Theatre Design & Technology - Fall 1996 - 30

theatre, and only those other theatrical elements
that directly interacted Ilitll his or her perfol1mnce
were acceptable. Traditional stage scene~' and properties (above all scene~' tllat lI'as consciously designed
as expressive in and of itselD and lirtually all technical elements otller tllan lighting and perhaps sound
were rejected as inautllentic and artificial. Instead.
only real objects and materials were to be used. and
preferably tlle simpler and fewer tlle better And just as
imprOl~sation and "process" ratller tllall result became tlle b~words in acting. a similar improvised-inrehearsal effect was sought in Ivhat IVas left of
scenography, lIith elements of conscious design to be
avoided, or at least strongly subordinated. Instead.
"function" became tlle ideal for action design. which
is to say tllat, ideally, all remnants of scenography
were to be interfaceable I~tll tlle actors as Ivell as capable of change in tlleir meruling ruld usage or application during tlle course of tlle action. And all of tllis
developed ruld was preferably to remain in small. intimate, improl~sed spaces ratller tllan in traditional
tlleatre buildings witll tlleir proscenium stages.
Irs intersting to note tllat tlle GrotOIl ki poor tlleatre ideal-as applied to scenography---begrul to
run parallel lIitll tllat of rulOtlm postmodem phenomenon, deconstruction. especially lIitll regard to
denying tlle significrulce of such traditional values as
unity, emphasis, and coherence, which is to say for-

mal design, as well as tlle denial tllat any scenographic element-prop. flat. fumishing. or practicable-has one distinct meaning. Haling suggested
tllese key characteristics of action design. I would
quickly add tllat l). it would be rul e>.1remely rare full
lengtll production tllat embodied lIitll0ut compromise all of tlle points sketched here. and 2). tllat action design IVas hardly a nell' tlling. All of its premises
ruld practises could be traced to prototypes in earlier
twentietll century avrultgarde breaktllroughs of futurism. constmctilism. surrealism, tlle work of
GrotOIl ki ruld also Josef Szajna, and specifically to
some of tlle II"Ork of key Czech scenographers such as
He)thum ruld Svoboda himself. \X11at was new in
Czech action design of tlle 1970s was tlle pulling togetller of mrulY of tllese pre~ous notions ruld practises
and making of tllem a new scenographic poetics.
Delbelt Unl1lh preceded his five-pm selies on action
design. noted above, Witll a longer single miele, "Action Design." TD&T XXIII. I (Spring 198 ): 6-13.
~\uch ofwhat I have to say about action design in tllis
note ruld in tlle body of tllis artiele is indebted to his
ObseIyations. even when I don't agree Witll all of
tllem. Anotlm source I have consulted is tlle extremely valuable book by \'era Pta:kova, chief Czech
scholar ruld critic of modem scenography: Cesk-d
Scellograjie xx. Slo/elf [Czech Scenography of tlle
1\ventietll Century]. Praha: Odean, 1982. See espe-

cially pp. 263-83.
5. Agoad overlieII' of Szajna ruld his II"Ork may be
found in E.]. Czeminski. Colllell/poralJ' Polis!; nJeaIel' alld Drall/a (J956-1984). \\"estport: Greenlload Press. 1988: 115-119.
6. Quoted in a flyer for Roszkopfovfs 198-t Prague
exhibit. &ellograjie Jlfal'(l' Ros::kopfore. Te>.1 and
editing Helena Albertod. Pral1a: Divadelnf Ustav,
198-t.
7. The full Czech nrune of tlle tlleatre is .. Divadlo
Husa Na Provazk"U," which literally lrrulSlates as
"Goose On AString TIleatre;' deriving from tlle title
of a I'Olume of scenarios by Jin ~Iallen, one of tlle
leaders of tlleatre in Bmo in tlle 1920s. TIle problem
was tllat tlle hardline Czech president of tlle 19 Os
ruld 1980s was nruned Gustav Husak, his last nrune
literally meruling "he who tends geese." Understandably, tlle tlleatre tactically shorted its nrune to
"divadlo na provazku;' meruling ··tlleatre on a
string." I anl using this shortened, uncontroversial
version, which is really what most Czechs call tlle tlleatre even today.
8. Roszkopfova letter to]. BUrirul. 25 July 1994.
9. Zborilova, personal interlielv, 15June 1988.
10. Roszkopfova, letter.
11. Roszkopfova, lette[

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Theatre Design & Technology - Fall 1996