The Memorandum
Václav Havel
The Memorandum
An evening of staged readings from Václav Havel’s play *The Memorandum*, to mark what would have been his 90th birthday, is being held in collaboration with the Ladislav Sutnar Faculty of Design and Art in Plzeň.
“There you have it! It is paradoxical, but it is precisely the apparent dehumanisation of an artificial language that guarantees its truly humanistic function!”
Václav Havel’s 1965 absurdist drama takes on a whole new dimension in the age of artificial intelligence and language models, as it explores the theme of language as an instrument of power rather than a means of understanding. What begins as a polished parody of the absurdity of the bureaucratic system and the insidiousness of its sycophants—who are concerned only with climbing the career ladder—evolves into a chillingly precise play about the disintegration of the human being. The disintegration of everything that remains human in our society. Yet such a weighty message – from the title right through to the very last comma – is conveyed with humour so brilliant that it is precisely through this humour that questions of humanity can be addressed.
Premiere: 17 November 2026
Creators
- Director:
- Štěpán Pácl
- Dramaturgy:
- Dana Hlaváčová
- Set Design:
- Štěpán Pácl, Jitka Česáková
- Costume Design:
- Jitka Česáková
- Stage Manager:
- Martin Chmelař
Prersons and actors
- Josef Gross, ředitel úřadu:
- Martin Stránský
- Jan Baláš, náměstek ředitele:
- Zdeněk Hruška
- Zdeněk Mašát, vedoucí překladatelského střediska:
- Petr Urban
- Jan Kunc, ptydomet:
- Marek Mikulášek
- Helena, předsedkyně:
- Apolena Veldová
- Marie, sektetářka na překladatelském středisku:
- Veronika Pichlerová
- Hana, sekretářka ředitele:
- Kamila Šmejkalová
- J. V. Perina, učitel ptydepe:
- Libor Stach
- Jirka, pozorovatel:
- Martin Chmelař
