‘Talks with Masaryk’

Interwar Czechoslovakia, “the First Republic”, is the mythical golden age for Czechs. The country lived its dream about perfect society – but a reference point for decades to come. The two biggest names of that era are Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, and Karel Čapek – the President (and a feminist, a sociologist and a philosopher) and the Writer. Masaryk revolutionized Czech thinking years before becoming the first Czechoslovak president. Karel Čapek was a part of Masaryk’s closest circle. He died just days before the Second World War. Talks with Masaryk is a record of 9 years of conversations between Čapek and Masaryk. Interpreted by young Czech performers, the dramatization of Talks with Masaryk casts light on the ideas that we refer to today. How up-to-date do they sound?

The performance will be introduced by a talk by professor Alain Soubigou of the Sorbonne University, a leading scholar, and the author of the biography Thomas Masaryk (Fayard 2002).