The production is based on the book Expedition: My Love Story by Swedish author Bea Uusma. It follows the footsteps of the three-member pioneer expedition of engineer Andrée in 1897, which unsuccessfully tried to conquer the North Pole using a hot air balloon. This adventurous story has received several adaptations, including the Oscar-nominated film The Flight of the Eagle. However, it is the first time that it appears on Czech stages. There’s a romantic sense of discovery and discovering, the tragedy of human destinies, which ended prematurely somewhere in the polar wasteland, unfulfilled fated love, and several amusing, grotesque moments related to the purpose of the expedition itself. Who would have thought of reaching the North Pole in a balloon? The tragicomic nature of the story inspired the authors of the production, the guest director Filip Homola and set designer Robert Smolík, to create a concept based on strong visual language combining elements of clowning with the imagery of puppet and object theatre, which, together with the dominant musical composition, promise a suggestive theatre experience.
About the theatre:
The Drak Theatre is at home in the town of Hradec Králové, its production has been always rooted not only in the tradition of (East) Czech puppetry but also on the principle of original author’s work for children and adults based on imagination and novel imaginativeness. Throughout its history, it has often pioneered new methods and creative practices and it won numerous awards at home and abroad.
