Lolitas on the Road called Life

Rock Café, almost 8pm and there was a line that extended all the way to the entrance door. This queue consisted of people wearing punk outfits; fishnet stockings, heavy dark eye-shadow and some were even rocking out the mohawk. “No way that these people are going to see the play!” I thought. at that moment I decided to cut the line and ask the guy at the ticket stall about that. “No, it’s for the punk concert happening downstairs. You’re going for the play, Right?” It felt victorious to hold the entrance ticket, so did sitting down next to a few other Anglophone Studies people in the theatre room who also came to see our fellow student Magdaléna Hniličková perform.

I was told beforehand that the play will be 1) short, 2) performed mainly in underwear and yet 3), not at all erotic in the Nabokov novel sense. Even with these warnings, I did not expect the performance to have such psychological depth. Through story-telling, masks and role plays, the two young female characters opened up to the audience. There were frequent shifts of emotion; at one moment, the audience was laughing almost hysterically at their wolf dance or sexy-lass dressing-up, but just as quickly silence filled the room as a story implying rape was told. This dynamism of both verbal and physical form in combination with light effects and occasional usage of drumbeat and xylophone music kept all senses alert and one did not feel the urge (or even thought) to look at the time.

Once the play was over and the room was in a few-second of darkness, I was in a short mental pause. As the lights went up again and applause filled the room, I came to the realization that “Lolitas on the Road” discusses matters that are more relevant and understandable to women than to men. This was due to lines such as “Why should you get dressed up for him? You should do so for yourself!” or “Life with men is hard – but without them, it’s even harder, you have no choice.” Nonetheless, I believe that both genders can benefit from seeing this performance that will take your mind off matters like exams, credits or post-Christmas weight gain, if only for 45-50 minutes.

-          Anna Hupcejová

(Image credits: Vojtěch Morava)

“Lolitas” in a paragraph

The two "Lolitas" seem to be having a tough time deciding what to wear - but there are two lost and scared souls crouching underneath the layers of innocent white cloth or provocative tulle. A thought-provoking play shows the transition from innocent playfulness to a new identity which may as yet appear unclear and disturbing. What is the play about, then? About doubts and fears, hidden behind girlish giggling? About looking for your new identity and being surprised at what you find? About being supposed to grown up and not having a clue how such things are done? You’d better see and decide for yourself. This short play may well provide you with enough food for thought for a week.

-          Denisa Šebestová

On the Road to Vienna: Poetry Challenge.

Bus trips can become a bit of a nuisance at times. Chatting to your neighbour gets tiresome after a couple of hours. So does staring out of the window, despite the unique charm of picturesque Moravian vineyards and/or Bohemian petrol stations. And when all the snacks are disposed of, one falls into deep despair. What to do next?! – Fortunately, if you happen to embark on a trip with the Department of Phonetics, this is a question you shall not be forced to ask yourself. 

After a brief guitar overture performed by Dr. Volín, the bored bunch of trip-goers were presented with an exciting challenge—a poetry challenge, to be more precise. The assignment was the following: “Before we reach Znojmo, each of you will compose a short poem comprising the word ‘Vídeň.’” Whereupon each of the travellers immersed themselves in reflection, pondering on various metric schemes as well as the intricate nature of the Czech vocabulary, which does not provide a very vivid choice of words to rhyme with the name of the Austrian capital. After half an hour of scribbling, mumbling and sweating, each of us handed in a more or less lyrical contribution, some of which you can read below.

	Pojedeme do Vídně, snad nebude nevlídně. Do muzea nahlédneme, potom vína připijeme. K tomu skousnout dortu Sachr, kdo odolá, bude machr! (Kateřina Brabcová)

 

Zda prý vím něco o Vídni,

ptá se kantor nevlídný.

Kdo mi trochu napoví?

Já vím velký kulový;

jsem totiž trouba z Kolína

- tak se zeptám Volína.

(Magdaléna Hniličková)

The trip organisers have noticed that the quality of the poetry produced during the Vienna trips tends to improve every year. If you aspire to beat this year´s compositions, maybe it´s high time you considered joining the next trip and try beating our year's poetic creations!