AVIATORS

PLEASE, BE AWARE THAT BRIGHT FLASHING LIGHTS ARE USED IN THIS PERFORMANCE.

Wariot Ideal tells the story of the young men who joined the foreign resistance with the goal of defeating Hitler, halting the wave of death spreading across Europe, and liberating their occupied homeland. After a dangerous escape and a difficult journey, they arrive in Great Britain, where, instead of being immediately sent into battle, they face hours of boring English lessons, learning to fly in formation (but only on bicycles), and seemingly endless military training. Eventually, however, they find themselves inside slow and heavy bombers that are easy targets for German fighters and for the Third Reich’s ground-based air defenses.

The 311th bomber squadron began flying in September 1940 with the goal of engaging in nighttime raids on German centers of industry. On 23 September 1940, it first attacked Berlin. The success of its crews is measured not in the number of planes shot down or bombs dropped, but by their constant determination to risk their lives and repeatedly return to the skies over enemy territory. The 311th suffered the greatest losses of all Czechoslovak air units in the Second World War, but their names are all but forgotten in the Czech Republic today.

The RAF aviators had their feet planted firmly on the ground and did not hesitate to trade their lives for forceful and direct action. Wariot Ideal gives these “nameless heroes” the honor they deserve, sometimes with a dose of pathos but definitely with the ensemble’s typical sense for humor. Airplanes at a scale of 1:18, period film sequences, faithful costumes and props – and all of it within reach of the audience.

Wariot Ideal dedicates this performance to those who did not leave their fate and the fate of Europe in the hands of others, but took responsibility for it themselves.

Premiere: 17. 5. 2017

Authors, performers: Jan Dörner, Jan Kalivoda, Vojtěch Švejda, Patrik Vojtíšek, Mikoláš Zika
Artists: Jan Brejcha, Robert Smolík, Mikoláš Zika
Costumes: Daniela Klimešová
Lighting design: Patrik Sedlák
Music, sound: Jan, Lukáš & Václav Kalivoda
Production: Milena Dörnerová

Wariot Ideal has been a distinctive presence on the Czech alternative scene since 2009. During this time, the ensemble has created many unique, for the most part comic, theater productions for both adults and children. Its home stage is the Alfred ve dvoře theater, but it regularly participates in leading festival at home and abroad. The group consists of a stable creative team. Its main creative mind is actor and mime Vojtěch Švejda, who has worked with the National Theatre, was nominated for the 2009 Alfréd Radok Award, and won the Czech Theatre DNA Award in 2012 for his outstanding work representing original Czech theater abroad. Wariot Ideal further consists of sound designer and composer Jan Kalivoda, lighting designer, scenographer and amateur filmmaker Jan Dörner, and producer Milena Dörnerová. Together, they create original works including improv shows, movement theater, pantomime and physical theater, but also full-length drama productions.