Prague, April 9 (CTK) – A group of English-speaking actors of Cimrman English Theatre, which has played English versions of Czech fictitious genius Jara Cimrman’s dramas in Prague since 2014, will perform in the United States for the first time later this month, organiser Dagmar Caspe has told CTK.
The group has been invited by the Czech embassy in Washington. It will play six performances in New York, Washington and Baltimore.¨The group will offer the English version of the drama The Stand-In.
“The idea of Jara Cimrman becoming the star of Manhattan for two weeks and then overshadow even Trump’s tweets from the White House is simply irresistible! It is of course utterly absurd, but at the same time utterly unavoidable just as the whole existence of our globetrotter,” scriptwriter and publicist David Smoljak, the oldest son of the late Ladislav Smoljak, one of the inventors of Cimrman together with Zdenek Sverak, said.
He will record the U.S. performances and make a new film Cimrman Conquering the World!
The idea to take Cimrman to the United States for a couple of evenings was born briefly after the English premiere of The Stand-In met with success in Prague.
Brian Stewart, an actor and one of the translators of the English version, said humorously the group are advancing slowly and they only stand at the beginning of their mission to spread the awareness of Jara Cimrman.
He said The Stand-In figures are comprehensible for all and the humour of the game is universal.
Sverak also supported Cimrman’s trip overseas. “Ladislav Smoljak would be immensely happy and he would also like to go to America. During one of his visits to the United States, Cimrman advised Nikila Tesla to focus on an electric car,” Sverak recalled one of the absurd stories about Cimrman.
The theatre’s trip to the United States has been supported by its fans who have collected 6000 dollars for the actors’ air tickets through crowdfunding.
Another 100,000 crowns have been raised through crowdfunded for the film document.
($1=24.999 crowns)
