The image of a hospital run by incompetent crooks, where one patient after another dies until only one remains, was originally a clear analogy to the regime of the time. Today, as Jiří Suchý judges in the program, this parable has not lost its topicality, only its optics have shifted to the state of the whole world. And it is only typical that the hospital transforms into a brothel in the end.
Suchý added new texts and songs to the play and a character for Jitka Molavcová. She is supported by Emánek, who collects and recycles bottles after mass drinking for the health of patients, which are Primář’s main treatment method. Molavcová in a shapeless coat endows Emánek with appropriate bizarreness and shines alongside Suché in many songs.
Photo: Irena Zlámalová
Jitka Molavcová as Emánek and Jiří Suchý as Primarch in the production of The Last Stand.
In the new version of the game, Suchý moved from the Patient to the role of Primary. He goes through the plot in the form of a smiling old man in a white coat, entangled in the story of the accident of the patient Holeček. And for all his sympathetic kindness, he exudes fear.
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Michal Stejskal took over the role of the Patient and he does very well in it both as an actor and as a singer. His partner is the attractive Senior Sister Jolana Haan Smyčková, as well as the excellent acting and singing trio of sisters Eliška Hurábová, Magdalena Jedličková and Marie Pačesová.
Among the other characters, Funebrák impresses Igor Šeb with a drastic comedy reminiscent of Ferenc Futurista.
Photo: Irena Zlámalová
For the comedic talent of Jitka Molavcová, Jiří Suchý wrote the character of the bouda Emánka.
The stuttering pace of the premiere revealed that the text also has its weaknesses, for example the character of Emánek is not brought to the point and she disappears from the play and the stage too soon. And some of the speeches, like Funebrák’s teaching that the play is a parable, sound unnecessarily declaratory.
Most of all, the songs with the traditional linguistic brilliance of Jiří Suchý, who nobly plays with such a tricky word as serum in the dialogues, are the most pleasing. And his composition Svět je kule, commenting on the state of humanity, reminds us of the best pieces from the V+W+Ježek workshop.
Jiří Suchý: Last Stace Libretto and direction by Jiří Suchý, music by Jiří Suchý, Jiří Šlitr and Ferdinand Havlík. Premiere on January 18 at the Semafor Theatre, PragueRating: 75%
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2024-01-19 18:09:00
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