The very first theatrical, scenic, dance, and puppetry adaptation of this national musical treasure returns to Azyl78 after a year! A spectacular theatrical adventure full of movement, puppets, and visual imagination will delight children, parents, and grandparents alike – simply everyone whose soul is attuned to music, motion, and stories.
Through six symphonic poems, we explore the Czech landscape and history as a map of memories and present moments. We journey together and individually, searching for answers to many questions:
How has Vyšehrad changed? And what of it still remains within us?
How does the Vltava sound today? Is it quiet, loud, murky, clear? And is there still room for pearl mussels in its waters?
Is the wildness and cruelty of Šárka toward men something we now find amusing, or is it still relevant?
Where have Bohemia’s woods and fields gone? How do nature and the landscape touch our lives, and what stories unfold within them?
What does Tábor mean to us – faith, struggle, or the constant search for courage?
And what about Blaník? Do we believe someone will come when times are at their worst? Is it hope – or an illusion?
The production was created in co-production with the Czech Philharmonic, DEKKADANCERS, the Forman Brothers Theatre, and Jatka78, and follows the successful staging of The Jungle Book, which ran at Azyl78 from 2022 to 2024.
Accompanying My Country with their talent will be dancers, actors, puppeteers, and true theatrical “patriots.” You can look forward to members of the dance ensembles DEKKADANCERS and Holektiv, musicians from the Czech Philharmonic, and the beloved improvisational group Us boys who go out together.
Come early with your kids and sign them up for the Grand Knight Challenge!
On selected dates, you can buy a ticket to Matej Forman’s art workshop – a real adventure for brave and creative young knights. For 300 CZK, children will join the workshop in the Blaník Knights’ “Stable”, where they can make their very own hobby horses. One and a half hours before each performance, the horses will be ready to paint and saddle. Together with their little creators, they will then play an important role in My Country. Please note: workshop capacity is limited – only 20 spots are available for each performance!
“My Country, an original combination of a classic composer, modern dance and new circus. You wouldn’t believe what Bedřich Smetana can take. And how his work benefits from it.”
“What the individual symphonic poems have in common is a sense of humour and wittiness, which the creative team manage to find in them. My Country is stripped of its patriotic untouchability and presented with lightness and entertaining comprehensibility, without losing respect for it.”
“The multi-genred staging of My Country is primarily a musical and visual experience, which is approachable, while not pandering to the popular taste. Regardless of age, it is worth it to listen to Smetana’s masterpiece and allow oneself to be carried away by the imaginative dance scenes on the stage, which with its artistic treatment often resemble a painting.”
