A History of Czechs in 68 Minutes

Well, I did not necessarily expect that my second post on this blog would concern Czech theatre, but I absolutely have to post about the production I saw on Saturday night, A History of Czechs in 68 Minutes, which was a hilarious, ward-speed run through Czech history from the Big Bang to the present using a mixture of Czech, English, dressing-up costumes and intepretive dance. Myself and two of my flatmates, Kate and Kelly, went to see it on Saturday with Lucia and Marcela, two Czech ladies we have met through the school, and all five of us were roaring with laughter.

The production was written and performed by a small theatre company and took place in a small and rather cool little theatre that is tucked away in a back street behind Old Town Square. Given that the theatre was full of Czechs rather than tourists I'm not sure why half they perform half of the show in English, but it certainly made it easier for us to understand what was going on. Then again, who needs lanaguage anyway when your revolving cast of characters includes the guy who founded Bohemia after he decided that the nearby hill resembled a pair of breasts (Czech legend; said hill does actually exist), the first alcoholic Czech and the rather petulant fire that burnt both Jan Hus (fifteenth century) and the National Theatre (nineteenth century) but was unable to extinsguish the Czech spirit and so had to settle for prancing huffily around the stage wearing Ali G's cast-off tracksuits. And, of course, one of my all-time favourite historical nutcases, the wondrous Rudolf II (completely incompetent but utterly inspired 17th century Holy Roman Emperor whose castle in Prague was home to a motley crew of artists, poets, alchemists and astronomers with golden noses), who in a largely historically accurate depiction was mostly featured prancing around in a codpiece and maniacally stroking his face.

One of the best thing about the school is that it is very social; teachers, trainees and staff often socialise together and so we have had lots of opportunities to get to know both our Czech students and the teachers who are currently working in Prague. Lucia is not currently attending classes at the school but is very involved with the Oxford TEFL social scene, and Marcela is one of my current students. Both are lovely, and it was really kind of them to invite us along to this performance - we'd never have known about things like this going on without local contacts.

Here is a picture of the five of us in the theatre bar. Marcela is on the far left and Lucia on the far right, and to my right are my two American flatmates, Kelly and Kate, who I will write more about later. Katie has unfortunately not been very well for the past few days (and I, supportively as ever, have as such dubbed her Snotty Cough-bags), and so decided not to come along on Saturday night. She's still sounding and feeling pretty crock, but hopefully will be on the right side of it soon.