2024-10-03 23:44:23
The famous Jizerská 50 cross-country race is commemorated in a new production of the Liberec Naivní Theater, which focuses on creations for children. The actors will be wearing skis. They mentally complete the entire fifty-kilometer race, which takes place every year in the Jizera Mountains.
The story of the news called Do stopy! it depicts the entire course of the race from start to finish, says director Martin Tichý. “We tried to show that it’s not easy, that it’s a challenge and a lifetime experience. Really something where you reach the bottom and don’t have to make it,” emphasizes the creator, who considers the race to be extremely difficult. “We also wanted it to be a tribute both to those who have completed it at any time and also to the organizers,” he adds.
The production premieres for schools this Wednesday and Thursday, and the public will see it on Friday, October 4. The author describes it as grotesque, where little is said, but at the same time it has a documentary track.
“We got access to old photos from the organizers. They show how it used to be and how children today don’t even know it anymore. For example, how skis used to be greased. So there is also a projection that lasts almost the entire performance. We change the photos and the audience will be able to see what the refreshment stations looked like, the mass start, the falls,” the director enumerates.
The action is accompanied by a spoken sports commentary, which introduces the audience to interesting facts from the history and progress of the race. It has been held since 1968 on a track leading through the Jizera Mountains and approximately 50 kilometers long.
For the actors, the rehearsals, during which they had to move around the stage on cross-country skis for an hour, were physically exhausting. “One actress says that it is an excellent fitness exercise, she lost about five kilograms after a month,” notes Tichý. Among others, Adam Kubišta, a member of the group who completed the race, will be on stage.
The actors will wear original numbers from one year of the race. However, unlike in reality, the winner in the theater will be given in advance. “He’s a professional, that’s why he’ll win. But then, of course, there are hobbyists, and that’s where the race is,” adds the director. Ski amateurs are called hobbyists.
The production is intended for both children from five years of age and adults. Tichý created it with the playwright Tomáš Syrovátka, with whom he had already prepared other sports-themed titles such as The Tale of Rašek or The Tale of Liazka at the Naivní divadlo. “This is a bit different. Mainly in that the Tale of Rašek is based on Ota Pavla’s book, and the performance about the Jizerská 50 is a kind of grotesque made up of various situations where there is less talking and more movement,” the director compares.
Thanks to a public appeal, the theater managed to get an unexpected amount of skis, poles, boots and other winter equipment from real cross-country skiers. The author of the expedition, Kamil Bělohlávek, also used this. “There were so many runners that we turned them into a scene,” adds Martin Tichý.