Spitfire Company

www.bezhlavi.cz Spitfire Company

new physical theatre

Synopsis of the play The World of CondemnedThe story is narrated retrospectively by Jiří Jarkovsky, who’s been convicted of double murder and sentenced to 40 years of prison. Jiří Jarkovsky is a painter who brought his psychopathic dream visions into the life of his family. The character of this insane genius is depicted by two people: Jan Miko, painter, who creates an original painting during the performance, and an actor, Petr Vaněk. The painter is Jarkovsky imprisoned, after the murders, the actor mir-rors Jarkovsky’s memories, his past.

1st Scene - flashbackFrida’s birthday. Jarkovsky invites himself to Frida’s birthday party. But Frida, his wife, is rejecting him. He gets angry and starts dancing a devilish ha-banera. It reveals more about relationships between him, his lover, his wife and her lover. Two love triangles are portrayed and become the base for the dramatic line of the performance. In this dance the brutality and insensitivity of the protagonist become obvious. In the background Jan Miko is working on his painting.

2nd Scene - dreamDream about tomatoes. Dreams are the Jarkovsky’s nightmares in prison. This dream is identical with the reminiscence of Frida’s birthday party. Jarkovsky performs his erotic dance with Koko and Rosi. His wife Frida stands aside and undergoes an abortion. The whole scene describes the alienation

Spitfire Company

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between all of them. Jarkovsky, Koko and Rosi play with tomatoes, express-ing sexual lust. This contrasts with abandoned and lonely Frida, who’s just miscarried a child. Finally, the only one to blame is Jarkovsky. All three women throw tomatoes at him. The insensitivity of the first scene is driven up to un-bearable absurdity.

3rd Scene - flashbackAuction. The protagonist Jarkovsky starts playing an impish game of auc-tioning his close ones. First object of the auction is Koko. In this scene she is drugged and role-playing a tick. The auction begins, depicting a quarrel between Jarkovsky and Rosi. In this point we can see an amorous relation between Rosi and Frida. After this revelation the game is over and an unbear-able reality, motal spasm and absolute hatred begins.

4th Scene - dreamAn absurd dream about a little boy (Jarkovsky) who went to a circus. But only people he meets are clowns in gasmasks, who instead of cheering him up start to torture and humiliate him. Another auction begins. This time the object of the auction is Jarkovsky himself, as a little boy. The clowns use their spit instead of money. This dream explains, why he is such an egocentric prone to violence.

5th Scene - flashbackAn affair starts between Frida and Rosi - illustrated by tango rhythm. Jar-kovsky and Koko conspire against them. Then Jarkovsky strikes and rapes Rosi. After the act the women open their eyes, recognize what he is really like and a huge gap emerges between them. The impossibility of communication is shown by accordions playing.

6th Scene - dreamJarkovsky and Koko turned into insect in this dream sequence. They both serve his wife Frida, who approaches Rosi seeking for forgiveness. All move-ments are slowed down to a butoh dance. First sign of happiness appears between Rosi and Frida.

7th Scene - schizophrenyJarkovsky’s character can’t anymore tell what is real and what is a dream. His dreams, being painted on a canvas, become real. He looks for his wife Frida, but only thing he can find is a mask of a demon that’s attacking him. But everything is happening in his mind. Jarkovsky can’t stand it anymore so he takes his revolver and shoots his wife and then Koko, his lover. After the act the memory and the real painter meet in the same point: the actor Petr Vaněk, mirroring the memories of Jarkovsky, gets into the painting of the artist Jan Miko (playing Jarkovsky as a prisoner, who is remembering all this as he’s painting.

new physical theatre