Josef Svoboda

Research seminar – pozvánka

The School of Performance & Cultural Industries’ Performance Technologies Research Group at University of Leeds presents a research seminar celebrating the work of Czech scenographer Josef Svoboda (1920-2002)

You are warmly invited to join us for this event on Thursday March 6th in the Alec Clegg Studio, stage@leeds, University of Leeds from 1-5 p.m.

With contributions from;

Emeritus Professor Christopher Baugh ‘The Importance of Svoboda to Post-Dramatic Performance’
Dr Joslin McKinney ‘Psycho-plastic space and the agency of the stage’
Scott Palmer ‘Light, technology and experimental scenography’

For further details, schedule and to register for this event contact s.d.palmer@leeds.ac.uk

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“A little out of space and time” – The Scenography of Josef Svoboda

Josef Svoboda (1920-2002) was one of the modern theatre’s most influential figures but his contribution to the discipline has been relatively neglected in the UK. Building on the ideas of Adolphe Appia and Edward Gordon Craig, Svoboda’s theatre was a dynamic ‘psycho-plastic’ space of light, projection and fluid movement.

“Darkness is my raw material. Just as the sculptor needs his clay, the carver his wood, I carve my theatre out of darkness…” Josef Svoboda

As a pioneer of stage technology and as scenographer for over 700 productions staged in theatre and opera houses across the world, Svoboda collaborated with theatre artists such as Olivier, Strehler, and Brook and, with Alfred Radok, created the experimental Laterna Magika theatre in Prague.

This research seminar provides a rare opportunity to reflect on examples of Svoboda’s work and to understand the political and cultural context in which it was created. The session aims to re-appraise the legacy of Svoboda’s contribution to the development of scenography in the second half of the twentieth century, and to the emergence of performance design as an area of academic discourse.

Scott Palmer
Lecturer in Scenography
Deputy Head of School
School of Performance & Cultural Industries
University of Leeds, UK
LS2 9JT