Theatre Design & Technology - Fall 1975 - 31

An unusually fine, early example of kinetic scenography closely integrated with the onstage action of actors
occurred in the Frejka-Troster production of Gogol's
Revizor (Figure 47), Prague 1936. The scene is Klestakov's tipsy entrance into the chief of police's home after a
day spent drinking with the chief and his colleagues. The
desired effect was a heightening of the intoxicated state of
the group. Troster explains how he responded to the
challenge :
The entrance of Khlestakov and his companions begins by
their coming through small doors placed at the depth of the
stage. Then other "drunken" doors ride in from above and
below, and finally a huge sofa rises up from the orchestra pit
and Khlestakov falls into it. At the moment the phantasmagoric
dance of doors froze. 24

1945 he was a co-founder of the university level school of
fine and performing arts, Akademie Muzickych Umeni:
and headed its design division until his death. His work
ach ieved international recognition in 1959 when he
received the first prize in scenography at the Sao Paolo
Bienale; Svoboda and Vychodil were subsequent laureates
in the competition. Yet it is questionable whether Troster
has received the degree of general recognition that he
warrants, perhaps because his career was split by the war
years, pe.rhaps also because he was in official disfavor in
the 1950's due to his lack of compromise with the
approved doctrine of socialist realism. He was discouraged
from doing much designing in Prague in his last years, but
did do some work abroad. In any case, just as he may be
viewed as a significant successor to Hofman, he cannot be
ignored as a major foreshadower of the postwar surge in
Czech scenography. Many of its achievements may be
traced to Troster's prototypal work with Frejka. Not only
his actual production achievements but also his concepts
were ahead of their time. His remarks in 1937 have a
prophetic quality and indicate that his orientation was
precisely in line with that of subsequent developments in
scenography:
Film reveals the detail of a tear-drop. The theatre discovers
the same - insofar as it is possible in terms of its technical and
dramatic essence. An originally flowing action is interrupted.
The action, actor, and even property approaches or withdraws.
II is a persuasive sign that the evolution of theatre space will
be influenced by new technical inventions in optics, lighting, as
well as discoveries of new materials. 25

./~

Fig. 47. F. Troster, Revizor (Gogol),
Theatre, Prague, dir: J. Frejka.

1D Nov. 1936, National

Cocteau's A Charmed Life (Figure 48), Prague 1937,
shows a different side of Trester's work, a more poetic,
lyrical design that clearly reveals surrealist influence as
well as a painter's feeling for varied textures and overall
composition.

Fig. 49. Emil Frantisek Burian.

Fig. 48. F. Trester, A Charmed Life (Cocteau), 9 Dec. 1937,
Estates Theatre, Prague, dir: J. Frejka.

Trester continued to design throughout the war years
and after, in fact until shortly before his death in 1968. In

USITT

THEATRE DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGY

FALL,1975

Another distinctive foreshadowing of Czech scenography of the 1960's occurred in the D 36 Theatre of
Emil Frantisek Burian (Figure 49), 1904-1959, a leader in
the Czech avant-garde si nce the late 1920's. After
receiving an advanced musical education at the Prague
Conservatory and a special composer's school, he began
work as a musician, composer, and actor in Prague's
Liberated Theatre in 1926. By 1929 he was himself a

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