Theatre Design & Technology - Fall 1975 - 28

Frantisek Zelenka (1896·1944), like Antonin Heythum, worked extensively with both avant·garde and
establishment theatres. Moreover, his training was that of
an engineer·architect and many of his designs recall those
of Heythum in their architectonic emphasis, economy,
and wit. Zelenka has also been referred to as the logical
successor to Capek, with reference to the element of
naive, humorous exaggeration in his best work. If one
agrees with the comparison he must also note that
Zelenka was much more spatially and architecturally
oriented than Capek, and that Zelenka's work has a more
'graceful and lighter touch.
In a larger sense, however, Zelenka is an example of a
talented, highly competent, productive theatre artist who
seems to lack a distinctive manner uniquely his own.
Instead, much of his work seems a little derivative,
inadvertently echoing the work of one or more of his
contemporaries, but not possessing sufficient originality
or boldness to bend or shape Iine, form, and composition
according to a personal vision of stage reality. It is perhaps
an innate conservatism that separates most of his scene
designs from the distinction that others achieved.
His work on more serious plays prompts recollection of
Hofman's constructivist-realist work in the 1930's. For
example, note Zelenka's The Firebrand (Figure 37l, by E.
J. Mayer, Prague 1938, and Geothe's Faust (Figure 38)
Bratislava 1932. Zelenka's work is lighter, more restrained, more economical, but it lacks the tension and force
implicit in Hofman's without supplying any positive value
of its own. As suggested earlier, Zelenka's desiqns for

Fig. 37. F. Zelenka, The Firebrand (E. J. Meyer), 1938, Vinohrady
Theatre, Prague. Photo courtesy of Theatre Collection - National
Museum, Prague.

Fig. 38. F. Zelenka, Faust (Goethe), 1932, National Theatre,
Bratislava, dir: V. Sulc. Photo courtesy of Theatre Collection·
National Museum, Prague.

comedic plays often recall Heythum's work, yet Zelenka's
setting often seems more "correct" than fresh or
inventive, more tame and merely architectural at the
expense of theatricality: for example, Beaumarchais'
Barber of Seville (Figure 39) Prague 1931.

Fig. 39. F. Zelenka, Barber 01 Seville (Beaumarchais), 1931,
National Theatre, Prague. Photo courtesy of Theatre Collection National Museum, Prague.

Examples of settings that reveal a more original stage
sense include E. F. Burian's Bassoon and Flute [Fagot a
fletna) (Figure 40), Prague 1929, and V. Nezval's Three
Musketeers [Tr,muskatyr/J (Figure 41) Prague 1934. The

Fig. 40. F. Zelenka, Bassoon and Flute (E. F. Burian), 2 Feb.
1929, National Theatre, Prague, dir: F. Pujman. Photo courtesy of
Theatre Collection· National Museum, Prague.

Fig. 41. F. Zelenka, Three Musketeers (V. Nezval), 2 June 1934,
Vinohrady Theatre Prague, dir: J. Bor. Photo courtesy of Theatre
Collection· National Museum, Prague.

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THEATRE DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGY

FALL,1975

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