Commotion on the Lagoon

A classic Italian comedy about quarrels, arguments, breakups and reconciliations in a fishing village.

Carlo Goldoni wrote "Poprask na Laguně" (La baruffe chiozotte) in 1762, and it was among his most successful plays. In his "Memoirs" about its creation, he notes: "In my youth I lived for some time in Chioggia as an assistant chancellor. I had plenty to do there with the numerous restless population made up of fishermen, sailors and women, who have no other gathering place than the street. I became acquainted with their customs, their peculiar dialect or jargon, I learned their cheerful manner and their cunning. Thus I was able to portray them as they deserved."

The play has been performed successfully on Czech stages before - in the 1960s the National Theatre in Prague staged it with Ladislav Pešek, and twenty years ago the Vinohrady Theatre with Viktor Preiss and Petr Kostka.