Nowdays you can enjoy the black light theatre show, the first of its kind in the world, Antologia - The Best of Black Light Theatre. The show was in Reduta twenty years ago and it has come back!
The first theatrical performances in 1957 were so-called text-appeals. Those were elements of literary cabaret, which had to appeal the audience through music and words. The creators were Jiří Suchý and Ivan Vyskočil. The performances had great success. Suchý and Vyskočil led dialogue with the audience on issues that official culture did not have the answers to. One year later was Vyskočil’s theatre Na zábradlí and Suchý’s Semafor established. The tradition of Text-appeals continued with the ensemble Paravan with J.R. Pick. Little theater Paravan was a literary cabaret with the ambition of intellectual humor. The famous Sláva Kunst orchestra provided the music.
Ivan Vyskočil’s Nedivadlo arises in the 60’s but after the normalization in the year 1970 Vyskočil had to leave the Reduta. The name of the theatre sort of predetermined deliberate refusion of theatrical conventions; it was a beginning of alternative theatre, in that time absolute revelation and hope for the future.
Under the command of the, at the time, monopoly Pragokoncert, it led to stagnation and unsatisfied dramaturgy. They were switching various theatre styles, which were entirely unrelated to its original genre. However, there were exceptions such as Divadlo Járy Cimrmana or some excellent pantomimes (Rudolf Papežík, Ctibor Turba etc.). Great was the Alfred Jarry’s Pantomime. The nonconformist performances, inspired by absurd theatre, surrealism and jazz with the main representatives Hybner, Rýda and Turba were suppressed in the year 1972 by the normalizers.
Several other excellent and creative groupings found their temporary home in the Reduta, such as Divadlo Járy Cimrmana; very successful with their performance were O. Kaiser and J. Lábus.
After the Velvet revolution a new way has opened for free dramaturgy of the Reduta theatre, which uses new projects and productions of known and emerging artists.