Osvobozené divadlo

Osvobozené divadlo (1926–1938) (Liberated Theatre or Prague Free Theatre) was a Prague avant-garde theatre scene founded as the theatre section of an association of Czech avant-garde artists Devětsil (Butterbur) in 1926. The theatre's beginnings were strongly influenced by Dadaism and Futurism, later by Poetism (a specific Czech art movement). The theatre was also very leftist oriented, however, it was critical also towards 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.

The first performance took place on February 8, 1926, with the play Georges Dandin by Molière (it was renamed Cirkus Dandin), 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 (Voskovec, Werich, Ježek, and Honzl), 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.

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