What’s the Best Play You Can See at the Divadlo ABC?

If you answered Charley’s Aunt or Charleyova teta, we have the same taste.

I went to see Charley’s Aunt at the Divadlo ABC yesterday. What an evening! The first time I saw the play was in 1997. It was in the same theatre with the same main actors and I loved it no less yesterday than I did back then. It’s been almost 10 years since the premiere and the theatre was packed. Jan Hrušínský was irresistible in the role of the “aunt” and was clearly having a good time on the stage, laughing sincerely at some of the lines and situations and joking with the audience in the first row during his solo cigar scene. Lubomír Lipský who made the play famous in the 1960s and whose name is most often linked with the title role is now 82 and gives a great performance as Stephen Spettigue. I feel a little guilty for not having paid any attention to his character’s irritated monologue in a scene that was totally stolen by Otmar Brancuzský (playing Brasset) whose silent “background” performance made the audience roar with laughter.

I came out of the theatre in high spirits and with a smile on my face that didn’t fade until the beginning scenes of The Ring on television later that evening. Whoever puts together the program for Czech TV must have a unique sense of humor for scheduling a horror movie for 9 p.m. on a Saturday night. I watched until the end. Luckily, I didn’t have a problem falling asleep afterwards. My thoughts wandered back to “Charley’s aunt from Brazil, where the nuts come from”, and everything was fine.