Masks are powerful symbols. They hide, but also reveal. They tighten as protection, yet often devolve into more of a moral obstacle than a physical one. Are they ignorance? Are they nefarious? Or are they freedom?
Such are the angles that choreographer Mário Radačovský has built into ‘Mask’, which will premiere this Friday at Janáček Theatre, the first premiere of the new season at the Brno National Theatre (NdB).
Additional performances will be 26 and 28 September, 10 and 11 October, 4 April, and 13 June.
That run will close an era. Radačovský will soon leave his post as the artistic director of NdB. Mask will follow his previous successes, including Beethoven, Coco Chanel, and Warhol, but will be his last full-length work for the company.
An integral part of the performance will be a recital by pianist Ivo Kahánek, featuring works by Frédéric Chopin and Franz Liszt.
Radačovský focused on the concept of the mask to deal with the contemporary phenomenon of a mask and its role in our turbulent times. The performance shows how people can be manipulated and how easily one can change faces.
“As perceptive people, we observe omnipresent changes at every step — from our immediate surroundings to global power games and wars,” Radačovský explained. “Falling masks are nothing new in human history, but today they accompany us far more often, and many do not even hide their switching between them. Our society, which proudly builds on its ancient and humanist heritage, is gradually losing this protective mask. The imagined marble of classical beauty is cracking and crumbling.”
In the end, Mask is about the courage to take the mask off.
The Brno National Theatre (NdB) presents opera, ballet, and theatrical performances. You can find the full schedule and more information here.
