WIZZ AIR CAFÉ & BOUTIQUE // CITY GUIDES - Kiev Apartments

THE ACCLAIMED DESIGN OF THE
LATERNA MAGIKA BUILDING
THE ATMOSPHERIC PRODUCTION,
LEGENDS OF MAGIC
[ feature ]
PRAGUE
with the same line of thought to develop
the original idea.”
Hit shows such as Wonderful Circus
featuring clowns, pantomime and black
theatre, greatest hits package Cocktail 008
and Casanova (about the famous lothario)
make entertaining use of film, dance, music
and lighting to offer an all-round visual
experience unique in Central Europe.
Over five decades, the Laterna Magika
has involved some of the most notable
names in Czech visual culture. These
include Czech-American director Milos
Forman of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
fame, surrealist filmmaker Jan Švankmajer
and, in a more roundabout way, playwright
Vaclav Havel. Beery debates hosted by
Havel and his establishment-bashing
associates took place at the venue, lending
it a key role in the 1989 Velvet Revolution.
It was at the Brussels World Fair, known
as Expo 58 (another legacy is the Atomium
monument), that Czech director Alfréd
Radok and stage designer Josef Svoboda
set up a brave artistic experiment at
odds with the heavy-duty nature of the
Communist regime back home. Thanks also
to the selfless support of Czech exhibition
chairman František Kahuda, Radok and
Svoboda’s Magic Lantern, a multi-media
construct marrying film and theatre,
helped ensure that the Czech pavilion was
swamped by crowds, with the original two
performances a day upped to five or six.
Following on from their success in
Brussels, Radok and Svoboda transferred
their new attraction back to Prague, where
it headed the burgeoning experimental
scene. According to Prokes: “In its time,
the Laterna Magika has been fortunate
enough to have cooperated with a long
line of extraordinary artistic personalities.
These have ranged from stage managers
to actors, dramatists to directors, who have
been changing the face of the Laterna
Magika up to the present day, searching for
the best way to take best advantage of this
specific theatre and its possibilities to tell a
simple story by using different media.”
The Laterna Magika later moved to
its current home under the umbrella
of the National. It toured the globe
with productions that were considered
ahead of their time. Artistic director
DECEMBER/JANUARY 2011/12 // WIZZ MAGAZINE 51