EIN STÜCK: TSCHECHIEN: NACHLESE (GLEANINGS) 2017

Kateřina Rudčenková: Zeit des Kirschrauchs (The Time of Cherry Smoke)

Translation: Anna Galt

Staged reading and discussion with Czech playwright Kateřina Rudčenková

Thursday, 15th June 2017, 19:00

Czech Centre Berlin, Wilhelmstraße 44, 10117 Berlin

In the festival series, “Ein Stück: Tschechien”, Drama Panorama e. V. and the Czech Centre Berlin once again take a look at contemporary Czech theatre in the 2017 Gleanings. As well as that, Czech poet and dramatist, Kateřina Rudčenková, winner of the audience prize at the festival of contemporary Czech drama “Ein Stück: Tschechien”  2016, has been invited to a one-week residency in Berlin, combined with a staged reading of her play “Zeit des Kirschrauchs”.

The play will be read by: Hürdem Riethmüller, Hannah Schröder and Thea Rasche

Arrangement of the reading/dramaturgy/production management: Barbora Schnelle and Henning Bochert

Free entry

Kateřina Rudčenková (born in 1976) is a Czech poet, prose author and playwright. She studied at the Jaroslav Ježek Conservatorium (with a focus on song lyrics and script-writing) and Economics at the Czech University of Agriculture in Prague. She has published four volumes of poetry: “Ludwig” (1999), “Není nutné, abyste mě navštěvoval” (“No Need to Visit Me” 2001), “Popel a slast” (“Ashes and Lust” 2004) and “Chůze po dunách” (“Walking on Sand dunes” 2013). For the latter, she was awarded the 2014 Magnesia Litera Prize for Poetry, one of the most important Czech literary prizes. Her stories have appeared in the collection “Noci, noci” (“Nights, Nights”, 2004). Her play “Niekur”, for which she received the 2006 Alfréd Radok Prize, premiered in 2008 at the Prague Theatre. A staged reading of “Čas třešňového dýmu” (“The Time of Cherry Smoke”) took place at the Immigrants’ Theater in New York in 2008. In 2003, she received the Hubert Burda Prize for Young Eastern European Poetry. In 2007, she took part in a residency for foreign playwrights at the Royal Court Theatre in London. She has taken part in numerous international literature festivals. Her direct, sensual poetry with autobiographical connotations has been translated into twenty languages, a selection of which has appeared in German entitled “…nicht nötig, mich zu besuchen” (“No Need to Visit Me”), Klagenfurt: Wieser Verlag, 2002, as a bilingual edition.

The Time of Cherry Smoke

Why does the word genius have no corresponding female form? And what can women today learn from Cinderella, Snow White or Little Red Riding Hood? In the play “The Time of the Cherry Smoke”, three generations come together – mother, daughter and grandmother – and present their visions of their lives to each other. In her playful language, full of poetic images, the author describes society’s pressure on women to function according to specific socio-cultural models. Alongside the real level, there are several dream sequences in which the protagonists wait at their weddings (in reference to Beckett’s “Waiting for Godot”) and transform into classic fairytale characters.

Translation into German: Barbora Schnelle

The play was translated with support from Lydia Nagel.

As part of Ein Stück: Tschechien: Gleanings 2017, Drama Panorama, The Czech Centre Berlin and the Department of West-Slavic Languages at the Humboldt University Berlin will hold a workshop on contemporary Czech drama and its translation (using the example of Kateřina Rudčenková’s Čas třešňového dýmu/The Time of the Cherry Smoke). The workshop, aimed at Czech Studies students, will provide insights into contemporary Czech drama, introduce its most important protagonists and give an introduction to theatre translation with concrete translation exercises.

Workshop led by: Barbora Schnelle, Lydia Nagel and Henning Bochert.

With friendly support from the Embassy of the Czech Republic in Berlin

Information about the festival organisers:

There is a new generation of playwrights in the Czech Republic, whose texts are relevant to the entire European region and which nonetheless are barely known outside the country. The Berlin association Drama Panorama: Forum for Translation and Theatre e. V. in cooperation with the Czech Centre Berlin aims to close this gap with its festival Ein Stück: Tschechien.

Drama Panorama: Forum for Translation and Theatre e. V. Drama Panorama is a forum linking the work of theatre translators and playwrights with theatre practitioners and theatres. It organises workshops, readings and panel discussions on topics related to international theatre exchange. One of the aims of the project is to present new, contemporary foreign-language plays in German translation. In the past, playwrights such as Dorota Masłowska, Małgorzata Sikorska-Miszczuk, Jolanta Janiczak (Poland), Minja Bogavac, Filip Vujošević (Serbia), Roman Sikora (Czech Republic), Tarell Alvin McCraney, Thomas Bradshaw, Andrea Stolowitz (USA), Valère Novarina, Simone Rist (France), Victor Hugo Rascón-Banda, David Olguin (Mexico) and Guillermo Calderón (Chile) have participated in Drama Panorama events and panel discussions about their work.

The Czech Centre Berlin has been regularly exhibiting contemporary art, design and international documentary films on current topics. Alternative music concerts, discussions and readings with young Czech authors also take place here. Furthermore, the Czech Centre Berlin supports local event organisers from all areas of culture and provides contacts in the contemporary Czech arts scene.

Festival organisers:

Drama Panorama: Forum für Theater und Übersetzung e. V.

www.drama-panorama.com

The Czech Centre Berlin/České centrum Berlín

berlin.czechcentres.cz

Dramaturgy/production management:

Barbora Schnelle and Henning Bochert

The project is funded by:

Deutsch-tschechischer Zukunftsfonds

The Institute of the Arts – Theatre Institute Prague

Dilia o.s., agency for theatre, literature and the audiovisual arts

For more information, please contact: info@drama-panorama.com