The Child and the Spells
Libretto: Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette
Translation: Jan Štych senior
Conductor: Mario De Rose
Director: SKUTR – Martin Kukučka, Lukáš Trpišovský
Stage design: Jakub Kopecký
Costumes: Simona Rybáková
Choir Master: Martin Veselý
Cast:
The child: Ondřej Janeček
The child – the other me: Vladimíra Malá
The mother, china cup, dragonfly: Romana Strnadová
The fire, princess, nightingale: Veronika Holbová
The teapot, maths teacher, frog: Ondřej Koplík
The sofa, cat, squirrel, shepherd: Šárka Hrbáčková
The sherpherdess, owl, bat: Zdislava Bočková
The clock, tom cat: Aleš Janiga
The armchair, tree: František Brantalík
JD Chorus and Orchestra.
Concert masters Martin Červinka (violin) and Václav Žák (cello)
The one-act opera-ballet The Child and the Spells(L'Enfant et les sortilèges) was written by the French composer Maurice Ravel (1875–1937) based on a libretto by the French writer Colette. The text inspired Ravel to write rhythmical, dance music with distinctive impressionist instrumentation, including many special onomatopoeic effects. The opera is the fairy-tale story of a disobedient, lazy boy, who through his malevolence and mischief torments animals and destroys the things around him. However, when the boy tires of his rampaging and settles into his armchair, the things come alive and rise up against the naughty child. The clocks reprimand him and the teapot and Chinese tea bowl scold him, the fire from the stove threatens to burn the boy, the torn school jotter torments him with multiplication tables, and the shepherds and shepherdesses come out from the ripped wallpaper with their flocks and sing a sad song about the evil boy. From the garden come the complaints from the trees and the animals. Naturally, the feelings of fear are educational for the child and love and goodness find a place in his heart.
The South Bohemian Theatre (České Budějovice)
Written and directed by: Veronika Poldauf Riedlbauchová
Conductor: Mario de Rose
Concept art: Ján Tereba
Dramaturgical cooperation: Klára Boudalová
Presenter: Václav Jelínek
Soloists: Romana Strnadová, Veronika Holbová, Ondřej Koplík, Aleš Janiga
Chorus and Orchestra of the South Bohemian Theatre Opera
The project was carried out in cooperation with Ateliér 3D and the South Bohemian Theatre Opera.
Duration: 30 minutes / Duration of the entire evening with interval: 100 minutes
The Spell and a the Child / “Keng-ca-fou... Mah-joug... Didn’t you understand, young man?
..Ca-oh-ra? He broke the Chinese porcelain!” Did objects and things also come alive in your childhood imagination? What sounds and colours did they have? Were they afraid or did they laugh? What did they talk about? This unique project allows you and your children to conjure up an imaginative world of music. With its playful style, Maurice Ravel’s The Child and the Spells awakens your imagination and reveals the mastery of the onomatopoeia of this opera work.
The project is part of the creative and educational South Bohemian Theatre Ateliér 3D centre and is exclusively shown at selected repeat performances of The Child and the Spells. The actor and juggler Václav Jelínek takes on the role of the guide, and there are soloists as well as the chorus and orchestra of the South Bohemian Theatre Opera under the direction of Maria de Rose
There is a special premiere of the project for the 5th Janáček Brno 2016 international music and theatre festival.
