Theatre Design & Technology - Summer 1979 - 16

achieve maximum impact and effect, unlike a neutral or blank
background."
A still more refined and graceful example of these tendencies in this period was found in a production of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night (Fig. 12), Bratislava 1962. The scenography was based on a flat floor covered with a reflective
plastic material, and a series of overlapping vertical scrims of
gauze. Thin cords were sewn into the edges to maintain the
straig ht lines. A series of wavy lines on the floor were intended to counterpoise the linear verticals of the scrims and
to add a certain softness to the scene. The scrims and the
cyclorama were of one neutral shade, and the lighting added
other colors. Other elements included a few fixed, low platforms with their construction exposed rather than masked;
silver and gold arches; and a series of two-dimensional descriptive elements resembling line drawings of wire and thin
iron lowered in from the flies. These elements, such as a boat,
a birdcage, or a chandelier, were enough to suggest the
locale of a given scene while conveying a light, airy effect.

Alfred Radok
During this fourth period, Vychodil also began to work with
Alfred Radok, the brilliant Czech director primarily responsible for the concept of Laterna Magika, the sophisticated
blending of filmed and live action. Although Vychodil and
Radok made no direct use of this projection technique in their
several collaborations, they did employ its creative essence:
the multiple juxtaposition of seemingly unrelated elements to
present metaphoric insights about the nature of reality. The
underlying principle of this creative approach was expressed
by Radok:

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Figure 12
14

Theatre Design & Technology

In our life . .. there does not exist unambiguity but on the contrary a tremendous complexity of varied, sometimes contradictory relations. If we want the spectator to believe us, to
identify with what is happening on stage, we must also create
these complex relations on stage. Then we can speak of a performance that resonates."

In their work together, Radok and Vychodil subordinated
usual stage design or scenography to the interaction of actors
with carefully chosen "signs," such as props, furniture, or
other detailed elements of setting, each of which might take
on a number of different functions or identities. It is a form of
collage, not as an end in itself but to reveal unexpected, ironic
relations and perhaps even profound truths.
In G. Neveux's London's Lady Thief (Fig. 13), Prague 1962,
the approach had its practical reasons: a very small stage and
many scene changes. Radok's concept was based on the
simultaneous, frequently incongruous presence of a number
of elements from different locales; all the elements were
sooner or later functional, both practically and as signs describing the environment or an aspect of the social situation.
The stage was filled, for example, with portraits of men, some
of whose faces would pivot to reveal house numbers. Perhaps the outstanding example of the method were several
wardrobes on wheels:
[They] turn into little houses but then change again. They become a secret passage . .. then wardrobes again, but during the
wedding one wardrobe opens and we see little girls waving to the
wedding procession. ... We joined in one element various functions, precisely on the basis of associations. ... What is important is that we were able to do this without stylization. Our wardrobes remain wardrobes. ... Of course, if our actors perform
well, then the wardrobes truly become what they are supposed to
represent. ... they are the best example that we can't separate
scenography from the actors' performance, and the actors' performance from scenography. ... In pre-Stanislavsky times designers had to build whatever an actor couldn't perform . ...
[whereas] a designer who counts on an actor creates a scene
from relations and functions. 13

Vychodil himself admits that he liked the newness of the
method but not the sacrifice of traditional stage design. "But
then," he added, "when I saw it in performance I realized the
great effect it had on the spectator when the actor started to
play in and with [the multiple elements]."
Fundamentally similar in approach and treatment was their
collaboration on Gogol's Marriage (Fig. 14), Prague 1963.
Here the overall effect was perhaps less ambiguous in that
the single strongest intention was to demonstrate the appallingly raw but pretentious level of culture of the characters
of the play. A proliferation of props and other objects filled
the stage, but it was their particular juxtaposition and their
associations that were the heart of the jest: a house with
additions to make it seem more impressive; an entry where
rabbits were kept; a suggestion of an outhouse as one of the
additions, containing a live goat; close by, two slightly raised,
small platforms with "elegant" carpets, which people were
careful not to step on. A characteristically ironic comment
was the enlarged text of the title page of Gogol's novel and
other sheets that formed part of the cyclorama as well as the
walls and floor.
The unquestioned climax of their collaboration occurred in
their staging of Romain Rolland's The Play of Love and Death
(Fig. 15), Prague 1964, a study of the French Revolution in
terms of its effect on the lives of one family. Whereas the text
calls for an aristocratic interior, Radok decided to enrich the
essential vision of the play by creating a significant dual
USITT/Summer, 1979

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