{"id":76,"date":"2019-01-10T17:58:16","date_gmt":"2019-01-10T17:58:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.stephandelbos.com\/?page_id=76"},"modified":"2023-01-06T21:22:52","modified_gmt":"2023-01-06T21:22:52","slug":"deaf-empire","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.stephandelbos.com\/index.php\/plays\/deaf-empire\/","title":{"rendered":"Deaf Empire"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.pragueshakespeare.com\/event\/world-premiere-deaf-empire-replaying-bedrich-smetana-2\/2017-03-09\/\">Deaf Empire<\/a><\/em> was produced by The Prague Shakeapeare Company at Prague&#8217;s Kolowrat Theatre in March, 2017.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOne of the company&#8217;s best productions&#8230; <em>Deaf Empire<\/em> showed what a production about a musician\u2019s life should be.&#8221;&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/lennonwall.aauni.edu\/deaf-empire-replaying-bedrich-smetana\/\"><strong>\u2014<em>The Lennon Wall<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-77 size-large\" src=\"http:\/\/www.stephandelbos.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/deaf-empire-1024x582.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"660\" height=\"375\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.stephandelbos.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/deaf-empire-1024x582.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.stephandelbos.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/deaf-empire-300x170.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.stephandelbos.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/deaf-empire-768x436.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.stephandelbos.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/deaf-empire.jpg 1531w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 660px) 100vw, 660px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Nationalism, art, revolution and what it means to be Czech are questions that burn through Prague society in the 1800s. Deaf Empire, an original play by Stephan Delbos, reimagines the dramatic turns in the life of the \u201cFather of Czech Music\u201d Bed\u0159ich Smetana (1824\u20131884). The notion of what it is to be Czech, and art as the urgent heartbeat of nationalism unfolds in this play at the Kolowrat Theatre. In the late half of the 19th Century, the fervent Smetana insisted on the validity of Czech melodies and themes in classical music and opera, and achieved significant social prominence. But, he was not immune from tragedy. The death of his wife and children and complete loss of hearing spurred a fall from grace for the composer.<\/p>\n<p>In the final decade of his life, while suffering from deafness and worsening mental health, Smetana composed some of his most famous music, including M\u00e1 vlast (My Homeland), an orchestral portrayal of the landscapes and legends of Bohemia.<\/p>\n<p>Recreating Smetana\u2019s struggle for artistic integrity amid the cultural imperialism of Austro-Hungarian rule and the limits of his own ability, Deaf Empire is a meditation on music, artistic dedication and the vicissitudes of fame and fate.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.radio.cz\/en\/section\/books\/deaf-empire-a-new-play-looks-at-smetanas-triumph-over-adversity\">Interview Feature at Radio Prague<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/news.expats.cz\/prague-entertainment\/new-play-celebrates-the-father-of-czech-music\/\">Preview at Expats.cz<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Deaf Empire was produced by The Prague Shakeapeare Company at Prague&#8217;s Kolowrat Theatre in March, 2017. \u201cOne of the company&#8217;s best productions&#8230; Deaf Empire showed what a production about a musician\u2019s life should be.&#8221;&nbsp;\u2014The Lennon Wall Nationalism, art, revolution and what it means to be Czech are questions that burn through Prague society in the &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.stephandelbos.com\/index.php\/plays\/deaf-empire\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Deaf Empire<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":312,"menu_order":6,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-76","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/PaBxfb-1e","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stephandelbos.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/76","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stephandelbos.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stephandelbos.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stephandelbos.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stephandelbos.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=76"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.stephandelbos.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/76\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":315,"href":"https:\/\/www.stephandelbos.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/76\/revisions\/315"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stephandelbos.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/312"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stephandelbos.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=76"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}