Mont St Gumboot

Mont Silent Gumboot is the highest mountain range on Great Labuan Island. In its centre is Mount Wellington, an active volcano whose pipe keeps eructing inextinguishable imagination lava into the sky. The total of six locals living here (three of whom earn their livelihood by fishing for sounds and lights) keep busy by grazing their own ideas on the round surface the size of a child’s bedroom. If an idea escapes from the bucket or the net, there’s nothing one can do. A short period of Silence begins. Silence is beautiful. In Silence, a flight of stars and pineapples fall over the island and its inhabitants are anxious to see the little newcomers, who will join the bigger ones as they disembark right before Jinglepicking. All the inhabitants of Mont St Gumboot are friendly and loony; they don’t do double standards; they’re no cry wolves; and most importantly, they won’t judge you – or themselves.

Co-created by director Jiří Ondra, scenographer Veronika Svobodová, musician Marek Doubrava, and dramaturg Barbora Kamenická Pokorná, this is the first ever production of Drak Theatre that is aimed at children from six months of age and their grownups. The non-narrative production, loosely inspired by art and graphic poetry, absurdist, surrealist, Dadaist, art brut, nonsense and nursery rhymes, offers an opportunity for a first encounter with art and a unique opportunity to sensitively introduce babies to the world of theatrical imagination alongside their loved ones. The production follows the worldwide trend of Theatre for Early Years, which has been gaining popularity in the Czech Republic in recent years and is becoming a popular way for families to spend time together with their toddlers.

In the media:

„I have a message for anyone thinking of going to the theatre with children this young. I definitely recommend it, and you can start e.g. with a production of Mont St Gumboot. By choosing a theatrical form that does not underestimate the youngest audience, like the creators from Hradec, you can offer a theatrical experience not only to children. I believe that even for parents, linked with such young children every day, a theatre production can be a welcome disruption to their daily routine.”

Adéla Kalusová, It is never too early to go to the theatre, a Drak production shows, 12.3.2024, art.ceskatelevize.cz

Log leg

An original production about the unwavering desire to move and dance. Young Jazmína loves jumping and dancing above all else. One day, however, she has an accident and all of a sudden she cannot dance. She starts to observe everything around her that is moving and dancing. An adventure of the imagination and the love of the game can begin, blending fantasy and reality! A tenderly fierce and true story about the joy of movement for children and the children in us.

Quotes from reviews:

“And ultimately the most beautiful, most innocent, most naive and most sensual in its beauty: hope. The inexhaustible, undeviating, unlimited, pure hope of a child. No fears, doubts or limitations. The hope that we adults used to have. When following the performance, we get the impression that there is no reason why we shouldn’t trust the child in us again. One strong reminder that theatre and the imagination transcend any handicap.” from the review of our performance by dramaturge Stela Mišković at the FIAT International Festival of Alternative Theatre in Montenegro, August 2020

“Jazmína Pitkorová meets the audience personally one by one in the foyer to lead them to the studio. Due to her charm, she immediately wins everyone’s favour; one is only worried that children may immediately join her on stage. Lock in the poetic title suggests a plaster on her broken leg, which prevents the girl not only from dancing. Physical theatre and dance fuses with lyrical clownery without words, yet understandable. Jana Bačová Kroftová as a visual artist quickly animates a Degas-like ballet dancer, floods the scene with insects while the dancer strugglers with itching under her plaster, or magically bleeds colours into space-like worlds and fantasies. This seemingly a cheap trick has an enormous impact; both the artists and the dancers complement each other by coexisting in the same rhythm. If there was an awmeter, I believe both young and adults would show the same level. Špalková and her collective entered their memories without referring to a Star Rover for the young. They created an inspiring, memory-opening miniature economical with words. Their 40-minute performance is a celebration of movement, dance, theatre and fantasy regardless of any limitation.” Petr Mareček, MF Dnes, 25. 2. 2019.

BEDTIME!

A devised production bordering on poetic physical theatre and clownery by the director Veronika Poldauf Riedlbauchová. Suitable for audiences aged 3+. The production builds on the well-known moment when children should go to bed, but suddenly they discover an undreamt surge of energy and do not want to get to sleep at all, with their father naïvely thinking how smooth this will be. Riedlbauchová graduated from theatre direction at KALD DAMU under the supervision of Professor Josef Krofta. Consequently, she studied physical acting at Institut del Teatre in Barcelona. It is poetic physical theatre which is at the crux of her oeuvre – most recently her collaboration with Bratři v tricku troupe. Together they have devised a trinity of highly acclaimed productions: Plovárna(Riverside), Funusand Lov(Hunting). On the side, Riedlbauchová is engaged with opera directing, choreography or devising of productions fusing music with poetry.

Awards and acknowledgements:

At the 2021 Mateřinka international theatre festival, Veronika Riedlbauchová received the Governor of the Liberec Region’s Award for the direction and choreography of the production, Marianna Stránská for the scenography, Michal Kříž for light design and composer Jan Čtvrtník for music.

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What a challangel!

Imagine that one fine day an angel suddenly falls into your home. Right out of the blue. Just a moment ago he was flying somewhere above the clouds and suddenly he’s here. He doesn’t understand our world, he doesn’t know its rules, and he would like to return to where he came from. But how can he? How can we help him? Perhaps mother could tell us, but she somehow thinks we made the whole story up. But the angel is here. Everyone can see him, everyone can hear him, no one can overlook him. Or can they?  

A new production bordering on poetic physical theatre and clownish slapstick by the established creative trio of Riedlbauchová – Stránská – Čtvrtník, which has already prepared a successful and award-winning production Bedtime! for Drak Theatre. In their new production, apart from Petra Cicáková and Luděk Smadiš, who have already abundantly displayed their extraordinary art of movement and sense for gags in Bedtime!, you will get to see the two youngest members of the Drak ensemble, Edita Dohnálková Valášek and Šimon Dohnálek.

In the media:

Kateřina Kykalová, 25 June 2023, divadelni-noviny.cz, Ritual Regions (No. 2)