Literary Evening at Stará

Name: Literary Evening at Stará
Start: 2026-06-07
End: 2026-06-07
Location: Stará aréna

took place · 7 Jun 2026

Old Arena, Ostrava

lecture date culture

Foto: Kingkongphoto & www.celebrity-photos.com from Laurel Maryland, USA · CC BY-SA 2.0

Next show

TrutnOFF 2026

Thu, 13 Aug 2026 · Na Bojišti, Trutnov →

Description was written before the event

A literary evening with music dedicated to Czech personality Václav Havel on the occasion of his 90th birthday. The evening is conceived as an interactive lecture about the author, complemented by excerpts from his works and elements of dramatic reading.

About the venue: Old Arena

Stará aréna is an independent cultural venue with a theatre hall, café, and bar in the centre of Ostrava on Masarykovo náměstí. The building has a rich cultural history, having previously housed the Music Theatre and the Arena Chamber Theatre. Since 2009 it has operated as a multi-genre space focused on original and alternative art. The intimate hall seats 50 spectators in a unique arena layout, with the audience seated on elevated tiers above the stage.

28. října 49/23, 702 00 Ostrava Get directions

About: Václav Havel

Václav Havel (1936–2011) was a Czech playwright, essayist, and statesman. Known for absurdist plays such as The Garden Party, he became a key figure of resistance to communist rule. After the Velvet Revolution of 1989, he served as the last president of Czechoslovakia and the first president of the Czech Republic.

since 2013

Václav Havel Prize for Human Rights - awarded annually

60 000 EUR

Amount of the Václav Havel Prize for Human Rights award

90+

Libraries participating in the Reading Havel 2026 event

What's new

2026-04
As part of the HAVEL90 project, on April 23, 2026, over 90 Czech libraries participated in a nationwide happening "Reading Havel", commemorating the dramatist's 90th birthday.
2026-09
The National Theatre is preparing a Czech premiere of an original production based on Havel's essay "The Power of the Powerless" for September 2026 at Prague Crossroads.
2025-09
The Vaclav Havel Human Rights Prize for 2025 was awarded by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe to Ukrainian journalist Maksym Butkevych - for the first time in the history of the prize, it was won by a Ukrainian.

Tracks

Zahradní slavnostA breakthrough theatrical play from 1963 that launched Havel's international career as a dramatist

VyrozuměníAn absurdist play from 1965 featuring a fictional bureaucratic language ptydepe, performed on world stages to this day

Moc bezmocnýchA key political essay from 1978 that became a manifesto of dissent in Central and Eastern Europe

AudienceA one-act play from 1975 featuring the character Ferdinand Vaňka, Havel's own alter ego

Dopisy OlzeA collection of letters written from prison to his wife Olga, published in samizdat in 1985, today considered a literary and human document

Literary Evening at Stará

Lectures · Ostrava 4 in the next 30 days →