KOUZELNÝ CIRKUS JAKO CELOVEČERNÍ NARATIVNĚ KONCIPOVANÁ INSCENACE LATERNY MAGIKY V LETECH 1977 – 2022

The aim of this case study is to capture the development of the full-length non-verbal production of Wonderful Circus by Laterna magika (directed by Evald Schorm, Jiří Srnec, and Jan Švankmajer), to which its stage designer Josef Svoboda assigned primacy in the narration of a coherent story. The study examines the issue through extant script formats of the production (from the storyline up to the technical script). Since the narrative is also influenced by the time range of the staging, the study also looks into its duration. Over the forty-five years since its première, it has changed (it has been abridged) several times and these modifications had various motives and, to a certain extent, impacted even on the dramaturgy of the production. In 1978 – 2017, Wonderful Circus was also performed outside Prague and abroad. It was staged in Bratislava, Prešov, and Košice, too.