PERFORMANCE DETAIL

Stage director Janusz Klimsza
Czech translation by Pavel Dominik

The masterpiece awarded the Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award to be seen for the first time on a Czech stage! Summer 1942. The carefree childhood of fifteen-year-old Jay and thirteen-year-old Arty comes to an end. They have to cope not only with the death of their mother, but also with a new life with their strict grandmother in the New York suburb of Yonkers. Both boys witness her callous treatment of the remaining family members—aunts Belle and Gerta—and soon discover that even ice cream sundaes are not as icy as the relationships around them. Luckily, uncle Louie arrives! But why are the local mobsters asking about him? A play about the search for personal freedom, growing up, and people who hurt others because they can't defend themselves in a world far more brutal and cynical than their own. At the same time, Neil Simon endows the characters with a great deal of humour and irony, reaffirming "the importance of not being serious".

Czech premiere on 20 January 2024 at the Antonín Dvořák Theatre