It will take a few more weeks before spring paints trees and flowers green. But many places around the world will turn green on Tuesday, 17 March, to celebrate St Patrick’s Day. The Irish national holiday has become a popular event among Czechs, partly because of their Celtic roots and also because of their love of drinking. The annual Prague Irish Music Festival opens 13 March at Caffrey’s Irish Bar at Old Town Square. Most Irish pubs in the city will feature live music (Shamrock Pub, J.J.Murphy’s) and a related programme will be available at some of the city’s night clubs (Lucerna Music Bar 17 Mach, Palác Akropolis, 17 March). You can also keep your eyes open for discounted Irish whiskey shots, Guinness and traditional Irish menus on St Patrick’s Day.
The Estates Theatre performance on Tuesday is devoted to Italian opera of the 18th and early 19th century. ‘Bel canto’ is connected to operas by Rossini, Bellini and Donizetti and they will be performed on Tuesday, 17 March by celebrated Slovak-Czech soprano singer Simona Houda-Šaturová as part of the Opera 2009 festival. The show starts at 7pm.
If you want to explore Czech theatre, Švandovo divadlo is the place to go. The English-friendly theatre in Smíchov provides English subtitles for selected shows, including Moliere’s L’École des femmes (The School for Wives) today and Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing on Tuesday.
Today also is your last chance to see the Prague Playhouse’ production of David Mamet’s play Glengarry Glen Ross at Divadlo Inspirace.
When it comes to bass players, Avishai Cohen is a living legend. The Israeli-born musician has accompanied, recorded or performed with several noted jazz figures such as Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, Jaco Pastorius and Charlie Mingus. He has been cited as the most successful of Israel’s jazz exports by The Jerusalem Post. You can taste Cohen’s Middle-Eastern and African-American style of playing on Sunday, 15 March. The show at Palác Akropolis starts at 7:30pm.
The Žižkov club is also worth checking out on Monday. The Hungarian saxophone player Tony Lakatos and several Brazilian musicians will play songs by Brazilian singer and composer Antonio Carlos Jobim.
If you can’t decide between a concert and a theatre show, you should head to NoD on Dlouhá street one of the nights from 14 to 22 March. Prague-based theatre company Krepsko is turning eight and the
Feast For Fools festival to mark the celebrations will offer a variety of shows you can choose from. There will be music played by Duchess and the Kittens. There will be a tea party with Mad Cup of Tea, circus and tango. There will be Fragile inspired by Laura, the character in Tenessee Williams’ Glass Menagerie. And there will be the Feast For Fools, whatever that means.
Pass the Popcorn
Europe’s biggest human rights film festival is opening in Prague today. The 11the One World festival is focusing on global challenges facing today’s world such as global warming, the economy, the financial crisis and the energy industry. There will be a number of films about Africa and the opening film will take a look at independent media trying to fight against totalitarian regime of Burma. Czech viewers will for the first time have a chance to see the work of American documentary-maker and Harvard professor Ross McElwee, including his celebrated film from 1986, Sherman’s March. The festival’s center will be at Lucerna and the Langhans Gallery. One World will move to other Czech cities after 19 March. Selected films will be presented also in Brussels and Washington DC. All screenings will be either in English or with English subtitles besides two exceptions – Senegalese Meet “Sene-Gallic” and Petra Edelmannová.
If you are looking for fiction, you have a choice of three films, arriving in Czech theatres this week. Gabriele Muccino’s drama Seven Pounds; David Frankel’s family romance Marley & Me; and Matteo Garrone’s Gomorra. The last one is a gangster movie based on Roberto Saviano’s bestseller. Gomorra offers an inside look at Camorra underworld organisation in Naples. Five stories from Saviano’s book have been chosen and told through a few professional actors and a lot of people that never stood in front of a camera before. Given the Golden Globe nominations and a number of awards the film has received, it may be worth seeing.
Kateřina Heilmannis a staff writer and translator at the Monitor. She
likes writing about cycling and culture.
You can reach her at [email protected]
