The building located in Braník, Prague has a rich history associated with motion theatre. In the 1980s there was a strong creative community of professional and half-professional companies and artists, focusing on pantomime and motion theatre. Thanks to the non-verbal repertoire, the community managed to escape the censorship of the Communist power to a considerable extent. Thus, the Braník Theatre was rather a free base for small theatre movement, folk singers, and emerging bands.
Losers continue to play this game and they have been planning to provide space to contemporary circus, nonverbal theatre, pantomime, and unplugged concerts. The theatre management has also invited the Department of Nonverbal Theatre at HAMU to cooperate in the production and presentation of their students.
The basic reconstruction of the building, which made the launch of the autumn programme possible, took place in spring and summer. The following period with the elevation and audience facilities is planned for the next period. Theatre BRAVO! welcomed the audiences at a special opening theatre and music performances, as well as the visualization of the architectonic study of the expected theatre design.
The first premiere in the new theatre took place on 25 September and was dedicated to children. The pantomimic and contemporary circus performance Mimjové is the result of the cooperation of Losers Cirque Company and Radim Vizváry, who is the main performer and director. Vizváry is an outstanding creative artist, who develops the legacy of traditional pantomime in the context of contemporary theatre. The story of a fight between a cruel queen and a fragile master and his apprentices provided many rewarding moments for acrobatics, pantomime, and sound and visual effects.
Theatre BRAVO! will stage other Vizváry’s works – Pejprbój, Solo, and VIP. The main programme will naturally be the Losers Cirque Company’s repertoire – productions Losers, Walls and Handbags, Through the Air, Collapse, Ego, and Heroes.
“We aim at creating the environment people will visit and where they will return to have fun and we want that Braník would resonate with a bravo! again,” says Petr Horníček, the ringmaster of Losers Cirque Company and the director of BRAVO! Theatre.