The Vaněk Plays

What started as a piece thrown together over two days to have something to read to friends, and was for many years banned from any performance in Czechoslovakia, grew into a character shared across writers and continents. Thirty years after the Velvet Revolution, come and look back at the universal truths revealed in the original Vaněk Plays written by Václav Havel and translated into English by Jan Novák.

The plays center on Ferdinand Vaněk, something of an alter-ego for Havel, who Havel wrote acts as “a kind of ‘key,’ opening certain—always different—vistas onto the world in which he lives; a kind of catalyst, a gleam, if you will, in whose light we view a landscape.” Vaněk stands at the center of events around him and his presence helps provoke his counterparts to reveal themselves to the audience.

One ticket includes four plays: Audience, Protest, Unveiling, and Dozens of Cousins. They offer a glimpse into life under Communism, what’s changed, and what hasn’t.