2024-05-13 15:26:09
They inhabit two completely different worlds. He is a senior citizen and is deathly afraid of migrants. She is a journalist and she tries to understand people like him, even though they keep closing doors in her face. Director Viliam Dočolomanský theatrically adapted the story of the first Czech terrorist and journalist Ivana Svobodová. The production called Czech Hero will have its next reruns on May 13 and 14 at the Dox Contemporary Art Center in Prague.
Jaromír Balda’s story was described by the media seven years ago. At the time, the 70-year-old supporter of the SPD movement was so afraid of migrants that he decided to take action. He felled two trees on the railway line, causing an accident of passenger trains. He scattered leaflets around, which were supposed to give the impression that the act was caused by Islamists. Senior wanted to rouse politicians from inactivity. In 2019, he was sentenced to four years in prison as the first Czech convicted of a terrorist attack. He served two-thirds of his sentence.
Ivana Svobodová, a journalist from the Respekt weekly, began to investigate his fate. She spent time with Baldo’s wife Helena, found out information about the local SPD cell, wanted to understand who the senior citizen was, how he lived and why he fell for misinformation. It was her approach that appealed to the director Dočolomanský when he decided to treat the topic of disinformation theatrically with his internationally awarded ensemble Farma v jeskyn. The resulting work combining movement theater, video, film and live music called Český hrdina, which had its premiere last week, represents a dialogue between a pensioner from Mladoboleslavsk and a journalist from Prague. However, Docholomanský points out that this is not a faithful portrait of either of them, rather he was loosely inspired by them.
Director Viliam Dočolomanský, artistic director of the Farma v jeskyn ensemble. | Photo: archive of Viliam Dočolomanský
During the preparations, the director also interviewed other people involved in the disinformation scene. For example, with security analyst Roman Máca or Bohumil Kartous from the Internet group Czech Elves. But he was most interested in the journalist Svobodová. “She is very spontaneous and so curious that she can’t rest. She wants to find out what’s going on inside these people, how they live, think and what they grow in their garden. She goes to them repeatedly, has a beer with them and chats. She exposes herself to hateful reactions. She tries to understand what is incomprehensible to her, and thus does the work for all of us,” lists Dočolomanský.
But she warns against an idealized perception of this work – the production Český hrdin also shows that the reporter is usually met with rejection. “Let’s not have the misconception that we are remaking the other. But even so, it is beneficial if Ivana at least walks among them. Then they see that she is a person like them, a woman who can be talked to. This helps to at least partially bridge the trenches created by disinformation propaganda, ” says the director.
He was primarily interested in the human dimension of the spread of disinformation. He points out how strong and easily abused is the bond between a politician and a voter, how important is the relationship between these two worlds and that they mirror each other, which Bald’s case also shows. “He trusted Tomio Okamura so much that he would do everything possible for him. But no one should play with human trust,” says the artist.
He deliberately conceived the work as a satire. “We draw attention to the absurdity of the current situation in our society as such, but we don’t make fun of any of the actors. It occurred to me that we all need a liberating laugh or at least a smile at the beginning, so that the show doesn’t become a headache about the world’s problems,” says the director. And fortunately, the audience has fun with the Czech hero. However, according to the creator, it is crucial that the laughter fades towards the end. He tried to show that Ivana Svobodová and others feel frustration or misunderstanding at first, but in the end they do not judge those who have succumbed to misinformation.
Heal society
The Czech Hero production concludes the year-long Online Hero project on disinformation and political marketing, on which Farma v jeskyna collaborated with experts such as Norwegian journalist and extremism specialist Øyvind Strømmen and digital anthropologist Maria Heřmanová. It included an exhibition, a documentary and professional lectures and workshops.
According to Dočolomanský, the resulting shape is a collective work. Members of the Farma v jeskyni ensemble were present at the interviews with the experts. Through improvisation, they then came up with their own ideas on how to depict the issue in motion. “It is important that everyone tunes in to the topic and feels that it is also personally important to them. Then we move on to improvisation and select key details from it,” he describes the creation process, adding that he directs, guides and helps the performers in their themes create individual movement characters. “Everyone puts a piece of themselves into it, so the personal themes of the performers are also reflected there,” he adds.
The Czech hero works with movement satire. Performer uses Bald’s signature crutch as a dance aid. | Photo: Michal Hančovský
According to Docholomanský, the company began to deal more significantly with the issue of deliberate manipulations only in recent years – roughly after the beginning of Russian aggression in Ukraine. According to him, until then we knew about the disinformation, but we just silently suffered it. “We are reacting very late. Society is more divided than it used to be, which is shown, for example, at every election,” he observes.
Does movement theater even have anything to say about such a serious matter? “Current topics are often connected with words and information. But words cannot always be trusted at a time when we are overwhelmed by information. So the challenge to transfer this topic to the body is a way to work with it,” he believes. “Theater based on the combination of movement and music touches emotions and evokes associations. This, in my view, is more engaging and enriching than learning information in a documentary way,” he compares.
The director is convinced that we can take away a literally physical experience from the theater of movement. “Emotional experience is deeper and more interesting than when we analyze something. That kind of communication disappears from our lives. We also lose contact with ourselves,” he says. “We show not only that it is possible to work with the topic of disinformation at the level of the body and experience, but also that it is possible to maintain a liberating perspective while doing so. And that it is possible to communicate about it without it dividing us. in the world of events, it is important that we can at least be together in the most fundamental. And not in hatred,” he urges.
Video: Balda was Okamura’s fanatical supporter
The groups around Tomio Okamura create fear in people, journalist Ivana Svobodová commented on the verdict on Jaromír Balda on DVtv in 2019. | Video: Daniela Drtinová