The “voucher privatization” (post-communist distribution of vouchers to the general public to bring private capital into state-owned companies) laid the foundations for the current structure of socioeconomic and political forces in the public sphere, affected hundreds of thousands of lives, and became a cornerstone of the modern myth about regained freedom. Many personal stories about the voucher privatization involve a  fairy-tale motif “What if”: – “What life could I have if I had chosen a different investment strategy?” – “How would I live had my parents become wealthy back then?” – “What if grandpa left the hidden stock of shares?”... The concepts of voucher and general privatization reflect the global and individual histories of the Czech Republic and of each of its citizens. The stories behind voucher privatization brought about dreams and desire for freedom, naivety, and ruthless family disputes over power and property. The turbulent “tale of the new National Revival” hardly left any time for the people to concentrate on themselves, perceive themselves as living beings, sense their growth limits, and consciously embrace their mortality.

Privatization

La Fabrika

Imagine you could create a new world from absolute nothingness. The kind of world you may dream about, safe, yet abounding in surprises and adventures. Our hero stands at the very beginning – with imagination and lily-white paper that can become anything. A new world arises from imagination, creativity and playfulness. Truly strange things happen in the paper world, and when its frolicsome inhabitants appear, rest assured that adventure will soon follow. But a boy who likes seeking new discoveries is sometimes somewhat impetuous, and he has to learn how to behave in the world of fragile paper so as not to harm it. There is, however, much more in store – you will see, for instance, the great power of kindness and good-willingness, and the boy’s paper pals will also help to find him the path to true friendship.

Paper Story

The Estates Theatre

During a single week, a girl grows into a woman and her dreams turn into a dark nightmare. The world is no longer as Valerie has imagined it. This initiation rite reveals the secrets of the passage to adulthood and social hypocrisy through hyperbole and sarcasm borrowed from Vítězslav Nezval. The production is a poetic adaptation of the bizarre dark novel, which still evokes emotions, passion and fear.

Valerie and Her Week of Wonders

Imagine four enthusiasts who have decided to start a motion capture studio. A brilliant idea? Could be, but for a little catch: filmmaking is all Greek to them.

Pluto

For the youngest spectators, these have been mainly fairy tales presented recently at the Black Box, such as The Little Mermaid, Snow White, or for older children, Wild Flowers, which also opens up their future way to the theatre for children. A new ballet ensemble has come up with a fairy tale about The Princess With The Golden Star, whose film version by director Martin Frič from 1959 is a fixed part of the children's TV programmes. Božena Němcová's dancing fairy tale offers to the child's soul a clear view of the difference between good and evil.

The princess with the golden star

Divadlo Josefa Kajetána Tyla

Shakespeare’s immortal tragedy about the world’s injustice, the burden of an arduous mission, and human small-mindedness. A ghostly journey in search for the meaning and sense of life, a drama where the past mingles with the future, a story about the erosion of the state, society and values.

Hamlet

National Theatre Prague

An impoverished circus director picks up a rose in an enchanted garden belonging to a terrible Beast. The Beast gets angry and threatens to kill the trespasser – unless one of his daughters pays for the father’s sins. When the youngest daughter, the Beauty, decides to sacrifice herself, she cannot imagine the consequences of her actions.

The Beauty and the Beast

Thomas S. Eliot wrote his poem – an opus magnum of the 20th century – as a reflection of the horrors of WWI and situated it in a landscape woven from the historical consciousness of humanity and voices of European literature. Through this open barren land, where town meets sea and desert and the state has collapsed, rambles don Quixote, the wandering knight who upholds the values of chivalry and never loses his faith in the power of love. Is he obsolete, foolish? While don Quixote’s acts are incomprehensible by reason, our hearts root for him. The production searches for the fundamental values in a country swept by the war. It is also a tribute to the naive adoration of Dulcinea del Toboso and to the thousands of heroes conceived by human imagination, the great spirits shining as a still point of the turning world.

Don Quixote. The Waste Land

State Opera

She created one of the most important works of English literature, but she did not live to see it recognised. The characters of this moving story are related not only by blood but by place, where nature speaks as powerfully as the ghosts of ancient guilt. The stormy elements also stir the peculiar notions of good and evil with which Emily Brontë has so irritated contemporary society. Balladic and almost horror-like, Wuthering Heights is psychologically on a par with the greatness of ancient dramas. It tells the story of people who dedicate their lives to a destructive desire. The only woman who can stop the dark hero on his path of vengeance marries his rival. The obsession that transcends the temporary limits of human existence and the birth of evil are the driving dramatic forces behind the characters. Their story has rightly inspired both filmmakers and the world's theatres.

Wuthering Heights

Theater of JK Tyl New Stage

A small town, where the old world of liberal fathers is fading away, sees the raise of young idealists proclaiming revolutionary slogans. Some believe this is an inevitable change. Others crave for power. But there are also those, the most dangerous ones, whose only purpose is overall destruction.

Karel Šimek

Events

Upcoming events

Sep 12 - Dec 20, 2026

Don Quixote. The Waste Land · Národní divadlo

Sep 17 - Nov 22, 2026

The Beauty and the Beast · Národní divadlo

Sep 21, 2026 - Feb 5, 2027

Hamlet · Národní divadlo

Oct 8, 2026 - Mar 13, 2027

Valerie and Her Week of Wonders · Národní divadlo

Oct 10, 2026 - Apr 3, 2027

Paper Story · Národní divadlo

Past events

Oct 20 - Dec 7, 2026

Privatization · Národní divadlo

Oct 10, 2026 - Apr 3, 2027

Paper Story · Národní divadlo

About

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