history

The Dejvice Theatre (Dejvické divadlo) commenced its activities in 1992 as part of the District Cultural House of Prague 6. Initiated and established under the leadership of Eva Kejkrtová Měřičková, who led it for nearly thirty years, the theatre evolved into an independent professional stage. Throughout the years, the theatre has earned a reputation as one of the most attended and most popular Czech theatres. It is almost permanently sold out (which is caused not only by its intimate size) and produces a variety of plays that have one thing in common: a good drama with a distinctive point of view and with an emphasis on individual actors.

The first performance of the Dejvice Theatre took place on 14 October 1992. Matěj Kopecký’s play Johannes Doctor Faust was performed by a new ensemble, members of which came to the Dejvické divadlo during their studies of alternative and puppet theatre at the Theatre Faculty of the Academy of Performing Arts. This ensemble was led by teacher and director Jan Borna who became an artistic director in 1993. In the same year the Dejvice Theatre was granted professional status by the Ministry of Culture.

The original ensemble performed at the Dejvice Theatre for four seasons. One of its greatest successes was J. A. Pitínský’s production Sister Anxiety which was awarded the Alfred Radok Award for Best Play in 1995 and the Dejvice Theatre became Theatre of the Year for the first time.

In September 1996, the ensemble along with Jan Borna joined the newly established Divadlo v Dlouhé. In the Dejvice Theatre it was replaced by a new ensemble led by Miroslav Krobot, director and teacher at the Department of Alternative and Puppet Theatre of the Theatre Faculty of the Academy of Performing Arts, who became the artistic director of the theatre.

The core of the ensemble originally consisted entirely of students from Krobot’s final-year class, but in the course of time it has changed substantially (of the original members three actresses remained in the Dejvice Theatre – Klára Melíšková, Jana Holcová and Zdeňka Žádníková). The ensemble has been enriched by a very strong group of actors in their 30s: Ivan Trojan, Lukáš Hlavica, David Novotný, Martin Myšička, Igor Chmela. Later they were followed by younger members such as Pavel Šimčík, Lenka Krobotová, Jaroslav Plesl, Tatiana Vilhelmová, Simona Babčáková, Martha Issová and Václav Neužil.

At the beginning of the 2014/2015 season, the role of artistic director was taken over by director Michal Vajdička. On 1 January 2017, Martin Myšička became the new artistic director. 

Contemporary drama plays an important part in the Dejvice Theatre’s dramaturgy, both foreign (Joe Penhall: Landscape With Weapon, Dennis Kelly: Debris, Patrick Marber: Dealer’s Choice and others) and domestic. The theatre initiates the production of original Czech and Slovak texts (Petr Zelenka: Tales of Common Insanity, Teremin, Dubbing Street, The Elegance of the Molecule, Fifty; Miroslav Krobot: The Syrup, Brian; Karel František Tománek: KFT/Reality Sandwiches®, Wanted Welzl, Kafka ’24; Viliam Klimáček: Dungeons & Dragons; Daniel Majling: Resurrection, Guilt? and others) and puts emphasis on cooperation with artists of the same generation and with similar opinions as well (Jiří Havelka: Black Hole, The Battle of Hernani; Petra Tejnorová: Bluebeard/draebeulB, David Ondříček: Where's that Fish? and others). But at the same time, adaptations of world literature works (Oblomov by I. A. Goncharov, Elective Affinities by J. W. Goethe and others) and classic plays (Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Twelfth Night, The Winter’s Tale, Richard III, Gogol’s The Government Inspector, Checkov’s Three Sisters and The Seagull and others) are an integral part of the Dejvice Theatre’s repertory.

Since its founding, Dejvice Theatre has been awarded the Radok Prize as the Theatre of the Year six times. The performances Tales of Common Insanity and The Man Without a Past were awarded the prize for Best Play of 2001 and 2010 respectively. Many actors of the Dejvice Theatre have won prestigious theatre awards.

Two successful films directed by Petr Zelenka were based on the Dejvice Theatre’s plays – Tales of Common Insanity and The Karamazovs.

The Dejvice Theatre is nowadays one of the most attended and most popular Czech theatres.