New production in the National Theatre allow spectators to take a peek behind the scenes The Bartered Bride, a comic opera by Bedřich Smetana, premiered its new production in the National Theatre on 26th and 28 May 2022. This is the twenty-first production of this beloved piece in the history of the National Theatre.
This May, the National Theatre Opera introduced a new production of the most frequently performed and most popular opera by Bedřich Smetana – The Bartered Bride. The Music Director of the National Opera, Jaroslav Kyzlink is conducting the National Theatre Orchestra in a production directed by Alice Nellis, featuring Kateřina Kněžíková, who recently won the BBC Music Magazine Award, alternating with Alžběta Poláčková in the role of Mařenka. Peter Berger and Richard Samek take turns in the role of Jeník. Kecal is sung by Zdeněk Plech and Jiří Sulženko, the role of Vašek is entrusted to Ondřej Koplík and Josef Moravec.
As a surprise for the audience, the production also feature “young Mařenka” performed by Markéta Klaudová and Doubrava Součková. The reason is that the director of this production, Alice Nellis, decided to present this classical opera in a production that is both conventional and unconventional at the same time: as an insight into the process of preparing a production. “Spectators may look forward to beautiful costumes, even though the path to them will be a bit atypical. In a way, they will take a peek behind the scenes of the National Theatre. They will see an opera production being built, gradually created.”
The stage design by Matěj Cibulka is based upon the key idea of Alice Nellis, who opted for a very playful form of “play within a play” allowing spectators to witness, how a production is created. “As the production slowly develops in front of the eyes of the audience, becoming more focused, the stage also transforms using lighting, projections and colour stylizations.” Also, costumes by Kateřina Štefková will undergo a dramatic and organic development during the performance.
A pleasantly refreshing choreography by Klára Lidová is based upon traditional Czech dance patterns but will also draw upon contemporary sources that go surprisingly well with Smetana’s music. Of course, there is the traditional circus scene, this time with acrobats and fearless trampoline bouncing.
For over 150 years, The Bartered Bride has occupied the top position among Czech operas. Said to be now part of the Czech DNA, its popularity even eclipses that of Bedřich Smetana (1824-1884), its creator. Yet at the time when it came into being, in the 1870s, The Bartered Bride was a rather audacious experiment. Smetana and the librettist Karel Sabina masterfully mocked all those who expected the “national opera” to be an idyllic picture of the Czech countryside, with its inhabitants being virtuous and governed by high morals. The Bartered Bride is thus far more humorous than “national”. Nonetheless, its humour is precisely of the type Czechs so love, and hence Smetana’s opera, abounding in irony, scathing, occasionally even cynical, wit, as well as tenderness and simple joie de vivre, has ultimately become “national” in the best sense of the word … To date, the National Theatre in Prague has made 20 productions of The Bartered Bride. The 21st was entrusted to the film and stage director Alice Nellis.
