The Bartered Bride

ABOUT PERFORMANCE

Smetana and the librettist Karel Sabina masterfully mocked all those who expected the “national opera” to be an idyllic picture of the Czech countryside, with its inhabitants being virtuous and governed by high morals. The Bartered Bride is thus far more humorous than “national”. Nonetheless, its humour is precisely of the type Czechs so love, and hence Smetana’s opera, abounding in irony, scathing, occasionally even cynical, wit, as well as tenderness and simple joie de vivre, has ultimately become “national” in the best sense of the word ...

To date, the National Theatre in Prague has made 20 productions of The Bartered Bride. The 21st was entrusted to the film and stage director Alice Nellis. What will prevail now? Sentimental foregrounding of the life in a picturesque Czech village, or jest and the self-irony with which Smetana and Sabina imbued their opera? Don’t guess. Come and check out for yourself!

CAST

National Theatre Chorus
National Theatre Orchestra
National Theatre Opera Ballet