ABSTRACT
In the late 1950's a group of opponents of the dramaturgical program of the Prague National Theater under Krejca became active in the Mahen Theater in Brno, the capital of Moravia. The triumvirate, consisting of Miroslav Hynst, Borivoj Srba, and Evzen Sokolovsky, explicitly rejected the Chekhovian line of the National Theater, critizing it for negativism, ideological indifference, and disregard for social changes in the country. The ambition of the Mahen Theater was to create an ambience for the exploration of the sociopolitical conflicts of the time, which they conceived as reflecting the struggle of the revolution with the counter revolution. The play is developed on several time levels, the action shifting rapidly from pre-war and post-war Czechoslovakia to the time of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy, to the middle Ages, and to "anytime." Besides Czechoslovakia the locales include exotic islands, the open sea, Chicago during the gangster era, and "whenever land.".
