Theatre Design & Technology - Spring 2008 - 69

book

reviews
arnold wengrow

editor

Czech Theatre Design in the Twentieth Century
Metaphor & Irony Revisited

by Joseph Brandesky; Iowa City, University of Iowa Press, 2007.
97 pp. + 1 CD-ROM. Cloth, $39.95.
Reviewed by Marketa Fantova
Many years ago a student of Russian and
Soviet theatre at the University of Kansas
became inspired by the work of theatre
artists whose art was famous in one part
of the world, yet hard to access in the
United States. He felt drawn to black and
white images capturing but a fraction of
what once was a moment lived on stage,
a moment full of significance and meaning. The seed of a thought had flown over
well-guarded borders and revealed to
the student the truth of the universality of
art and the importance of theatre in our
lives. This student, Joseph Brandesky, became a scholar and
had an opportunity to collaborate with the Soviet writer Edvard Radzinsky and the Czech scenographer Jaroslav Malina.
He traveled many times through the strange and metaphorical
landscape of Czech theatre. Now, this book, Czech Theatre Design in the Twentieth Century: Metaphor & Irony Revisited,
is Brandesky's way of sharing the journey with others.
Presenting a sense of theatre performances from a different culture is a daunting task. How does one capture and
preserve an emotion once transferred from an actor to the audience like a secret message of truth hidden in a metaphor?
Aware of the difficulty, Brandesky approached the problem by
organizing exhibitions featuring the renderings, storyboards,
models, and photographs of performances produced in the
twentieth century in the Czech Republic. His focus was connecting a visual image with an idea and an historical context.
Working on these exhibitions gave him direct contact with several Czech scenographers and scholars and opened the door to
future research.
Brandesky's first exhibition was called Metaphor and
Irony, the second was Metaphor and Irony 2: Frantisek Troster
and Contemporary Czech Theatre Design. Each traveled to several locations in the United States and addressed many different
audiences. An exhibition, however, just like any theatre performance, has a short life in which it reaches a limited number of
viewers. Fortunately, the material collected for these exhibition

theatre

design

technology

S P R I N G

2008

became the basis for this book, which allows us to glimpse the
ideas of Czech theatre artists and helps us understand the roots
of the visual vocabulary of the Czech Theatre.

Unselfish Objectivity
Many books about art in different cultures impose the author's
opinion. Since the author is our only guide, his view, based
in a certain cultural background, becomes the main criteria
through which the art of different culture is judged and categorized. This is not the case with Brandesky's book. He unselfishly
puts himself into the role of an editor, someone who truly strives
to make the topic as objective as possible. His book includes,
along with his introduction, essays by different scholars: Vera
Ptackova, Dennis Christilles, Delbert Unruh, and Marie Zdenkova. All the essays together create a colorful kaleidoscope of
thoughts and reflections which inspire the reader to learn more
about the subject.
Brandesky's essay, "Sources of the Czech Design Legacy,"
introduces the environment in which the Czech theatre of the
twentieth century was formed. It was an environment where political climate was constantly changing because the geographical
location of the country placed it in the middle of many cultural,
economical, and political crossroads. Brandesky examines the
roots of the visual language used on the stage and discovers
connections and influence between events which Czech historian might not chose to talk about. It is refreshing to read about
the contribution of the puppet theatre on costume and scenery,
explanation of the irony and grotesque motifs inspired by history and legends, as well as the main movements of European
art through the eyes of scholar untainted by native clichés.
"Trends in Twentieth-Century Czech Theatre Design" is
native scholar Vera Ptackova's essay. She uses the work of the
sixteenth century Italian painter Giuseppe Arcimboldo to explain the role of Mannerist distortions on the Czech stage. She
traces this line from bizarre images from the time of Baroque
through some of the modern art movements of the twentieth
century. She points out that Cubism affected Czech stage so
much because the Czech Republic is the only country where we
can see Cubist Architecture. Here we learn many details about
different creative teams, their approaches to design and the era
in which they had to create. Ptackova also looks at the style of
work in many theatres across the country and explains connections between them. She ends as she began, with Arcimboldo
and Mannerist artifice in modern costume design.

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Theatre Design & Technology - Spring 2008