The Labyrinth of the World
January 16th at 7.30 pm
Divadlo komedie, Jungmannova 1 in P1
Tel. 22 422 27 34


Daniel Brown used to wince when he heard someone loose the phrase “Expat Theater.” It’s not as if he’s averse to the association with the handful of English-language groups Prague has sprouted in the past decade – the shivers come because of the limitations the label itself applies.

“Various groups around the world have capably, even extraordinarily, filled the theater niche in the cultural lives of expats,” the director explains. But few if any of these companies have successfully managed to bring their performances to the more critical eyes of the world at large.

Since taking the helm of the directionless Misery Loves Company from long-departed founders, Brown and the talented core ensemble – an international crew including Bosnian, Czech, Slovak, Canadian and American performers – have tried to give Prague just that by staging performances that appeal to natives and foreigners alike. Miloco, the result of the restructuring, is Prague’s first global theater company with foreign roots. Their first devised work, Encyclopedia of the Dead, has garnered equal shares of praise and curiosity from audiences and critics around the world since its 2001 premier, making them unique among Prague’s foreign theater groups.

One of their greatest challenges has been gaining the acceptance of the entrenched Czech theater society, (which is steeped in centuries of tradition), without alienating the foreign population that birthed the company.

It hasn’t been easy. The relative obscurity of Czech playwrights and the limited reach of the language provide the Czech stage with temerity when it comes to opening up to newcomers. Rents for foreign groups are unusually high in most theaters and local funding is hard to come by as the more confident Czech companies offer their multi-national counterparts serious competition, thus tightening budgets for community support and promotion.

Miloco has managed to make significant headway by seeking out new, local talent while bringing avant-garde production methods to bear on highly conceptual, interpretive adaptations. Short on narrative dialog, Miloco’s devised works employ masks, clowning, live music, puppets and ingeniously simple props to create elaborate and often confusing worlds where the narrative can be almost entirely sublimated into emotion and audience interpretation.

The Labyrinth of the World premieres January 16th. Based on the novel of the same name by Jan Amos Komen-sk´´ – an author more known for his philosophical works than his fiction – Labyrinth is the second installation of Brown’s five-year plan for the company, which he calls the Labyrinth project. Like the first installation, Labyrinth integrates several languages, including Czech and English. Unlike Encyclopedia, however, this is a comic production and follows a more accessible narrative thread.

According to Brown, The Labyrinth of the World is “a story we all know.” It is an Everyman tale, taking as its protagonist a dizzily naive man searching for his place in the world. Miloco abridges Komensky’s tale, omitting certain of the pilgrim’s more repetitive experiences, updating and localizing some of the more pertinent social critiques in the process. As per 17th century custom to whip the eyes of metaphors, the pilgrim is guided by Delusion and Impudence.

“Despite its distinctly comedic elements, [Labyrinth] addresses questions relating to our common systems of morality and sense of belonging which remain quite relevant, especially in the current atmosphere,” says Brown of the allegory, which can be aptly applied to the company itself.

Jiří Pliestik, a Czech sculptor fa-mous for designing the Havel award and the new memorial to the victims of collectivization (still in early construction phases in Holeovice), designed the stage for the production. A minimalist set of ladders and latticework balances functionality with descriptive qualities sufficient to carry the ensemble through six distinct settings without interfering with the action.

The play will be hosted at the newly re-opened Divadlo Komedie, which also hosted much of the Canadian Season festival. This production is currently booked for a single performance on the 16th, so ticket reservations are recommended.