The social and political contributions of theatre to the Czechoslovak revolution of 1989

Janet Savin

pp. 138-161

in: Stanislav J. Kirschbaum (ed), Historical reflections on central Europe, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 1999

Abstract

When special forces attacked a student demonstration on 17 November 1989 in Prague, the reaction of the demonstration's organisers was instantaneous: dialogue with the regime was impossible and the only appropriate response was to strike.² Students from the Theatre Faculty of the Academy of Performing Arts³ who were present during the attack went straight to theatres in the vicinity and also to others further from the city centre, determined to enlist their support in a strike effort. When actors and directors heard accounts of the beatings and the students' expectations of support, they began contacting colleagues, making use of the telephone network which had developed over the preceding summer⁴ to convene a meeting for this purpose.