Sekyra

"I have my own hypothesis about all these phenomena and I am old enough to discuss them even with my father. Unfortunately, he is no longer alive enough."

An iconic journey by Ludvík Vaculík in search of his brother the driver, through long detours and landscapes of childhood, where memories of his father persistently return. A carpenter who built a house in a remote corner of Valašsko. A worker who supported his family from distant Persia. A stubborn chairman of the local council. A husband who comes home only at dawn. A skier in the hills after dark. A conflicted father-in-law who needed to be right. A widower entering a new life. A father one must reckon with. Kismet.

To walk through one's native village with the question: how much do I still belong here? Where is that water? Earth dug a thousand times over. New blocks of apartment buildings. Geese were banned from the village green and it was declared a square. Some create facts, others suffer from them. There is nothing left but to turn to one's inner editorial office, where the struggle is for a direct view of the world. How to become so firm? Is that even the goal when our own memory transforms? What passes on to us? How to regain sharp vision?

Sekyra, published in 1966, is one of the most fundamental Czech novels of the 20th century. Vaculík's testimony about profound social transformation in the 1950s and personal responsibility resonates with the search for a place in a politically, ideologically, and humanly polarized society today.

The production emerges as a meeting between director Břetislav Rychlík, author Ludvík Vaculík, and actor and dramaturg Cyril Drozda. HaDivadlo presents it as part of its 50th season as a reminder and reflection of its dissident roots.