HowlRound: Václav Havel, playwright, former Czech President, leader of the Velvet Revolution, personal idol, was sitting in the front row of the Ohio Theatre in New York. I was sitting in the back. He was about to watch The Memo, the kickoff production of my Havel Festival—and one of the two shows in it that I had directed. Besides him was his wife. Behind him was a member of the Czech secret service.
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Theatre and politics are two things which people never assume will mix, yet somehow always do. Art, including theatre, thrives in eras of political unrest. It allows people to say and feel what they are afraid to shout. From the earliest of times through today, theatre has had an unbreakable bond with the state of the world. Havel’s works are another example. For him, his works weren’t solely political, they were personal. For many people, including Havel, personal and political are inevitably interconnected. It’s not often you meet a person entirely unaffected by politics. I think it is very important to share these personal/political works. I see so many people who try and convince themselves that they are detached from politics, that it doesn’t really matter to them. But that isn’t the case (mostly), so people need to recognize when politics enter their lives, an when those politics aren’t as clean as they hoped. Producing plays like those of Havel allow the audience to see where the political intersects the personal, and may even help them realize areas where their own government falls short.
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