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"The Pig, or Václav Havel's
Hunt for a Pig" is a clever samizdat musical
"The Pig, or Václav Havel's Hunt for a Pig."
Written by Václav Havel and Vladimir Morávek.
Adapted into English by Edward Einhorn.
Directed and musical arrangements by Henry Akona.
3LD Art & Technology Center & Untitled Theater Company #61.
80 Greenwich Street, New York City (a few steps south of the #1 train
Rector stop).
http://www.untitledtheater.com/previous-productions/the-pig-or-vaclav-or-havels.htmlhttp://www.untitledtheater.com/previous-productions/the-pig-or-vaclav-or-havels.html
866-811-4111, 3ldnyc.org
Opened March 10, 2014; closes March 29, 2014.
Reviewed by Lucy Komisar March 10, 2104.
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| Robert
Honeywell as Václav Havel and Katherine Boynton as American
TV reporter in 'The Pig, or Václav Havel's Hunt for the
Pig.' Photo by Arthur Cornelius. |
This collaborative, inventive multi-media play with
music is based on a Samizdat dialogue the Czech dissident Havel wrote
in 1987, using the device of a popular rural pastime – roasting
a pig – to satirize the communist government. It was inspired
by the true story of Havel trying to find a pig to roast for his friends.
The performance starts with the excellent mood device of Czech singer
Katarina Vizina and Jenny Lee Mitchell of Cabaret Metropol, doing
European songs to music redolent of Kurt Weil.
When the play opens, Havel (Robert Honeywell) is trying to buy a pig
for a big village party. But every time he thinks he has made a deal
with a farmer, the price goes up. Even for buying a pig, the system
doesn't work. It seems corrupt and abusive.
A dumb American TV reporter (Katherine Boynton) has come to interview
Havel. She wears a too-tight dress, too-high heels, has too-messy
long hair, and pronounces Havel with a long A. She is accompanied
by a camera on a tripod, so that we see her scenes and other excellent
and funny video on screens on four sides. (The audience is on chairs
and at tables along the walls.)
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| Moira
Stone, and Terence Stone as the couple of 'The Bartered Bride,'
in 'The Pig, or Václav Havel's Hunt for the Pig.' Photo
by Arthur Cornelius. |
The story is surreal. In the midst of all, as a political point,
sections of the famous opera by Smetana, "The Bartered Bride,"
are performed by Moira Stone and Terence Stone. (Their operatic voices
are excellent.)
The Smetana work, the most important Czech opera, was written in the
1860s when the country was under the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Czech
could not be spoken, though it continued to be heard in rural communities.
Thus it had a political message which Czech director Vladimir Morávek
added in 2010 when he decided to stage Havel's samizdat.
The price of the pig goes so high, that everyone in the village has
to sign for it. But when the front page of the long, accordion-pleated
bill is finally held up, it is Charter 77, the name of the human rights
manifesto co-authored by Havel and signed by Czech writers and intellectuals
in 1977.
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| Katherine
Boynton as American TV reporter, Robert Honeywell as Václav
Havel holding the bill for the pig, and cast, in 'The Pig, or
Václav Havel's Hunt for the Pig.' Photo by Arthur Cornelius. |
Havel would spend four-and-a-half years in prison before the communist
government fell to the Velvet Revolution and he became president.
The production gets a fine adaptation by Edward Einhorn and is directed
with smartness and verve by Henry Akona. Honeywell is appropriately
self-effacing as Havel, and Boynton emulates every self-important
glitzy TV media star. Havel would have loved it.
The 20-minute cabaret begins ten minutes before curtain. After the
hour production comes another half hour of music by Cabaret Metropol.
You can buy pulled pork or vegetarian sandwiches and Czech beer, or
water; no wine. Food must be ordered 24 hours in advance.
Visit Lucy Komisar’s website
http://thekomisarscoop.com
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