After a hellish week of high-pressure translating (still plugging away), a lost cat (found the next day), and technical difficulties (140 viruses removed, registry cleaned, pop-up blocker installed), Jitka treated me with tickets to a wonderful Czech adaptation of Tracy Letts’ 1993 cult hit Killer Joe (Zabijak Joe in Czech).
We saw the play at the Svandovo Theatre (Stefanikova 57, Prague 5), which puts on plays with English subtitles. It is recommended that English speakers sit in the balcony as the subtitles are shown on a narrow screen above the stage. However, if you have a decent knowledge of Czech language, sitting in the front row is a much better option.
While I missed the occasional line when watching the action, or, conversely, a bit of onstage action when straining my neck to look up at the screen, Killer Joe is definitely a play that should be seen up close – if you don’t mind inhaling second hand smoke and flinching when the actors spill, spit or fling beer, chicken, or meat loaf in surprise, rage or ‘drunkenness.’
The story and the dialogue are somewhat weak and trite, exploiting the American trailer trash stereotype that is no longer as comic as it is tragic. 
However the acting, stage design, and score more than compensate, particularly nice little Czech touches that make it seem like events are unfolding in the backwoods of Bizarro-dimension Moravia.
Plus, for me, there was the novelty of going to the theatre itself – the only other theatres I’ve set foot in since I moved to the Czech Republic were both in Brno: the first time to see a Czech version of West Side Story (I can’t stand musicals, and back then my Czech was piss-poor at best, but a very pretty blonde student invited me, so I sat through it – only to find out later that she was bulimic), the second to see a friend’s girlfriend act in a children’s play (actually, she was the girlfriend of a colleague of mine at what was once Molly Malones in Brno; she was having an affair with the friend. Man, did I ever feel bad about covering their asses�??).
Anyway, for something a little different, the subtitled plays at Svandovo are definitely worth checking out. You can see some top-notch Czech actors for a song (tickets for plays range from CZK 140 to CZK 240 – our front-row centre seats were CZK 140 apiece) then discuss the play over drinks in the theatre’s very attractive bar.
Apr 16, 10:26 (Filed under: Culture )
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