The Drama Club (Czech: ''Činoherní klub'') is a theatre located in

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and List of cities in the Czech Republic, largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 milli ...

. The Drama Club was founded by

Ladislav Smoček Ladislav Smoček (born 24 August 1932, Prague, Czechoslovakia) is a Czech writer, playwright and theater director. Biography He comes from a family with a military tradition. His father was an officer in The Czechoslovakian Army. After studyi ...

and

Jaroslav Vostrý Jaroslav (also written as Yaroslav or Jarosław in other Slavic languages) is a Czech and Slovak first name, pagan in origin. There are several possible origins of the name Jaroslav. It is very likely that originally the two elements of the nam ...

. The opening performance of ''Piknik'' took place on 3 March 1965. The actors in the 1970s and 1980s included

Petr Čepek Petr Čepek (16 September 1940 – 20 September 1994) was a Czech actor. Life He studied acting at Theatre Faculty of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague at the same class as Ladislav Mrkvička, Josef Abrhám, Jiří Krampol or Jana Drbo ...

Pavel Landovský Pavel Landovský (11 September 1936 – 10 October 2014), nicknamed Lanďák, was a Czech actor, playwright, and director. He was a prominent dissident under the communist regime of former Czechoslovakia. Biography Landovský was born in Havl ...

Josef Somr Josef Somr (14 April 1934 – 16 October 2022) was a Czech actor. He was noted for starring in the Oscar-winning 1966 film ''Closely Watched Trains'', as well as in '' The Joke''. Early life Somr was born in Vracov, Czechoslovakia, on 14 Apri ...

Jiří Kodet Jiří Kodet (6 December 1937 – 25 June 2005) was a Czech actor. He appeared in more than ninety films between 1951 and 2003. His mother Jiřina Steimarová and his daughter Barbora Kodetová are also actresses. Selected filmography Refe ...

, Jirina Trebicka,

Libuše Šafránková Libuše Šafránková (7 June 1953 – 9 June 2021, married as ''Abrhámová'') was a Czech actress. Her husband was actor Josef Abrhám. Her breakthrough was the title role in the 1973 film '' Three Nuts for Cinderella'', which is considered ...

and

Josef Abrhám Josef Abrhám (14 December 1939 – 16 May 2022) was a Czech film and theatre actor. Biography He originally began studying acting at Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava and later moved to Theatre Faculty of the Academy of Performing Arts i ...

. On 19 November 1989, two days after the

Velvet revolution The Velvet Revolution ( cs, Sametová revoluce) or Gentle Revolution ( sk, Nežná revolúcia) was a non-violent transition of power in what was then Czechoslovakia, occurring from 17 November to 28 November 1989. Popular demonstrations agains ...

, the

Civic Forum The Civic Forum (Czech: ''Občanské fórum'', OF) was a political movement in the Czech part of Czechoslovakia, established during the Velvet Revolution in 1989. The corresponding movement in Slovakia was called Public Against Violence ( Slovak ...

was founded there. The Drama Club was awarded Alfréd Radok Award in category ''Theatre of the Year'' in 2002, and 2008. The current actors include

Jaromír Dulava Jaromír Dulava (born 18 December 1960) is a Czech actor. Selected filmography Film * '' Housata'' (1980) * ''The Inheritance or Fuckoffguysgoodday'' (1992) * '' Černí baroni'' (1992) * ''Dark Blue World'' (2001) * ''Román pro ženy'' (2001 ...

Ivana Chýlková Ivana Chýlková (born 27 September 1963) is a Czech actress. She appeared in more than eighty films since 1983. In 1985, she graduated from DAMU Damu ( sux, 𒀭𒁕𒈬) was a Mesopotamian god. While originally regarded as a dying god co ...

Ondřej Vetchý Ondřej Vetchý (born 16 May 1962) is a Czech actor. He was born in Jihlava, Czechoslovakia. He is currently employed at The Drama Club (DC) in Prague. Notable performances * 2005 – Katurian in ''The Pillowman'', DC * 2004 – Carluccio i ...

and

Petr Nárožný Petr Nárožný (born 14 April 1938)) is a Czech actor, television presenter, comedian, and entertainer. Life and career As a boy, Nárožný spent part of World War II in Germany, where he experienced Allied bombings. He graduated from the Fac ...

Selected performances

*2008 – ''Ptákovina'' ('' The Blunder'') by

Milan Kundera Milan Kundera (, ; born 1 April 1929) is a Czech writer who went into exile in France in 1975, becoming a naturalised French citizen in 1981. Kundera's Czechoslovak citizenship was revoked in 1979, then conferred again in 2019. He "sees himself ...

, directed by Ladislav Smoček *2006 – ''American Buffalo'' by

David Mamet David Alan Mamet (; born November 30, 1947) is an American playwright, filmmaker, and author. He won a Pulitzer Prize and received Tony nominations for his plays ''Glengarry Glen Ross'' (1984) and '' Speed-the-Plow'' (1988). He first gained cri ...

, d.

Ondřej Sokol Ondřej Sokol (born 16 October 1971), is a Czech director, actor, television presenter and translator. Personal life Sokol was born at Šumperk, Czechoslovakia. After studying five years at Theatre Faculty of the Academy of Performing Arts i ...

*2005 – ''

The Pillowman ''The Pillowman'' is a 2003 play by British-Irish playwright Martin McDonagh. It received its first public reading in an early version at the Finborough Theatre, London, in 1995, also a final and completed version of the play was publicly read ...

'' by Martin McDonagh, d. Ondřej Sokol *2004 – ''

The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia? ''The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia?'' is a full-length play written in 2000 by Edward Albee which opened on Broadway in 2002. It won the 2002 Tony Award for Best Play, the 2002 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Play, and was a finalist for the 2003 ...

'' by Edward Albee, d.

Martin Čičvák Martin may refer to: Places * Martin City (disambiguation) * Martin County (disambiguation) * Martin Township (disambiguation) Antarctica * Martin Peninsula, Marie Byrd Land * Port Martin, Adelie Land * Point Martin, South Orkney Islands Austra ...

, co-production with Slovak Arena Theatre *2004 – ''

Sexual Perversity in Chicago ''Sexual Perversity in Chicago'' is a play written by David Mamet that examines the sex lives of two men and two women in the 1970s. The play is filled with profanity and regional jargon that reflects the working-class language of Chicago. The c ...

'' by

, d. Ondřej Sokol *2002 – ''

The Lonesome West ''The Lonesome West'' is a play by British-Irish playwright Martin McDonagh, part of his Connemara trilogy, which includes ''The Beauty Queen of Leenane'' and ''A Skull in Connemara''. All three plays depict the murderous occurrences in the we ...

'' by Martin McDonagh, d. Ondřej Sokol *2000 – ''Return to the Desert'' by

Bernard-Marie Koltès Bernard-Marie Koltès (; 9 April 1948 – 15 April 1989) was a French playwright and theatre director best known for his plays ''La Nuit juste avant les Forêts'' (''The Night Just Before the Forests'', 1976), ''Sallinger'' (1977) and ''Dans la ...

, d. Roman Polák *1992 – ''

The Miser ''The Miser'' (french: L'Avare; ; also known by the longer name ''L'Avare ou L'École du Mensonge,'' meaning The Miser, or the School for Lies) is a five-act comedy in prose by the French playwright Molière. It was first performed on September ...

'' by

Molière Jean-Baptiste Poquelin (, ; 15 January 1622 (baptised) – 17 February 1673), known by his stage name Molière (, , ), was a French playwright, actor, and poet, widely regarded as one of the greatest writers in the French language and worl ...

, d. Vladimír Strnisko *1991 – ''Mumraj'' (''The Dance of Fools'') by

Leo Birinski Leo Birinski (June 8, 1884 – October 23, 1951) was a playwright, screenwriter and director. He worked in Austria-Hungary, Germany and in the United States. As a playwright in Europe, he gained his biggest popularity from 1910 – 1917 bu ...

, d. Ladislav Smoček *1989 – ''I Served the King of England'' by

Bohumil Hrabal Bohumil Hrabal (; 28 March 1914 – 3 February 1997) was a Czech writer, often named among the best Czech writers of the 20th century. Early life Hrabal was born in Židenice (suburb of Brno) on 28 March 1914, in what was then the province ...

, d. Ivo Krobot *1986 – ''

Noises Off ''Noises Off'' is a 1982 play by the English playwright Michael Frayn. Frayn conceived the idea in 1970 while watching from the wings a performance of '' The Two of Us'', a farce that he had written for Lynn Redgrave. He said, "It was funnier ...

'' by

Michael Frayn Michael Frayn, FRSL (; born 8 September 1933) is an English playwright and novelist. He is best known as the author of the farce '' Noises Off'' and the dramas ''Copenhagen'' and ''Democracy''. His novels, such as '' Towards the End of the M ...

, d. Jiří Menzel *1982 – ''The Gamblers '' by Nikolai Gogol, d. Ladislav Smoček *1981 – ''Něžný barbar'' by Bohumil Hrabal, d. Ivo Krobot *1981 – ''Geschichten aus dem Wienerwald'' by

Ödön von Horváth Edmund Josef von Horváth (9 December 1901, Sušak, Rijeka, Austria-Hungary – 1 June 1938, Paris France) was an Austro-Hungarian playwright and novelist who wrote in German, and went by the name of ''nom de guerre'' Ödön von Horváth. He was ...

, d. Ladislav Smoček *1978 – ''Tři v tom'' by Jaroslav Vostrý, d. Jiří Menzel *1970 – ''Hurá na Bastilu'' by Jan Vodňanský and

Petr Skoumal Petr Skoumal (7 March 1938 – 28 September 2014) was a Czech musician and composer. Skoumal focused on film music. He also composed music for animated shorts (i.e. '' Maxipes Fik''). In the past he made several stage performances with Jan V ...

, d. Petr Skoumal *1969 – ''Hodinový hoteliér'' by Pavel Landovský, d.

Evald Schorm Evald Schorm (15 December 1931 – 14 December 1988) was a Czech film and stage director, screenwriter and actor. He directed 26 films between 1959 and 1988. Schorm was a notable exponent of the Czech Film New Wave. Biography Schorm was bo ...

*1967 – '' The Birthday Party'' by Harold Pinter, d. Jaroslav Vostrý *1967 – ''

The Government Inspector ''The Government Inspector'', also known as ''The Inspector General'' ( rus, links=no, Ревизор, Revizor, literally: "Inspector"), is a satirical play by Russian dramatist and novelist, Nikolai Gogol. Originally published in 1836, the pl ...

'' by Nikolai Gogol, d.

Jan Kačer Jan Kačer (born 3 October 1936) is a Czech actor and film director. He appeared in more than sixty films since 1960. Life He studied acting at DAMU. He was an actor and a director in The Drama Club and later Theatre on the Balustrade. Kačer ...

*1966 – ''

Crime and Punishment ''Crime and Punishment'' ( pre-reform Russian: ; post-reform rus, Преступление и наказание, Prestupléniye i nakazániye, prʲɪstʊˈplʲenʲɪje ɪ nəkɐˈzanʲɪje) is a novel by the Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky. ...

'' by

Fyodor Dostoyevsky Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky (, ; rus, Фёдор Михайлович Достоевский, Fyódor Mikháylovich Dostoyévskiy, p=ˈfʲɵdər mʲɪˈxajləvʲɪdʑ dəstɐˈjefskʲɪj, a=ru-Dostoevsky.ogg, links=yes; 11 November 18219 ...

, d. Evald Schorm *1966 – ''Dr. Burke's Strange Afternoon '', written and directed by Ladislav Smoček *1965 – ''Piknik'', written and directed by Ladislav Smoček

External links

Official websiteEUTA
- entry in EUTA database Theatres in Prague Theatres completed in 1965 1965 establishments in Czechoslovakia Velvet Revolution 20th-century architecture in the Czech Republic {{Europe-theat-struct-stub