Theatres that will not be boring

Most travellers and tourists like to get to know the culture of the country they have arrived in. One of the ways of doing this is to attend a theatre performance. Tourists coming to the Czech Republic have a more difficult job, because drama performances are staged almost exclusively in Czech. That makes them incomprehensible to you. Still, it will not hurt to visit at least some performances where not knowing Czech doesn’t matter. They include opera, ballet or dance performances and black light theatre. Did you know the Czech Republic has about ten permanent opera houses? That is a record number for a country of 10 million. Find out what attracts Czechs to opera so much.

Opera and ballet in Prague

The best-known and most famous Czech opera house is in Prague. The State Opera building was erected in the late 19th century in the Neo-Renaissance style and is situated near the National Museum. The building itself is under renovation at the moment, but Prague hasn’t lost its opera and ballet performances. The opera and ballet ensembles also perform on other stages included under the National Theatre. They include the National Theatre building itself, the New Stage and the Estates Theatre.

Stages for lovers of classical theatre

Prague isn’t the only place that boasts representative stages and opera and ballet ensembles. Works of classical Italian composers as well as modern plays can be seen in more places around the Czech Republic. The National Moravian-Silesian Theatre in Ostrava and the Janáček Opera House in Brno are renowned. The latter is one of the few Czech stages to stage opera in a modern building. The building was completed in 1965 following nearly half a century of efforts to build a representative stage, and today it features both opera and ballet performances.

Black light theatre – Uniquely Czech

Black light theatre is a type of theatre staging that makes use of the black box principle. This means that actors dressed in black are invisible against a black backdrop on a darkened stage. In contrast, the props, items and objects moved by the actors and lit by ultraviolet lamps or moving spotlights shine against the backdrop. In Prague, you can see such specific performances, which can manage without words, in several venues. The Black Light Theatre Srnec has a long tradition in Prague; Jiří Srnec was one of the godfathers of this phenomenon in the mid 20th century.

The universal language of dance

PONEC – the dance venue, a new theatre dedicated to modern dance, opened in the former working-class district of Žižkov in the early 21st century. Today, the theatre is both a venue and a base for contemporary scenic dance, movement theatre and every type of art that dance communicates with. The theatre supports the independent dance scene and its overlaps with other genres. It stages eight premieres a year on average, and also works with children and teaches youth. The international dance festival known as Tanec Praha takes place at the theatre annually at the turn of May and June. The festival is popular with spectators and professional ensembles from around the world who come to Prague to see it.