* 21. 8. 1967
Graduated in scriptwriting and dramaturgy from the Film Faculty of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague. Made his debut as a director in 1993 with a film about punks, Visací zámek. In 1997 he premiered his most highly awarded film, the episodic film Buttoners, which won the prestigious Czech Lion for best script, direction and film. The popular film Loners (2000) was based on Zelenka's script. For his recent films Year of the Devil (2003) and Tales of Common Insanity (2005) he was awarded by main prizes at the International Film Festivals in Karlovy Vary resp. Moscow. In 2008 his latest film The Brothers Karamazov was premiered. He made his debut in the theatre with translations of plays by Michael Frayn. His debut as a playwright and, for the first time, a theatre director was with Tales of Common Insanity, which in 2001 won the prestigious Alfréd Radok Award for play of the year. His latest play, Cleansing (2007) was commissioned by the famous Narodowy Stary Theatre in Cracow, Poland.
List of plays:
Příběhy obyčejného šílenství (Tales of Common Insanity), 2001, premiere 16.11. 2001 Dejvické divadlo, Prague
Odchody vlakov (Departures of Trains - inspired by Michael Frayn´s Chinamen), 2003, premiere 3. 2. 2004 Divadlo Astorka-Korzo '90, Bratislava (Slovakia)
Teremin, 2005, premiere 17.11. 2005 Dejvické divadlo, Prague
Očištění (Comimg Clean), 2007, premiere 27.10.2007 Narodowy Teatr Stary, Cracow (Poland)
Herci (Actors - a new version of Train Departures), premiere 13.3.2008, Divadlo Ta fantastika, Prague
Translated plays:
Příběhy obyčejného šílenství. English - Tales of Common Insanity, Tales of Ordinary Madness (American), Polish - Opowieści o zwyczajnym szaleństwie, Hungarian - Hétköznapi őrületek, Italian - Storie di ordinaria follia, Russian - Slučaji zaurjadnovo sumasšestvija, Slovak - Príbehy obyčajného šialenstva, Spanish - Historietas de locura ordinaria, French - Les Petites Histoires de la Folie Quotidienne / Histoires de la folie ordinaire, Croation - Priče o obyčnom bezumlju, Slovene - Zgodbe vskdanje norosti, Romanian - Povestea unei nebunii oisnuite, Flemmish - Histories van alledaagse waanzin
Odchody vlakov English - Departures of Trains, Polish - Odjazdy pociągov
Teremin English - Theremin, German - Theremin, Russian - Těremin
Očištění - Polish - Oczysczenie, English - Comig Clean, Russian - Očiščenije
PŘÍBĚHY OBYČEJNÉHO ŠÍLENSTVÍ / TALES OF COMMON INSANITY
7 women, 8 men
The story of thirty-five-year-old Peter, who is trying to master the world around him; to win back his girlfriend Jana, who left him because of his "abnormality"; to survive visits to his parents which are never free of his mother's fussy and interfering worries about others; not to go mad due to the crazy methods of satisfaction of his friend Midge; to get used to his strange neighbours who require people with their eyes "on the surface of their faces"; to accept the fact that his boss likes little boys; to get used to the blanket in his room coming to life... In the end there is only one solution: to pack oneself up in a box and send oneself off somewhere very far away. A witty reflection on our times, including a reference to the recent past and its still active influence. The text also plays with references to the sphere of "artistic creativity", in inverted commas because his neighbour is a composer of elevator music, his father was once, in the Communist era, a weekly newsreel commentator and now brings this up in public as a curiosity, and one of Midge's girlfriends, although a cleaner, loves ballet. The action is kept going by the constant effort to find and maintain a real relationship; whether in the case of the younger ones (Peter and his circle), or of their parents. Both the theme and the form of the play relate to the original script-writing profession of the author - the scenes follow one another as in film sequences.
Selected reviews:
The virtue of Zelenka's text is its economy and its aphoristically formulated lines in which more is hinted at than spoon-fed, /.../ one recognizes here the art of film editing and concise characteristics of the characters.
(Radmila Hrdinová: Zelenkovi sympaticky šílení hrdinové poprvé v divadle, Právo, 4. 12. 2001)
The hypersensitivity with which Zelenka examines and comically makes use of human anomalies is reminiscent of the self-ironic obsessiveness of Woody Allen.
(Richard Erml: Je nám tady spolu tak nějak divně, Mladá fronta Dnes, 18. 12. 2001)
THEREMIN
8 men, 3 women
The play is based on the true story of Leon Sergeievich Theremin: an inventor, a musician - and a spy. In 1920 he completed his invention: a musical instrument called the "thereminvox," which to this day is the only so-called non-contact musical instrument in the world. In 1922 Theremin presented it to the enthusiastic Lenin and embarked on a concert tour around disease and hunger-ravaged Russia. Slowly, and somehow against his will, he become a professional musician. The Russian tour was followed by a concert series abroad. After conquering Paris, the Royal Albert Hall in London, and Berlin, Theremin's journey continued, logically, to America.
He arrives in New York with his German friend and business manager Hans Goldberg. His mission is clear: to place Theremin's inventions in the US industry and to receive US patents - while at the same time infiltrating the nascent American air and electronic industries and to pass all information about them to the Soviet Secret Service. It is Theremin's time in the United States that constitutes the actual plot of the play. Recitals in Carnegie Hall, private performances for millionaires' parties, and even the first stadium concerts - instead of the originally planned two months, Theremin would remain in America for ten years.
At its most basic level, Theremin is a story about the rise and fall of the world's first electronic music band. The band members also work towards establishing the thereminvox as a musical instrument for the wider public. Their plans are bold, even insane, but these are the roaring twenties in America, and everything seems possible. But in 1928 the beginning of the Great Depression puts an end to those designs. Theremin's band loses its audience, and eventually dissolves, the Russian secret service demands more information, the American Immigration Service begins deportations procedures against him, Theremin's debts pile up, and his personal life is in shambles. Finally, Theremin marries his music student Lavinia Williams, an African American. New York in the early 1930s considers such mixed marriage an absolute taboo, and Theremin finds himself literally on the very fringes of the society. Alone and forgotten, Theremin receives news of his father's death and decides to return to Russia. The year is 1938, Stalin's purges are in full swing, and a return to Russia would be a veritable suicide for anyone let alone Theremin, the Soviet Secret Service agent, who got out of hand...
Theremin is a portrait of a controversial and a peculiar human being. It is a story of a man caught in the torrents of 20th century history, unable to be free in his calling, his actions, and his wants.
Selected reviews:
Although Petr Zelenka became known as a filmmaker who uses novel, frequently bizarre themes from contemporary life, this time he has exceeded all our expectations. (...)
Theremin's biography served as the basis for a multi-faceted portrait, which is above all a closely-knit drama as gripping as a detective story, with some lighter moments of comedy.
Saša Hrbotický, Hospodářské noviny, 21. 11. 2005
Having prepared the ground plan for the drama, Zelenka builds the structure with unexpectedly restrained means, as though he realised he could not think up anything more bizarre than Theremin's own fate.
Kamila Černá, Lidové noviny, 12.12.2005
The Theremin theme is more universal than Zelenka's first play (...) I do not know whether Theremin will catch on round the world as Stories did. It cannot however be denied that Petr Zelenka has provided the Dejvice Theatre with another hit.
Kateřina Kolářová, MFDnes, 2.12.2005
OČIŠTĚNÍ / COMING CLEAN
6 men, 7 women, 1 boy, extras
Coming Clean, the latest play by Petr Zelenka, currently the most popular contemporary playwright in Poland, was commissioned directly by the Narodowy Stary Theatre in Cracow. „Stary" has exclusive right to produce the play for 18 months. That means that another production, be it in the Czech Republic or elsewhere, cannot open before May 27, 2009.
The main plot follows the story of the writer Jacek. Jacek has a guilty conscience because he had committed a crime: "in a sudden craze" he put to sleep, and then raped his friends' eleven year old son. The second story line is that of a slow downfall of a TV talk-show called Coming Clean in which popular and respected celebrities confess to their sins. That's where Jacek's publisher sends his author after the latter opens his heart to him and tells him about his crime and how he suffers as consequence. Every little bit in the media counts and can help sell Jacek's latest book. After some inner struggle, the protagonist applies and tells well in advance all those having played a role in his crime about appearing on the show. When he leaves the TV studio, he is ready to bear consequences of his past action. He is surprised when nobody reacts - he finds out the show was only recorded, and another pre-recorded instalment was broadcast on that night. Seemingly favourable incidents begin to push the hero on a downward spiral towards deadly emptiness and cynicism. In the end, the show never goes on air (the show's editor is divorcing its presenter). Coming Clean is discontinued. Jacek is by then very well settled in TV milieu thanks to his lawsuits over the failure to broadcast "his" instalment and produces a new talk show called Wet Sponge that is both more cynical and rougher. At the party celebrating the new show's success he is telling his own story pretending it to be a plot of his new novel, but he comes against a harsh moral judgment: a story whose hero doesn't want to be cleansed does not deserve to be written. In today's world of slumping media any scandal quickly becomes a tool for advertisement market and its advertisement values completely overshadow any moral dimension. Jacek's crime goes unpunished.
The Czech premiere should take place at Jihoceske divadlo (South Bohemian Theatre) in Ceske Budejovice in February 2010.
Polish version by Krystyna Krauze. Translated into English by Stepan Simek. Translated into Russian by Xenia Sakharnova.
Selected reviews:
In the Polish theatre life, Mr Zelenka begins to occupy a position very similar to that reserved to Irish playwrights just a couple of seasons ago. (...) Peter Zelenka's text brings a new quality to Teatr Stary: a specific kind of humour, an amplified feeling of absurd, an entertaining distance to the heroes. Zelenka's text is simple, intellectually honest, warm and gracious.
Justyna Nowicka, "Zbrodnia bez kary w telewizyjnym talk-show", Rzeczpospolita, Warsaw 30-10-2007
Deutsch:
Petr Zelenka studierte Szenaristik und Dramaturgie an der Filmakademie der Künste (FAMU) in Prag. Als Regisseur debütierte er mit dem Fernsehfilm Hängeschloss (Visací zámek). Im Jahre 1996 drehte er ein Spieldokument Mňága - Happy End ein, das am Filmfestival in Cottbus im Jahre 1996 mit dem dritten Platz und am Pilsner Finale 1997 mit dem Goldenen Einvogel ausgezeichnet wurde. Zelenkas bis heute erfolgreischster Film Knopfsämmler (Knoflikáři), der im Jahre 1997 den anerkannten Nationalfilmpreis - den Tschechischen Löwen für das Drehbuch, die Regie, für den besten Film und für die männliche Nebenrolle gewonnen hat, wurde im Jahre 1997 uraufgeführt. Im Jahre 2000 fand die Premiere des nach Zelenkas Drehbuch eingedrehten Films Einzelgänger (Samotáři) (Regie David Ondříček), wobei den Preis - den Tschechischen Löwen Jiří Macháček für die Nebenrolle gewonnen hat, und Ivan Trojan für die Hauptrolle auf den Preis nominiert wurde. Im März 2002 fand die Uraufführung des neuesten Films Zelenkas Das Jahr des Teufels (Rok ďábla), der in demselben Jahr den Kristalglobus - den Hauptpreis des Filmfestivals in Karlovy Vary gewonnen hat.
Auf der Bühne debütierte Peter Zelenka mit den Übersetzungen seines Lieblingsautors Michael Frayn. Das Spiel Die Geschichte des gewöhnlichen Wahnsinns ist Zelenkas erstes Theaterspiel. Zum ersten mal wurde das Spiel vom Theater Dejvice in Prag am 16. November 2001 als Autors Bühnendebüt aufgeführt. In der Umfrage der tschechischen Bühnenkritikern wurde es als bestes Theaterspiel des Jahres 2001 anerkannt und gewann den angesehenen Alfred Radok Preis. Ebenso genießt das Spiel einen immerwährenden Erfolg beim Publikum.
Francois:
Petr Zelenka, né le 21. 8. 1967, a fait ses études a la faculté du cinéma a Prague (FAMU). Il a débuté en 1993 par le film Le cadenas (Visací zámek). Son film le plus connu Les boutoniers (Knoflíkáři) a recu le prix du „Lion d´or" pour le meilleur film et le meilleur scenario de l´année. Il a écrit le scenario d´un autre film couronné du succes Les solitaires (Samotáři). La piece et le spectacle Les petites histoires folles de la vie quotidienne est son premier texte et sa premiere mise en scene de theatre.