Mandel Pavla Kohouta – Kohout Pavel (2025)

This two-volume collection brings together fifteen plays written by Pavel Kohout between 1957 and 2020. The first volume contains Such a Love (1957), dedicated in memoriam to actors Jana Dítětová, Josef Vinklář and Valtr Taub, for whom it was written; Around the World in 80 Days (1961), dedicated in memoriam to director Václav Lohniský, who bet that a stage adaptation was impossible; Twelve (1963), dedicated to actress and lifelong friend Marie Drahokoupilová; August August, august (1967), dedicated to Kohout’s “cuff”, Jelena Mašínová, known as Zet; The War on the Third Floor (1971), dedicated to everyone who experienced the Prague Spring of 1968 and Charter 77 with him; The Poor Murderer (1973), dedicated in memoriam to actor and friend Jiří Adamíra, who was not allowed to play “his” Broadway role; and Ecce Constantia! (1989), dedicated in memoriam to lifelong friend and mentor, director Luboš Pistorius. The second volume contains Zeros (2000), dedicated to Jan Burian, who first staged the play in Plzeň and later at the Moscow Art Theatre; Éros (2002), dedicated to Vendula Daňhelová-Kramperová, who taught Kohout, late but in time, to work with a computer; Arturo’s Bolero (2003), dedicated to Viktor Polesný, the director of many of his screenplays; Cyrano!! (2005), dedicated to his children and grandchildren as his greatest theatrical love; Hašler (2013), dedicated to Petr Rychlý for playing it so wonderfully for many years; Victorious February AD 1948 (2016), dedicated to Kohout himself, then still a poet; Katyn Lízinka (2018), dedicated in memoriam to Erik Spiess and Juergen Braunschweiger, who brought his plays and prose to the world; and General Assembly (2020), dedicated to Vinohrady Theatre, whose director Tomáš Töpfer allowed him to read the play online to an empty auditorium. The contents are in Czech.