Light It Up, Alice
At the end of 20th century, Petr Kratochvil and his team started working on the theatre adaptation of Alice in Wonderland in Prague. The novel refers to a girl named Alice, who is exploring an unknown world full of imagination. Kratochvil’s adaptation of the novel is still played at theatres today, ever since 1989. He re-wrote a non-verbal theatre play for the needs of the Black Light Theatre and he named it Aspect of Alice.
The Fantastika theatre team continues to host the play and Petr Kratochvil is still the producer, author, and director. The Public Relations Manager of the show Josef Kadlčík said that
“Black Theatre is a Czech art form dating back to the 1960s and it is made from special effects that give you an illusion of levitation!” He adds afterward that they use “a black light, it is a UV light that brightens the colors in the stage and the screen otherwise we will not be able to reach. Overall the black canvas gives a very vibrant experience .”
Spotlights, UV lights, and black velvet are some of the equipment they use in order to create the illusion of levitation. The technique of the Black Theatre first appeared in Vienna in 1959 and then in Edinburgh in 1962. However, Prague is the only city in the world that took the idea and they developed their own unique technique.
In addition, the stage manager Ondřej Vacke mentioned that
“The Black Theatre is more technical, not so much about acting. It’s about the feeling but it’s especially important for you: the audience.”
Moreover, while he was talking about his career he comments that
“It’s a very nice job but I think it’s better to be the audience than the worker.”
As a stage manager, Vacke has a lot of responsibilities for the smooth execution of the theater production. He feels incredibly grateful that he has this job and he looks forward to better days when the tricks and the effects will be performed at an excellent level.
In the adaptation play, Alice is experiencing the stages of puberty and comes across the wealthy history of Prague, learning about the architecture and both the Christian and the Jewish community. It is a non-verbal play, which has an entertaining and learning role for children and adults. Besides the use of the colorful illustration videos and suitable effects, tricks and music choices, the actors use their facial expressions and their body language to make it easier for the audience to follow the plot of the play. On one hand the novel “Alice In Wonderland” is a book for children written with narrative style two centuries ago.
