''The Garden Party'' ( cz, Zahradní slavnost) is a 1963 play by
Václav Havel
Václav Havel (; 5 October 193618 December 2011) was a Czech statesman, author, poet, playwright, and former dissident. Havel served as the last president of Czechoslovakia from 1989 until the dissolution of Czechoslovakia in 1992 and then ...
.
Plot
The protagonist is Hugo Pludek, an average person from a
middle-class
The middle class refers to a class of people in the middle of a social hierarchy, often defined by occupation, income, education, or social status. The term has historically been associated with modernity, capitalism and political debate. Com ...
Czech family. His parents are worried about his future, so they arrange an appointment for him with the influential Mr. Kalabis. Kalabis cannot show up because he is going to a garden party held by the Liquidation Office, so Hugo's parents send him there. Hugo does not find Kalabis, instead starting a sequence of absurd encounters. All of the functionaries of the Liquidation Office speak in a degenerate, ideological, content-free language, as is expected for their role in the bureaucratic system.
Hugo is intelligent and adaptive, and is therefore able to adjust his behaviour. He learns to speak platitudinally, using clichés that do not mean anything real, and finally becomes the head of the newly created Central Inauguration and Liquidation Committee. As a result, he completely loses his identity. At the end of the play, Hugo comes home so changed that his own parents do not recognise him.
Analysis
Parallels may be drawn between Hugo's new behaviour and the behaviour of many among the
Czechoslovak population during the Communist era, who chose to conform to the attitudes of the regime that promoted material gain over culture, individuality, and creativity.
One may also argue that the protagonist of this play, in pursuit of his career, has become a cliché himself.
See also
*
Cape Editions The Cape Editions are a selection of short books, frequently in translation, issued by UK publisher Jonathan Cape
Jonathan Cape is a London publishing firm founded in 1921 by Herbert Jonathan Cape, who was head of the firm until his death in 19 ...
Bibliography
* Vladimír Prokop: ''Přehled české literatury 20. století''. Sokolov, 2001
{{DEFAULTSORT:Garden Party
Existentialist plays
Plays by Václav Havel
1963 plays