Theatre Design & Technology - Winter 1993 - 21

Vancura expanded his view of the interior of this theatre in his painting of his
impression of the Klimt house curtain as
seen from the balcony (Figure 6). The
Klimt curtain is a treasure of this theatre
and, as can be seen in the painting, a
rreasure that Vancura respects and
admires as he explores the harmonious
relationship that he perceives between
the curtain and the archirecture of the
proscenium arch. And it is this love of a
beautiful fantasy placed in an ornate setting, all rendered in contemporary
terms, that is at the basis of Vancura's
scenography and art.
This is evident in the rendering for
The Marriage ofFigaro (Figure 3) and
also, in a slightly different variation, in a
fourth painting of the Liberec Opera
House (Figure 7) in which Vancura
records an impression of his setting for
Der Freischutz as seen on the stage. The
painting serves as a record of an actual
event, the 1980 production of Der
Freischutz that he designed; but, more
than that, it also serves as a record of
what Vancura believes is an on-going
dialog between his stage sertings and the
architecture of the thearre. While his
scenography exisrs within rhe general
framework of contemporary Czechoslovakian stage design, Vancura, in contrast to the minimalist aesthetic of much
of contemporary Czechoslovakian stage
design practice, seeks to create a rich and
varied visual field that is in tune with
contemporary perceptions. As he says
when speaking about the minimalist
style of many of his contemporaries,
"One chair does not make an interior." 2
He revels in the contrasts and harmonies
that result from his settings being placed
inside these highly ornate proscenium
arches, because he sees in this act a tension that is a source of power.

Figure 1. Award-winning designs lor
The Magic Flute (1986).
Figure 2. The Queen 01 the Night in The
Magic Flute (1986).
Figure 3. Design lor The Marriage of
Figaro transposed to the Stavoske
Theatre, Prague (1988).
Figure 4. Exterior 01 the Liberec Opera
House (1986).
Figure 5. The auditorium 01 the Liberec
Opera House (19n).
Figure 6. Impression 01 the house curtain
pointed by Gustav Klimt in the Liberec
Opera House.
Figure 7. Se~ing lor Der Freischutz at the
Liberec Opera House (1983).
Figure 8. Se~ing lor Norma on the stage
01 the Teatro 0110 Scola (1976).

his idea of the "tension as
power" which results from
the dialog between the setting or the space of the
stage and the proscenium
arch is a recurring theme in
Vancura's theatre architecture paintings. In works such as the three
"La Scala" paintings (Figures 8, 9, 10) he
explores this idea. The paintings record a
private vision of the interior of La Scala
as seen with various imaginative constructions on the stage. Figure 8 shows
the interior with a rendition on the stage
of a setting for Norma that Vancura had
seen previously in another context;
Figure 9 shows La Scala with an imaginative exterior or foliage scene on stage;
and Figure 10 shows the auditorium
TD&T

1993 WINTER

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Theatre Design & Technology - Winter 1993