HORDUBAL is Now Playing at the National Theatre in Prague

After eight years of working in the USA, Juraj Hordubal returns to Carpathian Ruthenia, looking forward to seeing his devoted wife Polana and loving daughter Hafia. Naively expecting everyone to welcome him warmly, he rather idealises his homecoming. Yet despite meeting with a frosty reception, Hordubal still believes that everyone will soon get used to his being around and things will be better. When he discovers that his wife has had an affair with the young farm keeper Štěpán Manya, the relationship between the two men becomes extremely tense and the latter is forced to leave his post. Nevertheless, Polana and Manya keep meeting. The strange love triangle ultimately culminates in a murder. The epic psychological story thus suddenly turns into a thrilling investigation of the criminal act. Who is the culprit and who covers for whom? This funeral reception does not bring any relief …

Is Hordubal a submissive husband who after returning from the “big world” transforms into a rational liberal? Or is he a “lonely white heterosexual male”, now and then a moving and comical dimwit, whose universe suddenly changes before his eyes? The famous novel by Karel Čapek (1890–1938) is intriguing in that it affords two different viewing angles, confrontation between imagination and reality. In this light, the stage director Michal Vajdička, whose style features elements of the conservative theatre model refined by modern, sophisticated dramatic facets and thorough work with the actors with the aim to give precise portrayals of characters, is certainly the right choice to adapt Hordubal.