- Domů
- Comedies
- A JOURNEY TO AMERICA BY SHIP AND DOWN AN ARTESIAN WELL or THE ROASTED PIGEONS
- COMEDY ABOUT THE BIRTH OF THE BABY JESUS OF VIZOVICE (Wallachian dialect)
- BABIČKA V TRENKÁCH aneb Aprílová komedie
- CARMEN or THE FATEFUL GAME OF LOVE
- GULLIVER V LILIPUTOVĚ aneb Deník bájného cestovatele
- HNÍZDEČKO A ŠUNKOFLEKY ANEB NEPRAVDIVĚ PRAVDIVÁ OPERETA
- IT ALL COMES TO CRAP - WITH BEES IT ALL COMES TO HONEY or The Carnival Court
- JAK TO DĚLAJÍ ANDĚLÉ aneb Stvoření světa
- JEPPE AND THE LORD IN SHORTS
- KATE, COULD YOU PLEASE CLIMB DOWN FROM THAT PEAR TREE?! or How Tap-Dancing Came To Be
- LOONYSTORY (loony as in crazy)
- MORAVIAN SLOVAKIA GOES TO COURT or The Shrovetide of Things Human
- OLD BOHEMIAN LEGENDS (inspired by Alois Jirásek)
- ONCE UPON A TIME or How General Torstenson Was Left Empty-Handed
- PAROHÁČI aneb Červené kalhoty
- PEPEK NÁMOŘNÍK aneb Smyšlená historie s téměř pravdivými fakty
- RAPID ARROWS or Where Have All the Gentlemen Gone?
- RYCHLÉ ŠÍPY Z OLTECU aneb Opereta třetího věku
- THE HUSOVICE NATIVITY
- THE MOST EXCELLENT HISTORY OF THE MERCHANT OF VENICE or A CABARET DUSTY WITH AGE, THOUGH HIGHLY RELEVANT
- THE TAP-DANCING CENTIPEDE, or the V+W+J REVUE
- VLASTA kicked VLASTA or The Maidens´War in Bohemia
- DOWN IN THE DUMPS
- Fairy Tales
- Cinderella or A Fairy Tale from Grandma’s Chest
- DLOUHÝ, ŠIROKÝ A BYSTROZRAKÝ
- GRANNY HAD FOUR APPLES
- GULLIVER V LILIPUTOVĚ aneb Deník bájného cestovatele
- JAK ŠLI ZAJÍCI DO BETLÉMA
- JEN POČKEJ, HLEMÝŽDI
- MACH A ŠEBESTOVÁ
- SLEEPING BEAUTY or THE MAGIC THEATER
- SMOLÍČEK or A Fairy Tale out of a Suitcase
- SNĚHURKA A SEDM TRPASLÍKŮ
- THE ANIMALS AND THE ROBBERS
- THE GINGERBREAD HOUSE Or JUST PRETENDING
- THE LITTLE BEETLES, or FROM LIVES OF FIREFLIES
- THE MAGIC POT or TWO FAIRY TALES FOR SWEET-TOOTHED CHILDREN
- THE MISCHIEVOUS COMET or A Fairy Tale for Children Who Like Stargazing
- THE RED PIG AND THE BLUE MOUSE
- TOM THUMB or BELIEVE IT OR NOT
- TŘI POHÁDKY PRO ROŠŤÁKY
- UŠATÁ POHÁDKA
- ČUČUDEJSKÉ POHÁDKY
- Authorized adaptations
- Librettos for minioperas
A JOURNEY TO AMERICA BY SHIP AND DOWN AN ARTESIAN WELL or THE ROASTED PIGEONS
J.K.Tyl, Vlastimil Peška
A JOURNEY TO AMERICA BY SHIP AND DOWN AN ARTESIAN WELL or THE ROASTED PIGEONS
12 men and 7 women (May also employ a greater number of actors.)
The discontent of the Czechs is well documented. The view that everywhere else roasted pigeons fly straight into one´s mouth is somehow typical of us, and indeed is deeply ingrained. As is our maxim to the effect that all´s fine everywhere, but home is best. Our classical playwright J.K. Tyl explored such themes in a number of his plays – the most famous being The Strakonice Piper. Similar motifs are employed in two others: The Wood Nymph (or, The Trip to America), as well as another almost forgotten fantastical farce entitled To Africa Through the Center of the Earth. Vlastimil Peška has composed, while building on the themes of these two plays, a third one: an entirely original comedy. At its start, it also deals with the longing to liberate oneself from tight constraints, set out into the world, make a fortune and in so doing find love – and here too, wandering and plodding about turn out to represent elusive mirages of happiness and bliss. Here as well we witness the inevitable return, and the realization that home is home, and that joy and contentment cost nothing. Thus the concluding sentiment: “Long live golden Czech hands and the golden Czech heart”. Unreal adventures are experienced in the comedy, whose heroes travel to the New World by peculiar means: not just by ship, but also by digging into the earth through to the other side – thus the artesian well. The viewer is also treated to several tunes and a slew of hilarious situations, as is to be expected from an author, musical composer and director all in one – Vlastimil Peška.