Bedtime Story: “The Shepherdess and the Chimney Sweep"

In theatre, a set design occasionally incorporates a painted background, as if the story were actually taking place in Paris, for example. The view from the Lucerna Rooftop, however, is so captivating that it’s just asking for a play, musical, or reading to be staged there with the sunset behind Prague Castle in the background and no painting required.

Together with director Viktor Tauš, we staged Hans Christian Andersen's fairytale, “The Shepherdess and the Chimney Sweep,” which was read by Jiří Lábus. A tightrope walker walked across a tightrope tied between two buildings. Acrobats from Cirk La Putyka danced on the rooftops. Tereza Voříšková portrayed the shepherdess while Ivo Kahánek performed in the outer wing among the goats. Viktor shot it all in one take. And then something unprecedented happened: Czech Television broadcast the live reading as a special edition of their programme, Bedtime Story (Večerníček). Perhaps the oldest show on television that had featured the same unchanged jingle for 55 years, Bedtime Story (Večerníček) finally shook things up with its broadcasting scheme to show our own programme, in which porcelain figures seemingly came to life on the rooftops of Prague. A picture of Jiří Trnka when he staged a story on the Prague rooftops also served as inspiration for our event.