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Back to the theatre

He bowed his head as the audience roared its praise, and only stepped up on to the stage after much cajoling. Even then, he simply nodded politely in typically modest fashion, resembling a shy caretaker at his retirement party rather than a former playwright turned president, who was returning to the stage after a gap of almost two decades.

The premiere of Vaclav Havel’s new play, Odchazeni (Leaving), may have been touted as Europe’s most eagerly awaited theatre event of the year, but he seemed eager to escape from the spotlight as quickly as possible.

There were no grand speeches. Instead, the audience at Prague’s Archa theatre heard recordings of the distinct gravelly voice of the former Czech president interrupting the drama at regular intervals. His commentaries and wry observations served to remind the theatregoers — in typical Havelian fashion — of the strangeness of the universe in which they are living.

“Thank-you to the audience for switching off their mobile phones,” the voice said at the close. “Truth and love must triumph over lies and hatred. The audience may now switch their phones back on — goodnight and pleasant dreams!”

Mr. Havel insisted Odchazeni is not autobiographical, despite obvious parallels between Rieger’s unscrupulous successor, Vlastik Klein, and Havel’s antagonistic rival and successor, the Thatcherite Vaclav Klaus. But it is certainly inspired by his own experience as the dissident who was central to the campaign to free Czechoslovakia from the clutches of communism and subsequently became its president for 13 years. It was a role he admitted finding difficult and which took a heavy toll on his health. — © Guardian Newspapers Limited, 2008

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