Václav Havel
LEAVING (ODCHÁZENÍ)
A play in five acts
11 men, 6 women, 1 voice
Václav Havel's first play after twenty years touches on the household of Dr. Vilém Rieger, retiring from politics. It is plain that the former chancellor's electoral period has come to an end and that a question mark hangs over his continued residence in the government villa surrounded by a large cherry orchard. It is equally plain that neither Rieger nor those around him, under the firm control of Irena, a friend of long-standing, have neglected to provide for themselves. Meanwhile, his broader family deviates only marginally from its customary course. In addition to Irena, the "family" is made up of her unassuming friend Monika, realistic Granny, the domestic help Osvald, and Rieger's younger daughter Zuzana, permanently engrossed in electronic communication with her own generation. Other figures however saunter through the villa: the journalists Jack and Bob, working for the ubiquitous daily Fuj (Fye), who have come to subject Rieger to an all-embracing evaluative interview. Bea, a young writer, brings the book she has written about Rieger to show to her hero. Hanuš, Rieger's former secretary, is conscientiously compiling an inventory of the villa to protect Rieger against any suspicion that he might be intending to hang on to this or that item of state property. Meanwhile, Hanuš's former secretary Viktor gradually and unobtrusively turns into Rieger's link with the governmental establishment assuming power. The new government is represented by the Vice-Chairman, Vlastík Klein, by all accounts an astute businessman with the fate of the villa very much on his heart. However, for the most part it is the gardener Knobloch who keeps Rieger informed ("Lads down pub was talking 'bout removal..."). The catastrophic news is soon confirmed: Rieger's family have to vacate the house.
This news sets off the visible collapse of Rieger's "court", a collapse which has been under way for some time. Rieger's older married daughter Vlasta offers her father a roof over his head - naturally, on condition that Rieger transfers his property to her family. The secretary Viktor complies with Vlastík Klein's request by turning a trunk containing old private documents over to the "inter-ministerial commission for history", after Rieger had given orders for it to be burnt. On top of that, Vlastík Klein comes up with a "business proposal": Rieger will be allowed to rent the villa back on the understanding he will give his support to the new government through the media. He has just one day to think it over.
It turns out however that Rieger's personality itself is disintegrating. Whilst for the interview he recapitulates the principles and achievements of his politics, his current language and his buck-passing reaction to Irena's factual notesare proof that the chancellor is now powerless and that he had abdicated his former role of a statesman. Not even his private life bears examination: for example, he forgets the anniversary of his relationship with Irena - and worse still: is caught by Irena in Bea's embrace.
The pace of events soon speeds up: a court orderis delivered to Rieger ordering him to move to "a village one hundred versts from here". Vlasta rescinds her offer of accommodation. Instead of publishing the interview provided, the Fuj journalists print fictitious details of Rieger's private life. Irena wants to throw herself off a cliff, but Monika holds her back. Viktor accepts a position in the office of the new government. Osvald is ready to work as a domestic help with the neighbouring Ragulins, but keeps on falling asleep at all the wrong moments. A storm breaks out, in which Rieger momentarily turns into a mad King Lear tormented by a phantasmagorical whirlwind of characters and rejoinders. At the end of this he is arrested, led away and ridiculed: it turns out that the details of his intimate correspondence, kept in the incriminating trunk, have already become public property.
The following day the shattered Rieger returns home after having "signed something" for the police. The carriage to take him to the village is waiting, and Vlastík Klein has come round with his own business plans which involve taking possession of the villa. Zuzanka provides some hope for Rieger: they could all take refuge with her French friend. Even he however immediately becomes an object of attention for the police. Klein offers Rieger a way out: he can have a job as adviser to an adviser to an adviser of the new government - in fact, as adviser to the former secretary of his former secretary. The press campaign against Rieger gathers pace. It is time to make a public announcement. In a long, typically Havelesque and logically brilliant closing monologue, Rieger defends his decisions. To become adviser at a time when world events are being managed by omnipotent advisers is not humiliating at all; for Rieger, it represents an honourable opportunity to continue his life's work. His speech is interrupted only by the last of the faithful, including Irena, abandoning the former Chancellor. In the end, he can only look on as his previous admirer Bea begins to circle round her new idol, Vlastík Klein.
In Leaving, Havel - as in his earlier play Redevelopment, completed twenty years ago - constructs an artificial (and sadly entertaining) theatrical world. The ironic settling of accounts with the departing first post-Communist political establishment and the caustic view of the rise of the subsequent real-capitalist generation is permeated with playful references to Chekhov's Cherry Orchard and Shakespeare's King Lear. The theatrical quality of the text is underlined by the constant presence of the author's Voice, adding directorial instructions and an ironic commentary on his own dramatic methods and their limits.
The World Premiere of the production, directed by David Radok, will take place on June 6 at the Na Vinohradech Theatre in Prague. The draft English translation by Paul Wilson has just been completed. The negotiations are currently underway for the play to be translated into several major languages.