ČESKÁ VÁLKA / CZECH WAR

Miroslav Bambušek

Cast: 10 men, 3 women

The play Czech War, which was originally written for the theatre Divadlo Na zabradli, is set inCzechoslovakiain the 1950s and deals with anti-communist, so called “third” resistance. It opens the issues connected with the revolt of clergymen against the practises of the Communist Party, the activities of brothers Masin’s group, revolting groups Black lion 777, Hory Hostynske, MAPAZ, Svetlana and others. Some of the scenes in the play are based on real stories, including characters based on real people.

How does the manifestation of a resistance against totalitarian regimes look like? Who are its victims? What was actually the anti-communist resistance in formerCzechoslovakialike? Wasn’t it a bit too easy for the Communists after 1948? Why was there so little support for the rebels in the society? Why was the effort useless in the end? Can the Cold War actually be considered a war? Was the third resistance actually a resistance? What has been left nowadays? What can we stand for? And is there something to follow? Watching a story of one family and one village, we can see how people were dealing with the events after 1948. The life stories are linking and in the end create a grotesque-like thrilling drama from one of the darkest periods of Czech history.

The play was nominated for the Czech play of the Year 2011 which is a part of Alfred Radok Awards.

  The play is available in Czech original.