SVEJK
Since Hasek’s comic masterpiece was first produced in 1920s Prague, there have been countless attempts to stage this sprawling story of the seeming idiot, Švejk, who survives the horrors of the First World War by undermining the institutions of state and army through his very idiocy.
This new adaptation was specially commissioned by the Gate theatre for their 1999 ‘Idiots’ season and was subsequently produced by TFANA at The Duke Theatre, 42nd Street, New York.
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 'Svejk's picaresque story for the stage is ambitious, antic and inventive... Play's intellectual energy and resonance suggest how deep a nerve touched - comic hero highlights the illogic of war brilliantly. One scene leaps out with a ferocity that seems haunted by feelings about the current war.' - THE NEW YORK TIMES
"The giddiness of Hasek's despair is elegantly staged by Dalia Ibelhauptaite, who keeps the excellent cast on their toes. Here, on a set that seems painted by Franz Kline in his cups, tortuous thick black lines demark Gideon Davey's wonderful tilted set, on which chairs and a typewriter are nailed to the side of the proscenium and two behemoth clock hands have been set at bold angles like spears thrown into a Cubist nightmare." - THE NEW YORKER
‘Teevan’s adaptation is accessible and entertaining’ Curtain Up
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THE BOOK
 Svejk is published by Oberon Books. To order a copy click here.
To download a copy of the article 'Idiotic Stories' by Alexandra Poulain of the Sorbonne in Paris, click here.
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