Word: czechs
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...autobiographical. It's true that the play, entitled Leaving, and has echoes of Shakespeare's King Lear, tells the story of a top official leaving office -as former President Havel did in 2003. Some of its characters seem easily recognizable to those familiar with Czech politics. But Havel is not being disingenuous: The lead character, an aging politician named Vilem Rieger, is far too humorless to represent the former dissident who once scored Lou Reed an after-dinner gig at the White House. "I was interested in the more existential side of things," Havel told reporters in Prague this week...
...Havel may not be recounting his own life story, but he is clearly drawing on his experience as one of the leading figures of Eastern Europe's democratic transformation. Czech audiences are being offered a rare perspective on a pivotal period in eastern European history. So far, they appear to like what they see. The 71-year-old playwright attended the opening with his actress wife (who was originally cast in the play but dropped out at the last moment) and received a 10-minute standing ovation. He thanked the audience quickly and then rushed off stage...
...Reviewers are praising the play for its artistic and historical sweep; allusions range from Shakespeare's King Lear to Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard, and the troubled history of the Czech republic. An English version is scheduled to open in London in September...
...Havel is famous in the Czech Republic for his understatement. But his friends and colleagues know him more as a behind-the-scenes master of ceremonies. In Leaving, for example, he includes himself in the play not as a character but as a kind of chorus. Interlaced throughout the script are comments about the creative process which director David Radok has Havel himself voice as the actors freeze on stage. The effect is odd, at first but, in the end adds a fitting layer of ironic detachment. Characteristically, Havel's main stage direction during the play is to tell...
...disappointments, generally seemed more inclined to compliment than to complain. Though Macedonia packed its bags in disgust, Georgia and Ukraine managed to put some positive spin on events. And though Washington was disappointed, there was success for the U.S. on its plans for a missile defense system after the Czech Republic agreed to allow a radar system to be built there...