The Scenography of Josef Svoboda

Book excerpt: Josef Svoboda, of Czechoslovakia, is probably the most innovative designer in the theatre today. Every year, throughout a 'season' of twelve months, Svoboda totally designs--'scenographs,' as he prefers to call his work--productions for the legitimate theatre, for operas and ballets and occasionally for films, not only in his native country, but also in England, Scandinavia, Germany, Italy and elsewhere in Europe. In this country he is best know for the series of multiscreen films shown in the Czechoslovak pavillion at Expo 67 in Montreal and for the stark, marvellously evocative sets for the Metropolitan Opera's opening-night production of Carmen in 1972. The major part of this study is devoted to detailed, professional considerations of some sixty key productions, described largely in Svoboda's own words, transcribed and translated from tape-recorded interviews with the author. More than two hundred black-and-white photographs visually reinforce Mr. Burian's explication of the development of Svoboda's methods. Svoboda's scenography emerges as total design, a synthesis of traditional methods and technical innovations that provide a dynamic atmosphere as well as the physical setting.--Back cover.