Minor Theatre

City of Prague Theatre

The Minor Theatre has been for years linked mainly with puppet and children theatre. Since 2001 a lot of important changes took place connected especially with the acquisition of a new modern building in Vodičková Street. For this building the theatre received the prestigious The Building of the Year 2002 award and City of Prague Mayor’s Prize for the creation of a unique space for children’s art activities.

At the present the theatre attempts to perform not only for the children, but also to attract the adults as well and thus the whole family. The dramaturgy and the hours of the performances have been adjusted to these new objectives. Most children theatres generally have performances on Saturday and Sunday afternoons but the Minor Theatre began to perform also on Thursday and Friday evenings at 6 p.m., which is quite unusual in the Czech Republic.

The themes for the productions are thus chosen in a way to attract the child as well as the parent who often enjoys being taken back to his or her childhood memories. The common denominator for all productions is the original artistic and music component. Most productions include live band. Although the actors are musically competent the company has also members - professional musicians who also compose music for the productions. The Minor Theatre in its program does not aim solely for puppetry theatre but it allows its directors and designers to choose the theatrical means themselves. You can thus find productions with masks, monster objects, shadow theatre, projection, puppets, dummies, etc. The aim of all artists is to create a fascinating spectacle bringing unforgettable experience. At the same time we endeavour to reflect the current events in a light, playful and poetic form. A Small Stage of the Minor Theatre was open in October 2005. The space will be open for small experimental projects, one man shows, concerts, recitals, lectures and similar events. Most members of the artistic team are graduates from the Alternative and Puppetry Theatre Department of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague. Jan Jirk? and since April 2005 also David Drábek, two time holder of the Alfred Radok Foundation Award for the best original Czech play, are the resident directors.

New building of the Minor Theatre was open in December 2001 and in 2002 it received the prestigious The Building of the Year 2002 award and City of Prague Mayor’s Prize. The costs for reconstruction amounted to 69,3 million Czech Crowns, and the City of Prague was the investor. The architectonic project was prepared by the ATD Atelier lead by the architect Ales Kletensky, the interior was designed by Viktor Koreis who, together with many more artists, created happy colourful and segmented space encouraging child’s phantasy. A small stage on the first floor, where children themselves can perform, is a part of it. This space was created by Zich brothers, who are also the authors of the theatre’s logo (Jan Zich), the entrance to the Child passage, box office, public cloak-room, tin figure on the steel column and the bar on the first floor. Jakub Zich works also as the theatre’s graphic designer and is the author of our monthly newsletters and other promotion materials. Smelted glass relief heads and the glass and light mosaic that can be found on the first as well as second floor were made by Mr. and Mrs. Jelen. The modern auditorium can seat up to 206 people. The auditorium is barrier-free and is equipped with an induction loop for the hearing impaired. The stage is primarily designed with a traditional proscenium arch, but can be also transformed into a half arena for 136 people or a full arena seating 109 people.