Spitfire Company From The Czech Republic Arrives In San Francisco

The San Francisco International Arts Festival is relieved to announce that all five members of the Spitfire Company landed at San Francisco International Airport last night and successfully crossed customs and excise into the United States. Spitfire is the last company to arrive for this year's Festival. Their visas finally being approved and processed on Friday May 24. In light of recent visa reversals the Festival organization is glad the Spitfire Company was able to make it.

They will perform their award-winning playAntiwords (a deeply satirical re-imagining of Vaclav Havel's best known play, Audience). Spitfire's unique style of theatre - an explosive mix of absurd humour, physical theatre and acting with masks - is the key to this unexpected interpretation of Havel's classic.

The play takes place in a small Czech brewery in 1975, where Vanek, a struggling playwright censored by the Communist regime (a barely-veiled characterization of Vaclav Havel himself), must work to support himself. It becomes apparent that Vanek's superior has been enlisted to spy on him, a situation which unravels into a comic entanglement of espionage and deceit, with many a beer consumed.

The Spitfire Company cast female performers in the two male roles, with the characters defined by masks reminiscent of haggard politicians. Little is spoken in this physical piece, often morphing into comedy as the two performers drink beer after beer live through the show.

Immediately after its premiere in September 2013, Antiwords became an international smash hit and is currently the most staged adaptation of Havel's work in the world. The absurd magic of Antiwords has been enjoyed by audiences across three continents in cities including Washington DC, New York City, Beijing, Seoul, Busan, Milan, Oslo, Krakow, Florence, Berlin, London and Prague.

Spitfire Company is an artistic company that includes works of physical, visual and dance theatre. It is currently one of the most progressive ensembles of author theatre in the Czech Republic. The most important and characteristic aspects of the ensemble s work are: searching of an original physical language of each particular performance, emphasis on experiencing performer s state of being that generates very present emotions, dealing with a human s limitation and his/her existential situation.