Antická Štvanice

A festival of open-air theater events held annually at the beginning of the theater season on Štvanice Island in Prague, the Czech republic, gradually presenting productions of ancient dramas or plays with ancient themes in coproduction with VILA Štvanice Theatre and friendly directors. The festival brings ancient drama back under the starry sky, draws from the island’s genius loci, offers creators space for ambitious directorial and visual concepts, and presents contemporary interpretations of ancient themes. In past years it featured Aeschylus’ Oresteia directed by Ivo Kristián Kubák; an adaptation of Ovid’s Metamorphoses by Martin Hýča directed by Jan Nebeský under the title Orpheus; contemporary plays with ancient themes, Phaedra and The Suppliants by Marina Carr and Anna Saavedra directed by Martina Schlegelová; an original adaptation of Aristophanes’ comedies Fertility! Peace! And Wealth! by Marie Nováková directed by Ivo Kristián Kubák; the Czech premiere of Seneca’s tragedy Mad Hercules directed by Tomáš Loužný; a neo-baroque site-specific opera Roman Lucretia with music by Tomáš Hanzlík directed by Petr Hašek; the trilogy Oedipus Complete by Hana D. Lehečková, Sophocles, and Marie Nováková directed by Zuzana Burianová and Ivo Kristián Kubák; and the musical production Perseids by Simona Petrů and Tomáš Ráliš directed by Adam Steinbauer. In September 2025 a new adaptation of the myth of Jason, the Argonauts, and the Golden Fleece by Marie Nováková was set in the landscape of Štvanice Island, directed by Zuzana Burianová.