PRAVDA O PYGMALIONU

by Richard Huggett

For our second production we have chosen a play by the British actor and playwright Richard Huggett, The First Night of Pygmalion (Czech title: Pravda o Pygmalionu). Directed by Roman Štolpa, it opened on 7th April 2026 at the Divadlo v Řeznické, Prague 2. 

The work, written in 1966, was originally conceived for two actors. Then Huggett himself performed it as a one-man show at the Edinburgh Festival. In our production, the three main roles - the playwright George Bernard Shaw, the actress Beatrice Stella Campbell (also known as Mrs Patrick Campbell), and the actor-manager Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree - are joined by two narrators, who also play a number of subsidiary roles. The play documents the creation of Shaw's Pygmalion (perhaps better known today in its musical version My Fair Lady) and the real-life drama between these three powerful personalities in the months before its première.

Divadlo v Řeznické, Prague 2

28th September, 14th October

7.30 pm

The Truth about Pygmalion - from rehearsals

  BEZ ZÁBRAN

(Home Truths)

by DAVID LODGE

now touring

Next performances of BEZ ZÁBRAN: 

Písek

9th September, 7 pm

Home Truths is a thought-provoking and at times touching drama about the relationship between celebrities and the media, and the power of journalists to make or break reputations.  

It is also the story of a friendship, a marriage, and a revenge. 

Set at the end of the last century in the England of Tony Blair and Princess Diana, the play tackles subjects that are both topical and timeless: celebrity culture, privacy versus publicity, and the limits of friendship and love. 

Adrian Ludlow...................... Juraj Bernáth

Eleanor Ludlow........Zuzana Geislerová

Sam Sharp...................................Josef Vrána

Fanny Tarrant.................Martina Balážová

directed by ..........................Robert Russell

translated by ...............Zuzana Geislerová

designed by................Markéta Šafaríková

poster by .................................Josef Blecha

Zuzana Geislerová

I was born in Prague into an acting family. In fact only my mother, Růžena Lysenková, was an actress but that was quite enough.

I studied at DAMU, then got my first acting engagement in Olomouc. After that came several years in Liberec, followed by a series of Prague theatres – E. F. Burian, Na Zábradlí, Labyrint, Komedie – as well as work in film, television, and dubbing.

My main roles: Shakespeare (Juliet, Viola, Titania), Shaw (Eliza in Pygmalion), Bolt (Vivat! Vivat Regina! - Mary Stuart), Moliére (Tartuffe - Elmire), Strindberg (Creditors -Tekla), Albee (Ballad of the Sad Cafe - Amelia), Havel (Temptation - Vilma), Euripides (The Trojan Women - Andromache), Stoppard (Arcadia - Lady Croom), Jane Bowles (In the Summerhouse - Gertrude).

I was awarded the prize of the Czech Literary Fund In 1976 for the role of Petra (in Walking on Stones) and Viola (Twelfth Night), and in 1988 for Amelia.

I've obviously always loved acting, despite the nerves and stage fright. Like most people, I've had good times in my life, but also moments of crisis. 

Juraj Bernáth

Juraj Bernáth was born on 29 December 1974 in Košice. The Slovak actor and singer is the son of the actor Juraj Bernáth (born 1935). He studied acting at the Music and Drama Department of the Košice Conservatoire.

After completing his studies, he began his professional career as a musical theatre actor at the State Theatre in Košice, then performed at the Andrej Bagar Theatre in Nitra, and eventually settled more or less permanently in Prague. Here, he has appeared at venues such as the Music Theatre in Karlín, the Metro Theatre, the Pavel Trávníček Theatre, 3D Company, the Broadway Theatre, the Hybernia Theatre and the Kalich Theatre, and currently works mainly with the Háta Theatre Company.

On screen, he has appeared in the television series ORDINACE V RŮŽOVÉ ZAHRADĚ, ULICE, GYMPL S (R)UČENÍM OMEZENÝM, PRVNÍ REPUBLIKA, MODRÝ KÓD and O MĚ SE NEBOJ; he also appeared in the war film TMAVOMODRÝ SVĚT (2001).

Martina Balážová

I was born in Poprad in Slovakia and spent my childhood at the foot of the Tatra Mountains. After leaving school I studied literature and drama at Prešov, then moved to Prague where I completed an acting course at DAMU. I now work freelance in various Prague theatres and for several touring companies. 

My acting roles include Lady Macbeth/Witch (W. Shakespeare: Macbeth), Emilia Marty (K. Čapek: The Makropulos Affair), Kate (W. Shakespeare: The Taming of the Shrew), Perla Sch. (A. Lustig: Nemilovaná – Unloved Lady), Sarah Bernhardt (M. Balážová/M. Magdová: Ženská epopej – EpicWomen), Runa / Nyola (J. Zeyer: Radúz a Mahulena).

I am also a playwright and theatre producer. 

Josef Vrána

I was born in 1962 in the Prague suburb of Horní Počernice. I got my first taste of the theatre at the Jan Neruda Secondary School (or "Hellichovka"), which I chose for that very reason. After that I went to DAMU, graduating in 1984, then finally, aged nearly forty, I went the rounds of Czech provincial theatres. Mostly I was based in Pardubice but I also worked in Kladno, Olomouc, Ostrava and Šumperk, as well as in Prague (Fidlovačka, Činoherní klub, and now Dívadlo bez zabradlí). 

I've been lucky enough to play some great roles: Romeo, Yossarian, Othello, Cyrano, Claudius, Count Skule (Ibsen, The Pretenders), Major Steve Arnold (Harwood, Taking Sides), Quasimodo and Salieri. 

These days I work freelance on various projects around Prague, including this one which I'm very excited about. Apart from that I do film work, teach, and enjoy spending time at my cottage near Kutná Hora – most of all with my young daughters and granddaughter.