The realistic drama from the Moravian-Slovak countryside, Gazdina roba, written at the end of the 19th century by Gabriela Preissová, was staged by the Liberec Drama Theater. Since its foundation in 1883, the story of an unhappily in love tailor’s theater has only performed as an opera and a ballet. “That was probably the most fundamental reason why we used Gazda Roba,” explains dramaturg Lenka Chválová.
The tragic story of a country girl who encounters prejudices and old customs in love had its premiere at the FX Šalda Theater this Friday. The Saturday reprise is followed by others on February 8 and 21. Directed by Martin Františák.
The landlady’s slave tells the story of the forbidden love of the tailor Eva for the hesitant Mánek, which is divided by social and religious barriers as well as the unequal status of men and women. At the same time, the play recapitulates the history of Eva’s sad marriage with the unattractive Samek, whom the heroine blames for losing her child.
Eva, a Lutheran, and Mánek, a Catholic, want to be together, but they are not allowed. The play asks, among other things, whether money and social conventions have more power, or the freedom of the soul and pure love. It also raises the question of how far people’s decision-making is guided and influenced by the pressure of the environment. The story has a tragic ending. The titular phrase “housekeeper’s slave” originates from the dialect and refers to the landlord’s illegitimate partner.
Director Františák considers the text to be one of the most distinctive and best Czech plays. “It’s not very lyrical, but on the other hand it’s extremely dramatic,” he says.
According to him, this rural ballad remains relevant, as its prominent theme is the division of society on the basis of religious beliefs.
The picture from the production shows Kateřina Kornhäuserová as Eva. | Photo: CTK
“We currently live in a world that’s divided economically, it’s divided socially, but it’s becoming more and more divided ideologically, whether it’s one group or the other group. That duality that forces people to cling to one or the other the other group to hold opinions in a kind of bigoted and obtuse way, on the basis of which wars and disputes are often fought and families and human relationships are destroyed. This is something that is extremely contemporary,” the director thinks.
The central triangle in the Liberec production was created by the youngest generation of the drama troupe – Kateřina Kornhäuserová, Filip Jáša and Stavros Pozidis. Also performing are Jana Hejret Vojtková, Štěpánka Prýmková and Eliška Jansová. Music composed by Ivan Acher.
Gabriela Preissová, who lived from 1862 to 1946, wrote The Master’s Slave at the age of 27, first as a short story. In January 1889, it was printed by the monthly Osvěta. She immediately dramatized it for the National Theatre, where it premiered in November of the same year and caused one of the most stormy scandals in Czech theater history.
“The author gave a consciously faithful, in detail true picture of the people with absolutely all of their symptoms,” wrote Eliška Krásnohorská in Ženské lists. On the contrary, for example, Jaroslav Vrchlický objected that the theme of marital infidelity is sufficiently known from French and other Czech dramas. “The atmosphere, the scenery, the place and the characters are new here, although these are only relatively new, if they are covered by the Slovakian structure,” he said.
The dispute between the advocates of late romanticism and the pioneers of realism overshadowed the fact that Preiss wrote a pure and classic tragedy, blending realism with folk poetry, bold and disturbing, which still attracts generations of theatergoers and audiences alike. states annotation.
