Zvuky Prahy / Sounds of Prague

Club Reduta is famous especially from late 50ies and early 60ies when the first theatrical performances so-called Text-appeals took place here. Those were elements of literary cabaret, which had to appeal the audience through music and words. The creators were Jiří Suchý and Ivan Vyskočil. Suchý and Vyskočil led dialogue with the audience on issues that official culture did not have the answers to. One year later was Vyskočil’s theatre Na zábradlí and Suchý’s Semafor established. The tradition of Text-appeals continued with the ensemble Paravan with J.R. Pick. Little theater Paravan was a literary cabaret with the ambition of intellectual humor. The Sláva Kunst orchestra provided the music. Ivan Vyskočil’s Nedivadlo arises in the 60’s but after the normalization in the 70ies Vyskočil had to leave the Reduta. The name of the theatre sort of predetermined deliberate refusion of theatrical conventions; it was a beginning of alternative theatre, in that time absolute revelation and hope for the future. Under the command of the, at the time, monopoly Pragokoncert, it led to stagnation and unsatisfied dramaturgy. They were switching various theatre styles, which were entirely unrelated to its original genre. However, there were exceptions such as Divadlo Járy Cimrmana or some excellent pantomimes (Rudolf Papežík, Ctibor Turba etc. or Alfred Jarry’s Pantomime). The nonconformist performances, inspired by absurd theatre, surrealism and jazz with the main representatives Hybner, Rýda and Turba were banned in the year 1972 by the normalizers.Several other groupings found their temporary home in the Reduta, such as Divadlo Járy Cimrmana; very successful with their performance were O. Kaiser and J. Lábus. The fragment is from the archive of Ivan Vyskočil, theater performance from 1964. Featuring Ivan Vyskočil, Pavel Bošek, Josef Podaný, Leoš Suchařípa, Jana Prachařová and Vladimíra Volková.www.ivanvyskočil.cz