Axe

“I have a hypothesis about all these phenomena, and I am old enough to talk about them even with my father. Unfortunately, he is no longer alive. “

‍

Ludvík Vaculík's iconic journey following his brother driver through long detours and landscapes of his childhood, in which the life of his father returns to mind. A carpenter who built a house in a remote corner of Wallachia. A labourer who fed a family from faraway Persia. The opinionated chairman of the national committee. A husband who comes back in the morning. Skiers in the hills after dark. A conflicted father-in-law who needed to be right. A widower entering a new life. A father to be dealt with. Kismet!

‍

Go through my native village with the question of how much I am still here at home. Where's the water? A thousand times over the ground. New blocks of tenements. The geese banned the entrance to the nave and declared it a square. Someone creates facts, someone suffers from them. He has no choice but to turn to his inner newsroom, where he struggles for a direct view of the world. How to become so firm? Is that even the goal when our own memory is changing? What passes for us? How to regain sharp vision?

‍

Sekyra, published in 1966, became one of the most important Czech novels of the 20th century. Vaculík's testimony of profound social transformation in the 1950s and personal responsibility resonates with his search for his place in a politically, ideologically and humanly polarized society even today. Anchored in the past, confused from the present, he seeks to come about a clearer view of himself, the outside world and the future.

‍

The meeting of director Břetislav Rychlík with the author and friend Ludvík Vaculík and his long-time theatre colleague, actor and in this case also dramaturg, Cyril Drozda. The production originates in HaDivadlo's 50th season as a reminder and reflection of its dissident roots.

‍

Thanks: Michal Stránský, Zdeněk Ptáček, Ondřej and Jan Vaculík

The production of Sekyr was financially supported by Plum Production, s.r.o.