Arthur Schnitzler wrote La Ronde at the end of the 19th century, but he did not have the courage to present it to the public at that time. The play was staged only two decades later, in Vienna and Berlin, resulting in a scandal that ended with a fight and charges brought against the theatre management, the author and actors. While such a fuss is hardly conceivable today, Schnitzler’s “ronde” (or whirl) of ten dialogues remains, surprisingly, no less provocative. The set of closed encounters, each involving a sexual intercourse, is mutually interconnected more than might seem at first glance: not only one of the characters in each act appears in the following one, but there are also layered and recurrent motives and topics, of which sex is just one. Indeed, Schnitzler explores primarily social inequality, predetermined scenarios, the inability to abandon established routines, as well as love, loneliness, aging and death. Read superficially, the play is about sex; yet a deeper insight – pursued by the French director Arthur Nauzyciel on the stage of the Estates Theatre – gives an account of the society at the turn of centuries, and time. Everyone seems to be on the run from something that never happened to places that never existed...
Audience: adult, children 15+
About the company:
The National Theatre Drama is the biggest company of its ilk in the Czech Republic. We strive to include works of the classical and contemporary Czech and international repertoire as well as original projects and Czech premieres in our programming. The productions are visually compelling and exquisitely staged. Our company prepares five to eight new productions a year, while also pursuing a host of accompanying activities, debates and educational programmes.
