SWITCH OFF

Michaela Doležalová , Roman Vencl

Genre: comedy
Cast: 2 women, 2 men

A chilling, slightly Christmas-tuned comedy that is definitely going to knock out your diaphragm. Trevor and Nina are a married couple from the upper class in New York. He is a prominent gynecologist and she is a chef and owner of a famous Italian restaurant. However, their marriage cannot be considered ideal – in fact it’s a hell on earth that can’t be finished so easily. The reason is their prenuptial agreement that is tougher than American football rules: the one who files for divorce will lose all property that will be automatically passed on the other one. It’s Christmas and Trevor and Nina are organizing their traditional Christmas party. The only guests are Imelda and Artur – a rather kinky married couple and their only real friends. Imelda is a fortune-teller who has her own TV show and Artur teaches history at university. It could look like a boring party at first, except that the agreement contains a little clause: the one who proves that their partner has been cheating on them can file for divorce and all property will be left to them. The Christmas party turns into a divorce battlefield where all possible weapons are used. But there can be only one winner…

Even though this comedy is set into Christmas time, Christmas doesn’t play the most important role in this play so it can be staged during the whole year.

This text clearly demonstrates that comedy audience can be entertained almost continuously for ninety minutes. We dare to claim that When the Lights Go Out is one of the best contemporary Czech comedies.

Michaela Doleželová and Roman Vencl have graduated from the programme of Dramatic Acting at the Janáček Academy of Performing Arts in Brno. They have been writing plays together since 2006 when they wrote their first piece called Výročí (Anniversary). At first, they were only writing plays for their own theatre company but at the moment their plays are being demanded by various theatres in the Czech and Slovak Republic. They are authors of several comedies and planning to write more of them. Their (so far) most successful play Když se zhasne (When the Lights Go Out) have become the most staged Czech comedy of the year 2012. It was produced five times during one season. They cooperate with the Moravian Theatre in Olomouc, Zlín City Theatre or Studio L+S in Bratislava.

The play is available in the Czech original and English, Polish, and Slovak translation.