Database of Josef Svoboda‘s works

The database, procesed by the The Arts and Theatre Institute, brings information about all productions Josef Svoboda collaborated on. Included are renderings and photographs from the productions. The Scenographer Josef Svoboda Society helps to provide visual materials to the database – Josef Svoboda’s extensive personal archive is gradually digitalized and the newly gained images are linked to the data in the database.

Besides basic information on premieres (date and information, theatre, company, stage), the database contains the names of authors, "producers" (theatre professions such as directors, scenographers and more), and actors as contained in the production's program—in most cases, any later changes (including alternates) are not listed.

The database also contains information on whether the Arts and Theatre Institute possesses a recording of the production (in the video library) or any other documentation in its photographic or scenographic collections.


With the support of The State Fonf of Culture and the Municipality of Prague.

Search help

The Productions module can be searched in two ways:

  1. By information on the production
  2. By the names of plays and original stories/books

As a rule, diacritical marks do not play a role in fulltext searches or title searches. They do, however, make a difference when filtering interim search results (theatre, person's name).

In order to filter interim results (fields with drop-down menu), the information is entered into the field and the choice can be confirmed by clicking or checking the selection and choosing OK.

The relationship between the various fields is AND, the relationship between the data entered in one field is OR.

Clicking on the name of a production displays detailed information on this record (including links to photographs, scenographic documentation, bibliographical records, and information as to the existence of a record in the Institute's video library).
By checking several/all productions (on the left) and choosing which information to display, you can create a batch list of productions containing the desired information ("Show selected").
The basic information for all selected records can be exported as a table in Excel or other format.

 

A/ Searching by information on the production

by part of the production title (e.g. král (king))

by part of the theatre's name – enter any word from the theatre's name for a list of all variants of the name in the theatre's history; you can choose a specific variant of the theatre's name indicated by the time range (Divadlo Petra Bezruče Ostrava 55-80).
If, over the course of its existence, the theatre was ever part of another institution, this option must be chosen as well: This is indicated in the list of theatres - example: Činohra Petra Bezruče (jako součást jiné instituce), Činoherní klub (jako součást jiné instituce).
Given names in theatre names are abbreviated without spaces following the periods (Divadlo J.K.Tyla)

by name - you may enter just the first few letters of the surname - for faster searches, it is better to enter the full name (in the form surname, name (Čapek, Karel)); the search may be further narrowed by choosing the person's activity (author, producer, or actor) - if you select all three or none of the three, the search will be for all. "Author" includes playwright, composer, translator and author of adaptation; "Producer" includes theatre professionals such as directors and scenographers.
If searching for a list of plays written and directed by the same person (for example, Ladislav Smoček), enter "Smoček, Ladislav" on two lines and select "author" for one and "producer" for the other.
In order to find all works by a person who uses several names, enter all variants on one line.

by date of premiere from - to - no need to search in a calendar; you can enter the date in the format 1.1.2012; the results will include premieres with a corresponding incomplete date (month and year, only year)

by genre – o limiting your search to a particular genre speeds up the search, especially for works with the same title (e.g.,Macbeth – drama and opera, Romeo and Julie - drama and ballet)

 

B/ Searching by play or original story/book

Searches are performed in three steps - search for play, refine search, and subsequently find productions


Search for play
by part of the name of the book
(e.g. král (king))
by part of the name of the book (e.g. zločin (crime))
by playwright - you may enter just the first few letters of the surname - for faster searches, it is better to enter the full name (in the form surname, name (Čapek, Karel))

Refine search
by related sources
- clicking on this link displays translations and adaptations (for original works), original works and adaptations (for translations), and original works and translations (for adaptations)

Find production – clicking on a particular play displays productions of the particular translation or adaptation or (if clicking on the original) shows all productions of the play in question