Tales of Common Insanity

Book cover

Tales of Common Insanity (Czech: Příběhy obyčejného šílenství) (2001) is a play by Petr Zelenka which won the Alfréd Radok Award for Best Play. After its opening in Prague, the play received productions in other Czech cities, as well as translations and productions in Slovakia, Kraków, Poland, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada; Germany, Hungary and Bulgaria, and it was translated into Russian (language). Zelenka wrote and directed a film adaptation of the comedy, which was released as Wrong Side Up in 2005 and was also highly successful.

Plot summary

The comedy centers around Peter, a bachelor in his mid-thirties. He desperately wants to win back his girlfriend Jana and asks his friend Midge for help. Midge, another loner unable to form a long-lasting relationship with a woman, has gone through many break-ups and therefore considered himself an expert. Petr also has to pay a visit to his discontented parents.

His mother ruined the family by endless preaching. She developed a strong passion for blood donation and gets alarmed by the war in Chechnya. The father, a former commentator of communist newsreel, escapes to his own thoughts. He is preoccupied with the idea of whether a light bulb would fit in a mouth. Peter's neighbour, a composer fighting hard to get royalties for performance of his music by synthesizers in elevators, also is revealed to be at least a bit insane.

The cast includes 8 male and 7 female characters. The character of Petr's pedophile boss is sometimes omitted.

Productions

Dejvice Theatre, Prague

The world premiere on 16 November 2001 and the opening months were directed by the playwright, Petr Zelenka. The play ran until 13 October 2009, staged at the Dejvické divadlo in Prague.

Komorní scéna Arena, Prague

Západočeské divadlo, Cheb

Jihočeské divadlo, Český Krumlov

Around The Corner (Divadlo za rohem), Vancouver, BC

Teatr Ludowy, Kraków

Divadlo Andreja Bagára, Nitra

Landestheater Tübingen, Deutschland

With: Danny Exnar (as Petr), Claudia Albrecht, Veronika Avraham, Katalyn Bohn, Raffaele Bonazza, Katja Gaudard, Hildegard Maier, Julienne Pfeil, Karlheinz Schmitt, Johannes Schön, Gotthard Sinn, Alexander Wenz Dauer: 180 min. (1 Pause).

The play was later staged in Poland (Teatr Dramatyczny in Warszawa), Hungary (Katona József Theatre in Budapest), as well as in several other Czech theatres. It was also translated into Russian.

In 2005, Zelenka wrote and directed a loose film adaptation, released as Wrong Side Up.

External links

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