Theatre ALFA Plzeň (CZ) - Bulletproof JAMES BLOND

James Bond, the world-famous agent 007, is a child of the fall from glory of the British Empire after the Second World War, as well as of the eternal human desire to live another, parallel, dream life alongside one’s everyday one. This desire, on which all mass culture is built, was clearly far from alien to British journalist and writer Ian Fleming (1908-1964), who created his “alter ego”, James Bond. Bond is everything what an ordinary human being cannot be. What is more, he always emerges from his highly dangerous escapades as the victor! The mythical spy came into the world on 13 April 1953, when the first novel, “Casino Royale” was published. A further 13 books followed. Bond first appeared on film screens in 1962 with the face of Sean Connery in “Dr. No,” an adaptation of the sixth book.

Thus started to all intents the world’s longest and most successful one-hero film series, with stories that came to be written by other authors, and with Bond played by other actors. The most recent, 22nd film is “Quantum of Solace“ with Daniel Craig (2008). The bullet-proof super-spy with his inimitable style is clearly a figure calling out to be parodied – indeed, the film “dream factories” are also a rewarding target of parody. Young Liberec author Vítek Peřina (two of whose plays are already in our repertoire) has attempted to join together these two phenomena in his very funny persiflage “James Blond”. Peřina paraphrases the most typical characters, motifs and “sounds” of the Bond myth, as well as taking aim at the bizarre behind-the-scenes life of the film studios. In one such studio a film about Blond is being made, attended by considerable problems connected mostly to the actor in the title role and his “blond girl”. This all-puppet production uses an original combination of marionettes and glove puppets, and provides further, maybe surprising, evidence of “what puppets can do”. Above all, though, it is likely to be good fun both for lovers of James Bond and the gilded world of commercial film, and for its opponents.

Czech premiere: December 2009

The production is designed for children aged 13 and over and for adults. More at: http://www.divadloalfa.cz/