Václav Havel Critical Essay | Critical Review by Catharine Hughes

Critical Review by Catharine Hughes

SOURCE: "Where Theater Matters," in America, Vol. 150, No. 14, 14 April 1984, pp. 281-82.

In this review of A Private View, Hughes offers a moderately favorable assessment of the play.

The first portion of the Czech dissident's three-play evening [A Private View] is entitled "Interview." Like the remaining two, both of which stand on their own but are interrelated, it features the obviously autobiographical Vanek (Stephen Keep). Initially, he is called into the office of the head maltster of the brewery to which he has been sent to perform menial labor as punishment for his nonconformist behavior. There, amid phony bonhomie, he is asked in effect to inform upon himself in writing. In exchange, he will receive a far softer office job where he will, in theory, be able to pursue his writing. Although observing "I couldn't very well inform on myself," he handles his interrogator with consummate politeness...
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