Late Enlightenment dramaturgy by Jan Vedral

This book-length interview with the prominent Czech theatre and radio dramaturge, playwright, and educator Jan Vedral (* 1955) offers a unique opportunity to trace the development of Czech theatre and radio over the last half-century through the story of one creative professional. However, the book is not a traditional biography of a single figure, most famously associated with Prague's Vinohrady Theatre. Instead, it offers a compelling and insightful look behind the creative scenes. Against the backdrop of the author's life, we learn previously unknown details about key events in modern Czech theatre and radio culture. As someone at the heart of the cultural scene, Vedral reveals the mechanisms of Normalisation-era censorship, the gradual thaw of the 1980s, and then, in an extensive chapter, the largely undocumented period of the transformation of Czech culture in the 1990s. This includes his personal involvement in crucial cultural and diplomatic efforts to stabilise the Czech cultural sphere within a market economy, right up to his most recent engagements in the new millennium. An important part of the book is Vedral's work as an educator, a profession we also follow through its developmental stages, considering the complementary nature of all the creative fields in which the author has been active throughout his life. The interview with Professor Vedral was conducted and the book prepared by radio and theatre historian Tomáš Bojda. The book is supplemented by an extensive name index and is published to mark Jan Vedral's seventieth birthday.