Farce with singing followed by opera, world premiere
The year 2024 will mark the 200th anniversary of the birth of Bedřich Smetana – the composer who laid the foundations of Czech music and, in a broader context, Czech culture. Within the Year of Czech Music the programme Smetana200 will take place all over the Czech Republic. The main aim of the programme is to celebrate Bedřich Smetana and his work, to spread awareness of his music and to promote the image of the Czech Republic as a country with a huge musical and cultural potential. It was not only in relation to this anniversary that the Brno City Theatre decided to look at one of Smetana’s most famous works through its own lens and chose the comic opera The Bartered Bride for its new premiere at the Bishop’s Courtyard.
Unsurprisingly, the audience will not be treated to a traditional performance of the popular Bartered Bride, but a new original take on this iconic work. In 1883, Vilém Černický, a clerk, journalist, publicist and editor of Textilní listy, wrote a one-act comedy called Let Us Rejoice, Let’s Be Merry. The play was dedicated to the Cooperative of the Czech National Theatre in Brno, which at that time had been actively trying for two years to create conditions for the establishment of an independent Brno theatre performing regularly in Czech in a city that was still, as far as culture was concerned, almost exclusively German.
The result is a little play about the rich councillor Vostrovský, who supports the activities of an amateur company on his estate, which is preparing the premiere of The Bartered Bride. However, just a few hours before the announced premiere, the company loses its leading soloist, and so Vostrovský and director Koubek must quickly search for a replacement for the lead role of Jeník. But it wouldn’t be a proper comedy if family problems hadn’t interfered with the artistic concerns. The landowner’s daughter Ludmilka wants to marry a young man who does not have her father’s support, the landowner’s wife is running out of patience with the theatre amateur actors who are expanding on the farm, and Baron Jesenický arrives. There is no shortage of comic situations, and the Bartered Bride is still missing the main. However, if everything goes well, the audience at the Bishop’s Courtyard will be able to see everything they enjoy about their favourite opera. The production promises to offer singing classics in an attractive performance even for audiences who do not usually seek out this genre. Directed by Igor Ondříček, the summer stage under the towers of Petrov will feature the ensemble and orchestra of the Brno City Theatre.
