Choreography: Pavel Šmok
Music: Arnold Schönberg
Staging: Kateřina Dedková – Franková
Set and costume design: Jan Dušek
Premiere: 2. 10. 1986 Mladá Boleslav
Renewed premiere: 1. 3. 2009 Theatre in Dlouhá Prague
Duration: 31 minutes
The string sextet „Transfigured Night“ is inspired by the poem by Richard Dehmel. The poem tells the story of woman who tries to escape her loneliness by being seduced by a stranger – and as a result carries his child. Despite this infidelity her partner does not abandon her. The choreographer elaborates on this motive which he sets in a post-war period by contrasting two narratives at different temporal levels. The first is the story of a young Jewish woman who survived the atrocities of Nazi camp. She tells her lover about her past: about her love to a fellow prisoner, his death sentence, and about their child she carries under her heart. Her new partner, listening to the story, struggles with his own intense feelings where love and jealousy intertwine. He finally resolves this bitter inner conflict by reconciling with his lover’s past and facing their common future together.
The copyrights to the choreography are represented by Aura-Pont, s.r.o., Veslařský ostrov 62, 147 00 Prague 4.
Photo: Ladislav Péchy