
GEISSLERS HOFCOMOEDIANTEN: Theatre of Light
An opera about the first master of light in Baroque theatre, performed in the courtyard of the historic Kuks Hospital. Music by Jan Jirásek, directed by Petr Hašek.
Theatrum Kuks is a multigenre festival of Baroque and Baroque-inspired arts held every August since 2002 in the grounds of the historic Baroque hospital complex at Kuks in northeastern Bohemia. It spans theatre, opera, music, dance and puppet shows, with the ensemble Geisslers Hofcomoedianten as its resident company. The festival was founded by musicologist Stanislav Bohadlo; since 2017 it has been led by director Kateřina Bohadlová and artistic director Petr Hašek. It holds the European EFFE Label quality mark.
The jubilee 25th festival will take place on August 19-23, 2026 under the theme Light; the festival is part of the nationwide Year of Puppet Theatre marking the 10th anniversary of Czech puppetry being inscribed on the UNESCO list.
In April 2026, a charity evening in support of the festival was held at Prague's VILA Štvanice, where the emerging patron club was presented.
The 24th festival (August 20-24, 2025) with the theme Memory of Place offered over 30 productions; evening performances were practically sold out and the festival expanded its program with a new large marquee.
Geisslers Hofcomoedianten presented the premiere of the production Projekt Casanova at the 2025 festival on the occasion of the 300th anniversary of Giacomo Casanova's birth; the production was subsequently reprised at Duchcov Castle.
The 23rd festival (August 21-25, 2024) attracted over 3,100 spectators and brought a contemporary world premiere of compositions by Antonio Bioni in collaboration with the Venetian conservatory Conservatorio di musica Benedetto Marcello.