Related articles
ArtsVisa agency head outlines which Czech musicians play in the US, where they play – and who they play to
The New York-based company Tamizdat brings music from central and eastern
Europe to an American audience. They also act as an agency helping
musicians get work visas to perform in the US, and handle the applications
of virtually every Czech musician who plays in America. For that reason,
Tamizdat owner Matthew Covey has an extensive knowledge of Czech artists
and the US – which groups visit the States, where they play, and who they
play to.
More
ArtsVáclav Havel - "Leaving", but also returning
In this week's Arts, a look at the first new play by former Czech president
Václav Havel in twenty years. "Leaving" - about a politician's
painful adjustment to a new life after leaving politics - opened at
Prague's Archa Theatre on May 22nd, marking a return to the stage for Mr
Havel, a world-renowned playwright when he entered politics in 1989.
More
Czech BooksVaclav Havel reenters the stage
It was the literary headline of the year, when Vaclav Havel’s first play
for nearly two decades was published a few weeks ago and we can be every
bit as sure that the first performance of the play next year at Prague’s
Na Vinohradech Theatre, will be a huge event. When Havel became president
after the spectacular fall of the communist regime in 1989, many predicted
that he would never write again. The new play “Odchazeni” (Leaving)
proves them wrong. Not only has Havel shown that he can still write, but he
has also drawn directly from his political experiences, with a plot that
will inevitably make audiences look for parallels in his own extraordinary
career. To talk about the play I caught up with Jitka Sloupova who
represents Vaclav Havel for the literary agency Aura Pont. I asked her how
difficult she thought it was for Havel to return to writing.
More
One on OnePrague-based documentary-maker Keith Jones
My guest for One on One this week is Keith Jones, whom some of you may have
heard on Radio Prague once or twice in his capacity as Programme Director
of Prague's popular Music on Film, Film on Music festival. Besides his
involvement with this annual showcase of music documentaries, Keith Jones
is also a documentary-maker in his own right and has worked on acclaimed
films such as Fighter, a poignant award-winning study of two elderly Czech
Jews sharing their experiences of World War II and the Holocaust. More
Current AffairsTom Stoppard's Rock'n'Roll "comes home" with Czech premiere
The red carpet was out on Thursday evening for the Czech premiere of the
latest play by the renowned British playwright Tom Stoppard. He was born
in Czechoslovakia, and the play, Rock'n'Roll, is partly set in Prague; it
begins with the Soviet crushing of the Prague Spring in 1968 and ends with
a Rolling Stones concert at the city's Strahov stadium in 1990.
More
MailboxMailbox
Today in Mailbox: We reveal the mystery man from our December 2006
competition and announce the four lucky winners. Later in the programme,
you will find out the new quiz question for January. Listeners quoted:
Bogdan Stoican, Colin Law, Gordon Martindale, Annette Harris, Vijay
Khanna, Colin Rose, Teodor Shepertycki, Mary Lou Krenek.
More
Talking PointThirty years since birth of Charter 77 human rights initiative
Thirty years ago a handful of people met in a flat in Prague to discuss the
communist regime's failure to observe fundamental human rights. What grew
out of that meeting was to become the first dissident movement in the
Soviet bloc, a movement which played a key role in bringing about the end
of totalitarian communism in Czechoslovakia. And, perhaps typically for a
country that seems to produce more than its fair share of oddities and
idiosyncracies, it all began with a psychedelic rock band. More
Current AffairsIvan Martin 'Magor' Jirous awarded 2006 Jaroslav Seifert Prize
One of the legends of the Czech underground, Ivan Martin Jirous (1944), has
been awarded the 2006 Jaroslav Seifert Prize for literary achievement. The
moment that many thought would never come was made official on Monday
evening, when Ivan Jirous stood on stage inside Prague's St. Anne's church
amongst a crowd of well-wishers and supporters, to accept official
recognition for his poetry, and a recently published 500-page collection
of his letters from prison.
More
PanoramaVaclav Havel celebrates 70th birthday with hundreds of friends
The country's first post-communist president Vaclav Havel celebrates his
70th birthday on Thursday, so this week he invited a few friends round to
eat, drink and be merry. Just a few friends - around 1,000 - who queued up
outside the medieval St Anne's Church in the Old Town - a deconsecrated
building which is now home to Mr Havel's Prague Crossroads cultural
centre. They were there to pay homage to the man who did so much to bring
about the fall of communism, and so much in the first 13 years after it.
Among the well-wishers was Monika Pajerova, a student leader in 1989 who
helped organise the mass demonstrations against the regime: More
+1
