Laterna Magika

The history of Laterna magika, the world's very first multimedia theatre, spans more than half a century. At the present time, it is one of the companies of the National Theatre in and operates in the New Stage premises. Globally renowned owing to its unique approach to theatre poetics, Laterna magika has always striven to seek paths to theatre synthesis, capable of telling stories by means of multiple means, most notably multimedia projection combined with live stage performance. The fundamental principle (interaction between film projection and live dramatic action) has been gradually supplemented with new technologies, for instance, digital projection or new media, including real-time programmable software. Since the very beginning, Laterna magika productions have blended various genres, ranging from dramatic acting through affording a dominant role to dance and ballet to mime and Black Theatre. Another characteristic trait is that all Laterna magika productions have always been original works directly created for the company, never received as ready-made pieces, which, with merely a few exceptions, have never subsequently appeared in the repertoire of another company!

Laterna magika initially came into being as a representative cultural programme devised with the aim to promote the at Expo 58, which took place from 17 April to 19 November 1958 in Brusseles. The project was entrusted to the stage director Alfréd Radok and the set designer Josef Svoboda, who duly brought to fruition the idea of combining film projection and live stage performance. The other creators who participated in the project included Jaroslav Stránský (production manager and head of the staging plan), Miloš Forman (set designer), the stage directors Vladimír Svitáček and Ján Roháč, the choreographer Jiří Němeček, the costume designer Erna Veselá, the actresses Zdeňka Procházková, Sylva Daníčková and Valentina Thielová, the dancers Jarmila Manšingrová, Naďa Blažíčková, Yvetta Pešková, Eva Poslušná, Miroslav Kůra, Vlastimil Jílek, and other members of the National Theatre. The programme took the form of a mixed bill made up of individual numbers connected by a presenter's performances, which were pre-recorded in several languages and screened in a manner that came across as a seeming interaction of the actress on stage with her images and between each of these. The same principle was applied in the design of the other numbers, which made use of music, dance and live acting.

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