Little Room

Nothing has happened for years, and suddenly all happens at once. It is today that Marie, one of the two daughters, is celebrating her thirtieth birthday. It is today that her sister Lída wants to introduce her suitor Victor to her family and spend the night with him. It is today that their brother Jirka comes to hide himself at his parents’ place to avoid military service. The little kitchen of the prefab apartment is bursting at the seams. The girl’s room will be too tiny for Marie, who has been shunning her parents for five years already. The cage will be too tight for the sparrow ordered to repeat ‘definite masculine article in German’. And even the classical dramatic form proves to be too tight.

Written by J.A. Pitínský (*1955), one of the most important figures of post-1989 Czech drama, the play builds a bridge between bourgeois tragedy and Alfred Jarry. ‘’I don’t believe that any other Czech-language author would be better at putting into words the mysteries of human relationships …‘’ said Petr Lébl, under whose direction The Girl’s Room was first staged (Divadlo Na zábradlí, 1993). Thirty years later, Pitínský’s play will return on stage under the direction of Anna Davidová as one of the major events of the upcoming theatrical season.