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A Midsummer Nights Dream

A Midsummer Nights Dream
theater tickets
Státní opery Praha (Prague State Opera)
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Address
Státní opery Praha (Prague State Opera)
Legerova 75
New Town
Prague  1
Czech Republic
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Price
£13.41 - £16.76
Prices shown are a guide to standard adult prices generally available, including any applicable per ticket fees - other concessions may also be available.
Date
Wed, 7th January 2009
Supplier
This item is supplied by Bohemia Ticket and is subject to their terms & conditions. Terms & Conditions
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William Shakespeare’s lyrical comedy A Midsummer’s Night Dream was created as an opportunist drama designated to be performed during a wedding party. The ingenious faerie showing the twinkling world of forest fairy-tale beings incorporating a delicate one night’s dream, the magic play of loving couples as well as the charming performance by the craftsmen, inspired Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy to compose its extremely successful overture. Fifteen years later, requested to do so by King of Prussia Friedrich Wilhelm IV, he composed the full score. “I should like to have my dream come true of staging A Midsummer Night’s Dream, one of the most bizarre, most grotesque, and most erotic dramas offered by the non-ballet literature”, says choreographer Libor Vaculík. “To shift an idyllic comedy as far as to the dangerous brink of a grotesque, to combine reality and irrationality, to offer laugh for a while, cruelty for a while, tears for a while. I have a feeling that nothing is certain at the threshold of the new millennium... a tyrant may become a slave, a servant turns out to be a tyrant, love turns into hatred, minor is major, tango is waltz and ballet is rap. Not always, not everywhere, but certainly in the dreams and in the desires of the main characters of A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”

Premiere: Apr 6, 2006

Running time: 2 hours 10 minutes with 1 intermission

Staging team
Choreography: L. Vaculík
Stage director: L. Vaculík
Libreto: L. Vaculík
Set designer: M. Černý
Costume designer: R. Šolc
Assistant choreographer: K. Dedková-Franková, H. Vláčilová, M. Šebor

Cast
Titania: N. Márová, as a guest, A. Ščekaleva, A. Spáčilová
Hermia: I. Povrazníková, K. Madejová
Helena: A. Ščekaleva, M. Gornalova
Director, Theseus: J. Kadlec, D. Dvořák, J. Kadlec
Oberon: M. Boček, M. Gebauer
Lysander: O. Novotný, J. Svoboda
Demetrius: A. Jurakov, J. Seitl
Puck: J. Kolva, D. Stránský
Egeus: J. Němeček, P. Jirsa
Bottom (Pyramus): J. Kolva, A. Jurakov
Snug (Lion): Z. Petrů, L. Lojda
Flute (Thisbe): J. Seitl, J. Slipič
Starvelling (Thisbe’s Mother, Moonshine): M. Boček, D. Dvořák, A. Akmukhametov
Snout (Thisbe’s Father, Wall): M. Gebauer, D. Dvořák
Tomcat: M. Boček, D. Dvořák
Young Elf: J. Svoboda
Director’s wife, Hippolyta: I. Povrazníková


The Prague State Opera resides in the building which on January 5, 1888 was opened as a Prague German stage with the performance of Wagner’s opera, The Mastersingers of Nürnberg. In the 19th century, Prague Germans performed in the Estate’s Theater in alternation with a Czech company. Desire for their own theater led to negotiations in 1883 for the construction of a new theater building for the German Theater Association. Over the next three years, a blueprint was drawn up and handed over to the Vienna atelier of Fellner and Hellmer. Also sharing in the design was the architect of the Vienna Municipal Theater, Karl Hasenauer, while Prague architect Alfons Wertmüller took part in the construction. Financing came from private collections. With its spacious auditorium and neo-Rococo decoration, this theater building is among the most beautiful in Europe. The first director of the new German theater was Angelo Neumann, who acquired well known performers and soon brought the new theater to a high artistic level of international significance. Major figures which worked here included directors Carl Muck, Franz Schalk, and Leo Blech, or singers such as alto V. Nigrini and tenor A. Wallnhöfer.

After Neumann’s death in 1910, Alexander Zemlinsky became the director of the opera from 1911–1927. A great director and composer, Zemlinsky enriched Prague’s cultural life with his unrivalled interpretations of Mozart’s works and significant stagings of works by E. Krenek, P. Hindemith, E. W. Korngold, F. Schreker, as well as his own works. During his era, first-rate artists appeared here such as M. Müller, M. Huss, F. Schorr, L. Slezak, R. Tauber, L. Lehmann and others. Under his successor, Georg Szell, works by modern composers were also performed. The theater featured a remarkably wide repertoire, even including works from Prague German composers (F. Finke, T. Veidl, H. Krása). The company also had excellent singers at its disposal (R. Pauly, R. Stevens, K. Baum, H. Hotter etc.). The final performance in the theater took place on September 25, 1938, when the Theater Association terminated all contracts and sold the theater building to the Czechoslovak state. During the occupation, the theater did not have any regular performances under the name of The Prague German Opera. There were only occasional guest performances by a few German companies.

Among the exceptional artistic figures who performed here were directors Gustav Mahler, Richard Strauss, Felix Mottl, Arthur Nikisch and Felix Weingartner, as well as soloists Anna Bahr-Mildenburg, Berta Lauterer-Foerster, Maria Jeritza, Nellie Melba, Karl Burian, Enrico Caruso, Benjamino Gigli, Jan Kiepura, Richard Kubla, and Tino Pattiera. After liberation, the building was handed over to the May 5th Theater, which later became part of the National Theater. Since its inception in 1992, the Prague State Opera has celebrated the tradition of the New German Theater, not only through the space in which it plays, but above all through the dramaturgy and establishment of its own documentation center, which would like to archive the activities of the NDT (New German Theater), since the archive of this theater has unfortunately been irretrievably lost.

Travel



From the Airport
Take Bus No. 119 to the stop “Dejvická”, from which you enter the metro station of the same name (on the A line) and ride in the direction toward “Skalka” to the station “Museum”. Leave the vestibule via the stairs leading to Washington Street. At the intersection with Politických vězňů Street turn right and, via the pedestrian underpass under Wilson Street, approach the main entrance into the Prague State Opera.

From the main train station
Leave the lower lobby of the station in the direction toward Washington Street. At the intersection with Politických vězňů Street turn left and, via the pedestrian underpass under Wilson Street, approach the main entrance into the Prague State Opera.

From the old town square
Pass through Franz Kafka Square and along Kaprova Street to the metro station “Staroměstská” (on the A line), from which you ride in the direction toward “Skalka” to the station “Museum”. Leave the vestibule via the stairs leading to Washington Street. At the intersection with Politických vězňů Street turn right and, via the pedestrian underpass under Wilson Street, approach the main entrance into the Prague State Opera.

From the Pargue Castle
Pass through the complex of the Prague Castle and along adjacent streets following tourist signs to the metro station “Hradčanská” (on the A line), from which you ride in the direction toward “Skalka” to the station “Museum”. Leave the vestibule via the stairs leading to Washington Street. At the intersection with Politických vězňů Street turn right and, via the pedestrian underpass under Wilson Street, approach the main entrance into the Prague State Opera.