Osvobozené divadlo
Osvobozené divadlo was a Prague avant-garde theatre scene founded as the theatre section of an association of Czech avant-garde artists Devětsil in 1926. The theatre's beginnings were strongly influenced by Dadaism and Futurism, later by Poetism. The theatre was very leftist oriented, but it could also be critical of the Communists. One of the founders, Jiří Frejka, came up with the name in 1926. In the theatre both authorial plays and works by well-established modern authors; such as G. Apollinaire, A. Jarry, J. Cocteau, A. Breton, F. T. Marinetti, and V. Nezval were performed. The modern conception of the scene also laid more emphasis on lighting and the theatrical conception adjured more cooperation and contacts between actors and audience.
History
Beginnings
The first performance took place on 8 February 1926 with the play Georges Dandin by Molière, the performance was not very successful. In 1927 the theatre moved to Umělecká beseda and in that time Jiří Voskovec and Jan Werich first appeared on the stage with their own play Vest Pocket Revue, a montage of Dadaist gags, intellectual humour and jazz songs. The performance achieved great acclaim and Werich, together with Voskovec, became part of the ensemble. In the same year the young pianist and composer Jaroslav Ježek joined them, and together with Werich and Voskovec represented the core of the theatre group during its whole existence. They used masks inspired by the Fratellini clowns; Voskovec's mask was inspired by François Fratellini and Werich's by Albert Fratellini. Jiří Frejka together with another important exponent and founder, E. F. Burian, left the theatre due to disputes with the director Jindřich Honzl, an avant-garde theatre theorist who directed all the plays of the Osvobozené divadlo. The foursome, but mainly Voskovec and Werich, gradually became the most important part of the group and their cooperation and contribution is still considered as very distinctive and legendary.The performances of Osvobozené divadlo up to 1932 were predominantly of an entertaining character. The programme was rehearsed very loosely; it was based mainly on improvisation and was also dependent on reactions of the audience. V+W in their plays worked chiefly with historical themes and exotic places ; the performances were richly accompanied by Ježek's jazz-influenced music and songs. In 1931 Ježek also established a partnership with Karel Ančerl, later chief of the Czech Philharmonic. Ančerl worked in the theatre as a conductor till 1933, and markedly improved the theatre orchestra.
Osvobozené divadlo also introduced so-called "forbíny" - improvised dialogues on the forestage, often presenting topical reactions to political and cultural events and subjects.
In 1932 V+W came up with the first explicitly political play, Caesar. In that very successful play, the authors for the first time warned against the danger of Nazism, and the theatre began to be regarded as political. Another strongly anti-fascist play, Osel a stín, was also very leftist-oriented. In 1934 Osvobozené divadlo began to present another play, Kat a blázen, whose criticism of Nazism was very sharp, straight and consistent. The play had problems with censorship, and the German embassy lodged strong protests with the Umělecká beseda management. After continuing complaints from German officials Osvobozené divadlo was expelled from the Umělecká beseda building U Nováků Palace in 1935.