Mother

Karel Čapek's original anti-war drama unfolds in an unnamed country. Many references - the mother's name Dolores and the motif of civil war - evoke Spanish reality from 1936-1939, when the nation was torn by fratricidal conflict.

The play poses questions that have not aged: trivialized expressions of intolerance, extremism, and selfishness divide society and deepen rifts that can become real trenches. Surely opinion should not be a lie, and hatred should not be a programme. The world is not black and white - alongside dark currents exist examples of decency, self-sacrifice, and solidarity. Yet the question remains: how far can indifference and resignation lead?

The drama is constructed as fatalistic - its weight is sometimes lightened by playful and ironic spirits, beings observing human endeavour from a distance. How it all sounds will ultimately be judged by the audience.