''Pictures from the Insects' Life'' ( cs, Ze života hmyzu) – also known as ''The Insect Play'', ''The Life of the Insects'', ''The Insect Comedy'', ''The World We Live In'' and ''From Insect Life'' – is a

satirical Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of shaming or e ...

play that was written in Czech by the

Brothers Čapek The Brothers Čapek were Josef and Karel Čapek, Czech writers who sometimes wrote together. They are commemorated both for their literary/artistic works and political activism against oppressive government. Their house is now a cultural monument ...

(

Karel Karel may refer to: People * Karel (given name) * Karel (surname) * Charles Karel Bouley, talk radio personality known on air as Karel * Christiaan Karel Appel, Dutch painter Business * Karel Electronics, a Turkish electronics manufacturer * Gr ...

and Josef), who collaborated on 4 stage works, of which this is the most famous. It was published in 1921 and premiered in

1922 Events January * January 7 – Dáil Éireann (Irish Republic), Dáil Éireann, the parliament of the Irish Republic, ratifies the Anglo-Irish Treaty by 64–57 votes. * January 10 – Arthur Griffith is elected President of Dáil Éirean ...

. In the play, a tramp/narrator falls asleep in the woods and dreams of observing a range of

insect Insects (from Latin ') are pancrustacean hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body ( head, thorax and abdomen), three pairs ...

s that stand in for various human characteristics in terms of their lifestyle and morality: the flighty, vain

butterfly Butterflies are insects in the macrolepidopteran clade Rhopalocera from the Order (biology), order Lepidoptera, which also includes moths. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. The ...

, the obsequious, self-serving

dung beetle Dung beetles are beetles that feed on feces. Some species of dung beetles can bury dung 250 times their own mass in one night. Many dung beetles, known as ''rollers'', roll dung into round balls, which are used as a food source or breeding cha ...

, the ants, whose increasingly mechanized behaviour leads to a militaristic society. The

anthropomorphized Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human traits, emotions, or intentions to non-human entities. It is considered to be an innate tendency of human psychology. Personification is the related attribution of human form and characteristics t ...

insects allow the writers to comment allegorically on life in post-

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

Translations

The first English version of the play was ''The Insect Play or And So Ad Infinitium'', translated by Paul Selver, and adapted by Nigel Playfair and

Clifford Bax Clifford Lea Bax (13 July 1886 – 18 November 1962)Armorial Families: A Directory of Gentlemen of Coat-Armour, A. C. Fox-Davies, T. C. & E. C. Jack, 1910, p. 106 was a versatile English writer, known particularly as a playwright, a journalist, ...

published in 1923.Peter Kussi, ''Toward the Radical Center: a Karel Čapek reader''. Highland Park, NJ: Catbird Press, 1990. (pp. 410–411) .The Brothers Čapek (1961) "R.U.R and the Insect Play" Oxford Paperbacks, p 106 Another English version of Selver's text was "The World We Live In" by

Owen Davis Owen Gould Davis (January 29, 1874 – October 14, 1956) was an American dramatist known for writing more than 200 plays and having most produced. In 1919, he became the first elected president of the Dramatists Guild of America. He received t ...

in 1933; both of these adaptations are incomplete. Act II of the play was translated by Robert T. Jones and Tatiana Firkušnỷ in 1990 for the book ''Towards the Radical Center:A Karel Čapek Reader''. Peter Majer and Cathy Porter published a complete English translation, titled ''The Insect Play'' for

Methuen Drama A & C Black is a British book publishing company, owned since 2002 by Bloomsbury Publishing. The company is noted for publishing ''Who's Who'' since 1849. It also published popular travel guides and novels. History The firm was founded in 180 ...

in 1999.

Production history

The play premiered in

at the National Theatre in

Brno Brno ( , ; german: Brünn ) is a city in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. Located at the confluence of the Svitava and Svratka rivers, Brno has about 380,000 inhabitants, making it the second-largest city in the Czech Republic ...

, Czechoslovakia. Successful American (1922) and British (5 May 1923) premieres followed.Jarka M. Burien, "Čapek, Karel" in Gabrielle H. Cody, Evert Sprinchorn (eds.) The Columbia Encyclopedia of Modern Drama, Volume One. Columbia University Press, 2007. , (pp. 224–5). BBC Television has presented the play three times, to varying critical response: first 30 May 1939, in a production by Stephen Thomas;

Radio Times ''Radio Times'' (currently styled as ''RadioTimes'') is a British weekly listings magazine devoted to television and radio programme schedules, with other features such as interviews, film reviews and lifestyle items. Founded in May 1923 by J ...

26 May 1939, issue 817 p14 then 28 May 1950 (Selver translation adapted and produced by Michael Barry, with

Bernard Miles Bernard James Miles, Baron Miles, CBE (27 September 190714 June 1991) was an English character actor, writer and director. He opened the Mermaid Theatre in London in 1959, the first new theatre that opened in the City of London since the 17th ce ...

as the tramp);

26 May 1950, Issue 1389 p44 then 19 June 1960 directed by Hal Burton.

17 June 1960 Issue 1910, p3, pp8-9John Wyver, "Twentieth Century Theatre: The Insect Play (BBC, 1960), 14 June 2011.
/ref> It was adapted for radio by Ian Cotterell and broadcast on 1 Sep 1975 on the

BBC Home Service The BBC Home Service was a national and regional radio station that broadcast from 1939 until 1967, when it was replaced by BBC Radio 4. History 1922–1939: Interwar period Between the early 1920s and the outbreak of World War II, the BBC ...

28 Aug 1975 Issue 2703 p31

Critical reception

''The Insect Play'' was often invoked in political discussions in the 1930s. E. M. Forster likened the conflict between the

British Union of Fascists The British Union of Fascists (BUF) was a British fascist political party formed in 1932 by Oswald Mosley. Mosley changed its name to the British Union of Fascists and National Socialists in 1936 and, in 1937, to the British Union. In 1939, fo ...

and the

Communist Party of Great Britain The Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) was the largest communist organisation in Britain and was founded in 1920 through a merger of several smaller Marxist groups. Many miners joined the CPGB in the 1926 general strike. In 1930, the CPG ...

to "a scene from ''The Insect Play''".

Ethel Mannin Ethel Edith Mannin (6 October 1900 – 5 December 1984) was a popular British novelist and travel writer, political activist and socialist. She was born in London. Life and career Mannin's father, Robert Mannin (d. 1948) was a member of the So ...

, writing in the anti-Stalinist magazine '' New Leader'' of July 6, 1936, described life in

Stalin's Russia Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secreta ...

as resembling ''The Insect Play''. Discussing ''The Insect Play'', Jarka M. Burien stated "Capek imbued the play with a vitality and color that made it a more fully entertaining theatrical experience than ''R.U.R.''". However, the 1960 BBC TV production was critically reviewed fifty years later, by a critic who called the text "pretentious and incoherent".

Adaptations

Several works have been inspired by the play.

Flann O'Brien Brian O'Nolan ( ga, Brian Ó Nualláin; 5 October 1911 – 1 April 1966), better known by his pen name Flann O'Brien, was an Irish civil service official, novelist, playwright and satirist, who is now considered a major figure in twentieth cen ...

produced a version of the play set in Ireland, ''Rhapsody in Stephen's Green''. This version was thought lost, but a copy of the play was discovered in 1994. Finnish composer Kalevi Aho composed an opera ''Hyönteiselämää'' (''Insect Life'') in 1987, which was submitted to a competition for the Savonlinna Opera Festival. Aho's opera lost to Paavo Heininen's ''Veitsi'', and was not performed until 1996 with the

Finnish National Opera The Finnish National Opera and Ballet ( fi, Suomen Kansallisooppera ja -baletti; sv, Finlands Nationalopera och -balett) is a Finnish opera company and ballet company based in Helsinki. It is headquartered in the Opera House on the coast of the T ...

(for which it received great acclaim). Aho also adapted material from his opera into a

symphony A symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, most often for orchestra. Although the term has had many meanings from its origins in the ancient Greek era, by the late 18th century the word had taken on the meaning com ...

, ''Hyönteissinfonia'' (''Insect Symphony''), which premiered in 1988. This work, Aho's Seventh Symphony, features six movements, each a portrait of a different species of insect and reflecting the satirical characterizations of the play. Another opera ''Zo života hmyzu'' (''From the Insects' Life'') based on the play was written by

Ján Cikker Ján Cikker (29 July 1911 – 21 December 1989) was a Slovaks, Slovak composer, a leading exponent of modern Slovak European classical music, classical music. He was awarded the title ''National Artist'' in Slovakia, the Herder Prize (1966) and th ...

and premiered in

Bratislava Bratislava (, also ; ; german: Preßburg/Pressburg ; hu, Pozsony) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Slovakia. Officially, the population of the city is about 475,000; however, it is estimated to be more than 660,000 — approxim ...

in 1987. Czech director

Jan Švankmajer Jan Švankmajer (; born 4 September 1934) is a Czech filmmaker and artist whose work spans several media. He is a self-labeled surrealist known for his stop-motion animations and features, which have greatly influenced other artists such as Terr ...

directed a film adaptation titled '' Insects''. Before the film was released, Švankmajer stated that it "will combine dark comedy, grotesque, classic horror genre, and both animation and feature acting." The film premiered at the IFF Rotterdam on 26 January 2018 and had a theatrical release in the Czech Republic on 19 February 2018.

References

{{Authority control 1921 plays Plays by Karel Čapek Fiction about insects Satirical plays Plays adapted into films