A pioneer, an investigator, a guide, a prostitute, but also Václav Havel when he was not yet president, or the popular singers Miro Žbirka and Pavol Habera will appear on the stage of the East Bohemian Theater in Pardubice. On Saturday, a new production of the comedy about time travel by Tomáš Dianiška called Atomová kočička will premiere here.
Directed by Robert Bellan, the main roles were played by Karolína Šafránková, Josef Láska, Petr Borovec and Veronika Malá. The Saturday and Sunday premieres are followed by the nearest reruns on October 23 and 24.
“It’s science fiction that takes place in 2016, almost in the present, and a part in 1989 at the beginning of the revolution,” outlines dramaturg Jana Uherová. He describes the novel as a bit of a horror comedy about three brilliant students of the department of applied physics who accidentally create a time machine from an automatic washing machine and thus get to the past.
Typically for the director and perhaps the most played contemporary Czech playwright Tomáš Dianiška, currently associated mainly with Prague’s Divadle pod Palmovka, the play is full of references to pop culture. “When a person sees the production, he is able to realize many things. A young person does not understand something like an older person, but it is possible to understand a greater number of references,” believes the dramaturg.
Atomic Cat was directed by Dianiška himself for the first time in 2016 at the FX Šaldy Theater in Liberec, for which he was nominated for the Mark Ravenhill Award. In contrast to this version, working with the realities of the Liberec martial arts dormitories, the author of the current adaptation, Robert Bellan, transferred the plot to the Pardubice environment. “Tomas and I have the same sense of humor, but his games have an overlap, he also deals with more serious topics against the background of humor,” notes Bellan.
Some actors will present themselves in multiple roles on the stage of the East Bohemian Theater in Pardubice. According to Bellan, it should not interfere with the fact that he will play both young students and older characters at the same time.
The musical accompaniment of the comedy consists of fragments of contemporary popular music and, in contrast, folk songs reworked into a techno form. Atomic Cat is the name of the student band that plays them. The project will include front and rear projections. The stage was created by Nikola Tempír and Jana Kahounová, the costumes were designed by Šárka Bellanová, and the choreography was devised by Petra Mori.