Radio and Juliet will combine Shakespeare, Radiohead and ballet on Aug. 8, 9 and 10 in Mahen Theatre. Photo Credit: Arthur Abram/NdB.
The National Theatre of Brno has many performances every month in opera, ballet and drama. Here are some of the highlights. Click here for the complete schedule, ticket information and more details, in English.
Brno, Aug 1 (BD) – Summer will conclude with the ballet combination of Romeo and Juliet and alternative music, opera in Špilberk and several rescheduled dramatic pre-premieres, as excitement builds for the international spotlight that will show Brno in its best cultural light with Janáček Brno 2020.
This seventh Janáček festival, which has a full slate of performances from Sept. 28 to Oct. 16, will focus on the rapid developments in music and art at the beginning of the 20th century. It will offer excellent opera productions, a series of concerts and exceptional artists, such as Robert Carsen, Jakub Hrůša, Karita Mattila, Pavol Breslik, the Pavel Haas Quartet, the Bamberger Symphoniker, Jan Bartoš, and more.
The festival, which is held every two years, presented Janáček´s stage works in their entirety in 2018. It was the first festival in the Czech Republic to receive recognition from the highly regarded International Opera Awards – the Best Festival of the Year award.
For more information, in English, go https://janacek-brno.cz/en/.
In addition to the seventh Janáček Brno International Festival, there will be many local performances as part of the National Theatre of Brno schedule.
BALLET
Radio and Juliet, which was postponed from its original premiere date in the spring by the coronavirus quarantine, will be performed on Aug. 8, 9 and 10 in Mahen Theatre. It combines the most famous love story with one of the most famous British alternative rock bands, Radiohead.
Clearly, it is a different interpretation of the Shakespeare play.
“We could say the ballet begins the moment Juliet sees Romeo dead, lying next to her,” explains the director Edward Clug. “To clear things out a bit, we are working with the story backwards. Almost retrospectively rediscovering the unfulfilled love. Nevertheless, all the characters displayed in our performance are made up and any resemblance with those in Shakespeare′s Romeo and Juliet are purely ….intentional, not accidental. You could call this quite a twisted version… My intention was not to retell the story but offer the audience an experience from a different perspective.”
For comparison, the more traditional, Sergej Prokofjev version of the Romeo and Juliet ballet, which was famously world-premiered in Brno, will be performed Aug. 12, 13 and 17 in Janáček Theatre.
OPERA
Opera at Špilberk will conclude in the courtyard of Špilberk Castle with performances of Carmen (Aug. 29), Nabucco (Aug. 30) and The Barber of Seville (Sept. 1).
During the month, Ferda Mravenec, an opera for the whole family, will premiere on Aug. 22 at Janáček Theater, with additional performances, including on Aug. 23.
Then, as part of Janáček 2020, Janáček’s Osud (Fate) will premiere on Sept. 28 and Martinů’s Řecké pašije (Greek Passions) will premiere on Oct. 7, both at Janáček Theater
DRAMA
Four postponed plays have new premiere dates and, important for August, additional pre-premiere dates. The plays are performed in Czech without subtitles.
– Liliom: premiere on September 4, 2020 at the Mahen Theater. Pre-premieres on August 19 and 20.
– Velmi, velmi, velmi temný příběh (A very, very, very dark story): the Czech premiere on September 11 at the Reduta Theater. Pre-premieres on August 21 and 22.
– Slaměný klobouk (Straw Hat): premiere on September 25 at the Mahen Theater. Pre-premieres on August 28 and 29.
– Idomeneus: Czech premiere on October 2, 2020 at the Reduta Theater. Pre-premieres on August 26 and 27.
