture has a simple plot. Dermatologist and lover of modern art, Boris acquires an expensive abstract painting called White Stripes on a White Background, which is really just a piece of white canvas.
His skeptical and choleric friend Marek does not understand how Boris could spend so much money on something like this, and calls the purchase a sign of snobbery. The third mutual friend, Ivan, tries to maneuver between the two positions, because friendship is the only thing that keeps him afloat. A seemingly banal aesthetic dispute turns into a funny argument about the values of life and the essence of friendship.
“Yasmina Reza is a very refined and very clever author, with a combination of well-chosen words she brings her characters into incredibly comical situations. But with understanding, so we laugh and cry at the same time,” adds director Pácl.
The simple scenography was designed by the artistic director of the Spejbla and Hurvínka Theater David Janošek. He let stand out what, according to theatergoers, is the most important thing in the production: the chemistry between the three actors.
Tags: argument painting turns dispute friendship Yasmina Rezas comedy playing Brno
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