New play by Vaclav Havel

We waited 18 years for a new theater piece by Havel, and now it is possible to buy it in Czech bookshops. There has been a lot of buzzing around it, and as there is still some time left before the play could be seen, we can expect it to go on. His play is on the programme of theater Na Vinohradech in the end. Vaclav Havel’s new play is called Odchazeni (Leaving)

In the center of the play is a Havel’s typical indecisive, even weak intellectual, put in front of an important moral decision. Odchazeni is a story of a man leaving a high-ranking political position. The dilemma is, unlike in most of Havel’s plays, down-to-earth – the problem is simply the ex-politician leaving ‘his’ politic villa. What does Havel say about autobiographic-ness of the play?: “I think some journalists or viewers may try to see it that way … but I started writing this play back in 1980’s.”

On the other hand, Vaclav Havel admits that years in the presidential post provided him with various situations and motifs. Especially with new possibilities, as we can read phrases such as “…by that, we would increase employment, which would decrease unemployment.” Havel was always a master of a phrase damasking. For whom was the play written? Havel:

“… Odchazeni was written, just like my previous plays, for anyone interested and willing to come and watch … my pieces have been staged all over the world for all kinds of audiences.”

Odchazeni is being translated into English and other languages.