“National Theatre and Normalisation” (Czech Science Foundation)
What was the role of “the first stage in the country” (a quote from the National Theatre establishing document) between 1968 and 1989? How did the only state-run theatre put its officially sanctioned top position into practice and what were the results and consequences? Which mechanisms, strategies and aesthetic concepts were used in the regime’s valued showpiece in order to enforce the constitution’s fundamental article – the leading role of the Czechoslovak Communist Party? The aim of this project is to identify, name and analyse the mechanisms and crucial moments of the two decades, by conducting a thorough examination of archival documents. The resulting set of interconnected case studies is going to serve as a tool for the team’s effort to establish the main pivot points around which the three to four-ensemble giant revolved.
“Primitive” and Folk Art in Czech Avant-garde Theatre: Context, Praxis, Theory (Czech Science Foundation)
The aim of this project is to explore Czech avant-garde theatre (1920-1945), particularly its interest in ethnographic phenomena, such as primitive and folk culture. The topic will be examined from three different points of view – context, praxis and theory. In the section dedicated to historical context, Czech avant-garde theatre containing elements of primitivism and folklore will be contextualized and linked to European theatre that had a similar orientation. The second area of research will analyse individual manifestations of primitivism and folklore in avant-garde plays and productions on the Czech stage. The theoretical part will study the influence of ethnology on how the Prague Linguistic Circle and avant-garde theoreticians thought about theatre, and show how the theory was put into practice.
COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH PROJECTS
Culture and Totality (2012-2016)
This research project studies the various manifestations of “total” forms and frameworks appearing in the modern era, in the broader sense of the term, spanning across the 19th and 20th century. The core of the interdisciplinary research team mainly includes historians and literary, film, music, and drama theoreticians coming from different departments and institutes at the Faculty of Arts, Charles University. The project resulted in four collective monographs.
Conferences Organized by the Department of Theatre Studies
Prospects of Theatre Studies I. (17-19 May 2017)
Staging Havel (15-18 May 2014)