Perpetuum Havel

The National Theatre in Prague is a prominent cultural institution and a symbol of Czech national identity. Part of the NT is Laterna magika – the world’s first multimedia theatre globally renowned for its unique theatrical poetics. The ensemble systemically explores various forms of synthetic theatre combining different artistic means, especially film and digital projection with live stage performance. Laterna magika’s distinctive style was shaped by director Alfred Radok and set designer Josef Svoboda at the turn of the 1950s and 1960s.

www.narodni-divadlo.cz/en

Boháč is a director, a graduate of Charles University in Czech language and literature, an occasional fine artist and an avid poker player. His productions were staged in over twenty countries, including Japan, South Korea, the United States, Israel, South Africa, and Norway. Several of his theatrical pieces for the Spitfire Company received international or national awards, notably the Fringe First Award, Herald Angel Award, 2014 Aerowaves Priority Companies Award, Theatrical Newspaper Award, and Czech Dance Platform Award. Boháč is the incumbent director of Palác Akropolis, a venue focused on projects combining music and theatre. His creative poetics draws from exploring new theatrical techniques and topical issues. Petr Boháč was presented at last year’s Avignon Theatre Festival with his production The Last of Soviets, praised by French critics.

Born in Tula (Russia), he has lived in Prague since the age of 17. He studied dance at Duncan Centre, Prague, where he learned contemporary dance, modern techniques such as Graham, Limon and Cunningham, martial arts, and street dance. He has collaborated with Nadar Rosano, Sue Schroeder, Maxim Didenko, Lenka Flory, Michal Záhora, Mirka Eliášová, Jana Bitterová, and many other artists engaged in contemporary dance and physical theatre. He co-founded the Ferst Dadler art group. Since 2018, he has been teaching improvisation, composition, and other dance-related subjects at Duncan Centre. In 2015, he received the Jarmila Jeřábková Award. Performer Roman Zotov-Mikshin already appeared at the Avignon Festival last year, in the acclaimed production The Last of Soviets.

The Czech mime, director, choreographer, scriptwriter, and teacher is a leading figure of contemporary European physical and non-verbal theatre. He is a graduate of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, where he also completed postgraduate studies (PhD).
He received the 2016 Thalia Award for his performance in the production Solo and was also awarded the International Theatre Institute Medal for his long-term contribution to theatre art. He has created over a hundred productions as a scriptwriter, director or choreographer and has performed throughout Europe, the USA, Asia, and Africa.
In his creative work, he focuses mainly on contemporary pantomime and the development of non-verbal theatre. Radim Vizváry has been the artistic director of Laterna magika – an ensemble of the National Theatre in Prague – since 2021.

She works as a set and costume designer for theatre and film. She studied theatrical set design at the AMU Theatre Faculty in Prague, where she graduated in 2022. She has long collaborated with director Jakub Čermák, with whom she prepared, among others, the production The Trojan Women (Venuše ve Švehlovce, 2022), which won the 2023 Divadelní noviny Award for Alternative Theatre. Together with designer Martina Zwyrtek, she has also participated in other productions directed by Jakub Čermák. Her creative work spans across theatrical genres, including drama, alternative theatre projects, as well as opera, musical, and dance theatre. Pavlína Chroňáková also works for film, in particular in collaboration with director Anna Wowra (Stuck Together, 2023).

He is a musician, sound designer, composer, and graphic designer, known for his solo productions – where he performs as rapper Bonus – and as a composer of minimalist electronic music. Under his own name, he composes theatre, dance, and film music. He has collaborated inter alia with the National Theatre in Prague, the Spitfire Company, and the National Theatre in Brno, where he composed music for the productions Nightscape and Like Lovers Do (Memoirs of Medusa), directed by Aminata Keita. Furthermore, he composed music for projects of choreographer Jiří Bartovanec and for films directed by Jiří Havelka and Miroslav Krobot. Martin Hůla has won multiple awards. As a lecturer, he organises regular music and sound design workshops.

He studied theatre production at the Janáček Academy of Performing Arts in Brno, specialising in stage technology. He works as a lighting designer especially for contemporary, experimental, and movement theatre. He is the author of lighting design for productions such as Saudade (National Moravian-Silesian Theatre / New Opera Days Ostrava Festival, 2022), Nightscape (National Theatre Brno, 2023), and Sugar (Moravian Theatre Olomouc, 2024). He also cooperates with the Barcelona-based ensemble Wonderground Company. As a long-term collaborator of the ensembles Tantehorse and the Spitfire Company, Filip Horn was involved in productions such as Ballet Dancers, Vivat Messi, and The Last of the Soviets.

Based on Václav Havel’s text
Adaptation, concept, script, and direction Petr Boháč
Performer and co-author of the script Roman Zotov-Mikshin
Choreography assistance Radim Vizváry
Set and costume design Pavlína Chroňáková
Video, music, and sound design Martin Hůla
Lighting design Filip Horn

Production Laterna magika National Theatre
Supported by Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic, Generali Česká pojišťovna Foundation, The National Theater Benefactors’ Club (MEK): Bányai František, Dryák Zdeněk, Foglarová Olga, Fuksová Jana, Jírovcová Zuzana, Poljaková Jana, Růzhová Marcela, Rychlík Jan, Sodomková Marie, Šiler Jiří, Šlosarčíkovi Alexandra and Ivo, Výtvarovi Věra and František

Work in Progress was presented in December 2025 during the residency at the Czech Center in Paris.