For Beauty at The National Theatre

One of the most influential Czech theatre-makers, the playwright, dramaturge, stage director, critic and essayist Karel Hugo Hilar (1885–1935), born Karel Bakule, joined the National Theatre in Prague in 1921, at the height of his creative powers. As historians have put it, he entered “a very turbulent and hostile territory”. Hilar himself wrote: “The endeavour to attain style in modern theatre is an endeavour to make it turn inwards. The coming to understand that the art’s only objective is to create beauty”. Our new production will pay tribute to a great spirit, a truly distinguished figure, an artist who advanced Czech art miles forward and whose words are just as exciting today as they were a century ago. By no means a dry biographic interpretation, its aim is to conduct a live dialogue with those who have established the Czech theatre tradition. Let us try to imagine what it could be like to be in K. H. Hilar’s skin …