The Makropulos Affair

Věc Makropulos is a Czech play written by Karel Čapek. Its English title has been variously rendered as The Makropulos Affair, The Makropulos Case, or The Makropulos Secret. The Makropulos Secret was Čapek's own preferred English rendition of the play's title. The literal translation of the Czech title reads as The Makropulos Thing.

Described by Čapek as a "comedy", Věc Makropulos received its first performance on 21 November 1922 in the Vinohrady Theatre in Prague. The play was produced in translation at the Arts Theatre in London, under the name The Macropulos Secret, on 8 July 1930. The producer was A. R. Whatmore and the cast included André van Gyseghem as Vitek, Lesley Wareing as Krista and Donald Wolfit as Jaroslav Prus.

Between 1923 and 1925, Leoš Janáček adapted the play into an opera of the same name.

In his preface to the play, Čapek noted the inspiration for the play of a scientific idea by Élie Metchnikoff, namely that aging results from a process of cellular autointoxication. Čapek also commented on the coincidence that his play appeared at around the same time as George Bernard Shaw's play Back to Methuselah, which dealt with the similar theme of extended human life span, but with a very different conclusion. Čapek also attempted to qualify criticism of his philosophical point of view, with respect to the idea of extended human life, span as pessimistic.

Kolenatý's law office, Prague, 1913

Vitek, clerk to the lawyer Kolenatý, notes that the probate case of Gregor v. Prus has been going on for nearly a century. Kolenatý represents the middle-class Gregors against the wealthy and aristocratic Prus family. Albert Gregor comes in to ask about the case, which Kolenatý has taken to the Supreme Court, where he is waiting for a final resolution. Gregor expresses frustration and wishes for the case to end. Vitek's daughter Kristina, a young singer, enters. She praises Emilia Marty, a famous singer whom she has seen rehearsing and despairingly states that she will never be as great an artist as Emilia Marty.

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