(Czech) „Žiju v pekle.“

It’s 1989. One night in Copenhagen’s Dagmar Theater. August Strindberg, the most well-known misogynist in the history of world literature, is preparing a new play.

Following previous failures and scandals, Strindberg has no option but to cast his wife Siri von Essen, whom he’s getting a divorce from, and her mistress Marie David as the leads. Attempts at a productive rehearsal and constructive dialogue are met with waves of endless reproaches. Incessant risk of mental breakdown is followed by declarations of masculinity and strength. Are we in front of a monster or a man worthy of compassion?

The table is on fire, the set is on fire, words are on fire, my skin is on fire, the night is on fire, and the morning is on fire. Time is on fire; every single second is on fire. Let us dance! Vitality of the apocalypse. Infernal cheerfulness. Agility of corpses. Unconquerable inclinations to alchemy.

Mysticism of clichés. When do they become spells? Patriarchy on a loop. Magical conservatism as an attempt to have ourselves and the world under control. As if supernatural forces prevented us from making progress in the global discourse. Are we experiencing the impossibility of the new? How do you imagine hell?

Ivan Buraj’s last production as the artistic director of HaDivadlo. A satirically mystical grotesque farce with elements of conspiracy on the current (insurmountable?) conflict between the progressive and the conservative discourse. Enquist’s text is supplemented by quotes from the book Now You Can Go by Italian feminist Carla Lonzi, in which she published transcriptions of her discussions with Pietro Consagra at the end of their 15-year relationship in 1980. Contemplation on stupid infinity. Ritual of awkwardness. Paranoid realism. A hell in which we repeat the same thing every day. An attempt at transcendence and parting.

August Strindberg will be played by Ivana Uhlířová.

Ivan Buraj
Director and co-author of theatre texts, Ivan Buraj was born in Bratislava in 1988. In 2015, he became HaDivadlo’s artistic director and authored a series of interpretations of classic plays by Chekhov, Ibsen, Havel or Gorky (the Divadelni noviny Award in 2019) and adaptations of complex novels such as The Sleepwalkers by Hermann Broch (project of the year according to the ...pristi vlna/next wave festival… in 2017), I’m not Stiller by Max Frisch in Studio Hrdinů, Cosmos by Witold Gombrowicz at the New Stage of the National Theatre or Gianna Molinari’s Everything Is Still Possible Here at the Drama Theater of Ústí nad Labem. His latest production Just the End of the World by French playwright Jean-Luc Lagarce was performed at the International festival Divadlo in Plzen, among other places. His artistic direction of HaDivadlo can be characterized by long-term development of engaged and overlapping repertoire that led for example to the creation of film remediations (Provincials, Eyolf) or collaboration with CET’s platform called Terén.

Jan Kristek
Architect and curator Jan Kristek studied architecture and urbanism at the Faculty of Architecture of TU in Brno and at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna. He was the Dean of the Faculty of Architecture in Brno between 2018 and 2022 and he is currently the head of a studio at the same faculty. His work focuses mainly on curating and exhibition design. He co-designed the stage for the Night of the Tribades with Paulina Závacká as part of their very first project in theatre.

Paulína Závacká
Architect and visual artist, Paulína Závacká studied at the Faculty of Architecture of TU in Brno and is currently a PhD student at the Academy of Fine Arts in Bratislava where she works at the Department of Architectural Design under the supervision of Ján Studený. Exploration of the relationship between architecture and landscape is at the centre of her work. She is interested in the confrontation of natural and human forces in physical space, human’s fear of nature and attempts at human attempts to control it.
She was in the studio of landscape and garden architecture Partero in Brno where she created a playground concept which was later implemented in Sobotecká street in Prague. Alongside her architectural work, she is seasonally involved in flower arranging in her personal art project Pauline's Flowers. She co-created the stage design for the Night of the Tribades with Jan Kristek as part of their very first project in theatre.