Václav Havel’s Audience

La MaMa presents the world premiere of Czechoslovak-American Marionette Theatre’s puppet version of Audience” by Václav Havel, translated and directed by Vít Horejš. This dark comedy of spying in a brewery is staged with live actors, giant puppets, and live projected closeups to suggest surveillance. Performed by Vít Horejš and Theresa Linnihan. Ferdinand Vanek, a distinguished playwright, is forced to perform manual labor in a brewery because his writings have been banned by the Communist regime. The brewmaster regales him with irksome, circular monologues, washing them down with endless rounds of beer. Vanek must endure a delicate game of cat and mouse — pointless chat, clumsy interrogation and flattery — with implied threats of dire consequences. The play reflects the time when Havel actually had to work in a brewery as penance for writing critically of the Czechoslovak communist government. He ultimately went from prison to the castle, becoming president of Czechoslovakia.