By Louis Charbonneau
PRAGUE, May 21 (Reuters) - Vaclav Havel, the anti-communist
dissident who became Czech president, is ending nearly 20 years
of self-imposed exile from the theatre with a new play that some
critics consider his best.
"Leaving", which has its premiere in Prague's Archa theatre
on Thursday, is an absurdist comedy about Vilem Rieger, the
leader of an unnamed country who steps down as chancellor but
does not want to vacate the government villa.
Rieger's former deputy seizes power and forces him off the
estate so that he and his mafia-like cronies can build a
shopping mall, casino and brothel -- businesses which have
thrived in the two decades since the collapse of communist rule.
The subject matter of the play, which is based on William
Shakespeare's tragedy "King Lear", has prompted speculation
about the extent to which it may be autobiographical.
Some Czech media have suggested Havel used the play to
lampoon Vaclav Klaus, a political rival who succeeded him as
president -- a position Havel held for 13 years after the 1989
Velvet Revolution that toppled communist rule.
But Havel, 71, has dismissed the speculation, saying he
wrote most of the play long before he entered politics.
"Both back then and today, I was more interested in the
rather general, existential side of the matter," Havel, a former
chain smoker who survived a near-fatal bout with lung cancer and
several other serious health problems, said on Tuesday.
"How is it possible that for some people, power has such
charisma that without it, their world collapses?" he told a news
conference. "Regardless of me being in politics, this is what
interested me."
LITERARY SENSATION
Havel, who was involved in the Charter 1977 human rights
movement that criticised the communist authorities, had last
published a play in 1988 before concentrating on his political
role.
When he published "Leaving" last November, it was the Czech
literary sensation of the year and was critical praise.
He has a role in the play -- as the voice of the author.
Havel recorded the voice for the production, according to
interviews given by several actors in "Leaving".
In this role, Havel interrupts the action of the play,
explaining, and occasionally criticising, what is happening on
stage.
Paul Wilson, Havel's long-time friend and translator of the
English version of the play, said the voice shows Havel as a
"person who is filled with doubts about himself, his writing,
his creation, his work."
"It's Havel's way of putting himself on stage, in a way, in
the guise of the same nanny-like voice that reminds you to turn
off your phone," Wilson said. "It's a cosmic joke that reminds
you of what kind of universe you're living in."
The play ran into problems when Havel failed to agree on
staging it with the Czech National Theatre and another theatre.
It has also caused a stir because of the decision of his
wife, Dagmar Havlova, to drop out of the production for what she
said were health reasons.
Czech media have quoted unnamed sources in Czech theatre as
saying she took her decision because of disagreements with the
director, David Radok, and the leading male actor, Jan Triska.
Ondrej Hrab, director of the Archa theatre, dismissed this.
"We've never had any tension or conflicts," he said.
(Additional reporting by Jan Lopatka; Editing by Timothy
Heritage)
