Hedda Gabler

Viktor Bodó will direct this production of Ibsen’s play, which caused an upheaval upon its publication in 1890 and has become an item on theatre repertoires worldwide. The peculiar staging style of the Hungarian director, who has also cooperated with several leading theatres in German-speaking countries, is characterised with masterful use of grotesque elements and pop culture references, which have earned him the nickname ‘Quentin Tarantino of contemporary theatre’.

VIKTOR BODÓ (1978) studied acting and theatre direction at the Theatre and Film University in Budapest. Since graduating in 2003 he has focused on theatre and film direction, appearing as an actor only in film. In 2008 he founded his own company, Sputnik Shipping Company. His greatest successes include a stage adaptation of Kafka’s The Trial at the József Katona Theatre under the title Rattledanddisappeared, which he presented at the 2009 Divadlo International Theatre Festival in Pilsen. For this and other guest direction in Hungary and elsewhere he has received a number of theatre awards. The Divadlo festival further presented his productions The Government Inspector (2014) and Diary of a Madman (2017). Theatre on the Balustrade staged his play Anamnesis directed by Rastislav Ballek (2015). Bodó’s production Shaxpeare Carwash in Kertész Street, prepared for Isztvan Örkenyi Színhás theatre, was presented to great acclaim at the 2023 Divadlo International Theatre Festival in Pilsen. Viktor Bodó regularly directs in Hungary, as well as in Austrian and German theatres (in Graz, Vienna, Berlin, Köln, Hamburg and Zürich).

The Estates Theatre is inseparably linked with Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The composer has visited Prague couple of times to compose and give concerts here, and in 1787 he presented his opera The Marriage of Figaro in the Estates Theatre.

Under the impression of its enthusiastic reception Mozart composed the Don Giovanni opera for Prague, and personally conducted its world premiere in the Estates Theatre. The opera was an immense success and that is how Don Giovanni and the Estates Theatre have entered the history...

The Estates Theatre was one of the locations in the famous film Amadeus by Miloš Forman. Although the name of Mozart shines the most brightly in the history of the theatre, the Estates Theatre allured many other distinct artists of Europe-wide significance.

Carl Maria von Weber was a musical director of the Theatre; the violin virtuoso Niccolo Paganini gave a concert here; Arthur Rubinstein, Carl Goldmark and Gustav Mahler conducted at the theatre. Other famous personalities are i.e. the actors W. A. Iffland, F. Raimund, J. N. Nestroy, W. Scholze, I. Aldrige and many others.

The Estates Theatre was extremely important for the Czech theatre. From the pioneers such as the Thám brothers, to V. K. Klicpera, J. K. Tyl, J. J. Kollár, etc., the generations of leading creators and artists presented their plays here. The first Czech modern opera, Škroup’s The Tinker, was presented here in 1826.

The play Fidlovačka by J. K. Tyl and F. Škroup, premiered here, includes the song “Kde domov můj” (Where is My Home), which would later become the Czech national anthem. In the Estates Theatre you can see opera, drama and ballet performances.