Samuel Königgratz: I’m Still Alive with a Coat Rack, a Cap and a Signal Disc
Translated into English by Alex Zucker

In the spirit of the works of Bohumil Hrabal and the films of Miloš Forman, I’m Still Alive with a Coat Rack, a Cap and a Signal Disc is a slice of life in one railway station in the backwoods of East Bohemia. The railway community consists of the station-master, the train dispatchers, the shunters, the inspector, the signal operator, the cleaner, the cashier and also, of course, the landlord of the local pub and gives something of the impression of today’s global world of an exotic tribe of Indians from the depths of the Amazonian jungles. This text reflects serious matters; one might almost say existential matters, with a subtle playfulness and humor. It is witty, amusing and has a peculiar bitter tone springing from the perfect description of the banalities of everyday life.

Samuel Königgratz (aka Rene Levinský, b. 1970) graduated in theoretical physics from the Czech Technical University in Prague. At present, he is working on his doctorate at the Albert Ludwig University in Freiburg. He is interested in theories of cooperative and evolving games and experimental economy. He is a member of the Game theory Society and a founding member of the amateur theatre group The Most Beautiful Teddies with which his work is connected. He also writes for children under the pseudonym Šimon Olivětín.

Published 2004 / Binding: 230x160 mm / Extent: 54 pp / ISBN 80-7008-173 - 2 (softcover)
Price: 7 € + p&p

Iva Volánková: Minach Trilogy
Translated into English by Alex Zucker

A series of three one act plays almost absolutely dedicated to women. In all three plays (Minach, Head or Tales and The Future of My Self), women are predominantly speaking characters and men silent partners. They find themselves in a tense situation where some things can no longer remain unuttered.

The actress and playwright Iva Volánková (b. 1964) is one of the most distinctive female voices of contemporary Czech theatre. Since 1985 she has been a member of HaDivadlo in Brno. Minach Trilogy received the 2000 Alfred Radok Award and in March 2003 her play 22 Anxiety Street (Stisnena) premiered at the National Theatre in Prague.

Published 2002 / Binding: 230x160 mm / Extent: 80 pp / ISBN 80-7008-1 60 - 0 (softcover)
Price: 7 € + p&p
NO LONGER AVAILABLE!

Petr Zelenka: Tales of Common Insanity (Příběhy obyčejného šílenství)
Translated by Robert Russell.

"Outrageous, certainly, but also honest and very funny - Tales of Common Insanity invites audiences to laugh all the way through." Radio Prague, the international service of Czech Radio

Peter is in his thirties and lives in his bachelor suite. In order to win back his girlfriend, he endures his friend Midge's sexual experiments with inanimate objects, his mother's passion for blood donation, his neighbours who offer him money to act as a voyeur when they have sexual intercourse. For Peter, the only way out of this situation is to send himself off in a parcel somewhere very far away…

Petr Zelenka (b. 1967) the award winning film director (The Loners, Year of the Devil), graduated with a degree in scriptwriting from the Prague Film Academy (FAMU). He has worked as a script editor at the Barrandov Film Studios, collaborated with BBC-London on the program "Czech-Mate," written numerous screenplays, directed documentaries, and translated plays from English to Czech. Tales of Common Insanity premiered in 2001 at the Dejvice Theatre in Prague, and was voted as The Best Play of the Year (2001) in a survey of Czech theatre critics. Robert Russell, a Charles University professor, translator, actor and director.

Published 2002 / Binding: 230x160 mm / Extent: 80 pp / ISBN 80-7008-133-3 (softcover)
NO LONGER AVAILABLE!

Other contemporary playwrights and a brief synopsis of their works can be found at: www.theatre.cz/catalogue.

Other publications published in the Czech language can also be found on line at the Prospero Bookshop.