The Playwrights Database
MILAN UHDE
(1936 - )Nationality: Czech
email: n/a Website: n/a
Literary Agent: Aura-Pont Theatrical and Literary Agency
He grew up in a family where both parents were lawyers, and was educated in Brno. In 1958 he graduated in Czech and Russian studies from the Arts Faculty of the University of Moravia (later the Jan Evangelista Purkyn? University, today the Masaryk University). He became an editor for the importANT Brno monthly for literature, art and criticism Host do domu (published 1954-1970), at the same time working as an external teacher at the Jana?ek Academy of Performing Arts (1967 - 1971). He was awarded the title "PhDr" in 1971. After Host do domu had been forced to close down (under the "normalisation" policy of President Gustav Husak) Milan Uhde earned his living as a free-lance writer, but in 1972, after publishing an article in the daily Rude pravo, his name was placed on the list of banned writers. He was unable to publish anything under his own name until the "velvet revolution" of 1989. His books were removed from the public libraries and he was forbidden to work in any branch of publishing. He wrote plays under the names of other writers (most frequently for the Theatre on a String in Brno), published work in samizdat, and worked with foreign Theatres and radio and television companies. Milan Uhde was one of the first signatories of Charta 77, and in 1988 joined the Movement for Civic Liberty. In 1989 he and other dissidents founded the publishing house Atlantis, becoming its editor-in-chief. His wife took over this position the following year, when Uhde decided to devote himself to a political career. In 1990 he followed Milan Lukea as the second post-November Minister of Culture. In 1992 he qualified as a "docent" (senior lecturer) at JAMU in Brno. From 6 June 1992 to 6 June 1996 he represented the ODS (Civic Democratic Party) at first in the Czech National Parliament and, after the division of Czechoslovakia on 1 January 1993, in the Chamber of Deputies. On 29 June 1992 he was voted Speaker of the House. In 1998 Uhde retired from active politics and again made his living from writing. His earlier work was republished by Atlantis, but he has not hesitated to throw himself into new projects.
Buy Plays with Doollee
Each page of doollee.com has links to play/book outlets, either directly to the Publisher, through Stageplays.com and Amazon to the second hand and 1st editions of AbeBooks. These links will automatically take you to the relevant area obviating the need for further search.AbeBooks.co.uk AbeBooks.com Stageplays.com amazon.com
amazon.co.uk
amazon.ca
whether you are a Playwright who wishes to make their entry definitive, an unlisted Playwright or a User with a tale to tell - we want to hear from you.
download WORD submission template
below is a list of Milan Uhde's plays - click on a Play Title for more information
Blue Angel, A Miracle In the Dark HouseBlue Angel, A
Synopsis:
-
Notes:
-
1st Produced:
Rosemary Branch, London 1989
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
- -
Music:
-
To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies
Booksellers:
Genre:
Play/Drama
Parts:
Male: - Female: - Other: -
Further Reference:
-
Top of PageMiracle In the Dark House
Synopsis:
the "dark house" was built as a grandiose family residence by a young and successful lawyer, with the help of her parents. Her intention was to put pressure on her colleague, Dr. Pompe, who had avoided marriage for some years. His hesitation had been caused by a family tendency to mental instability. Eventually they do marry, and stay married. However, the house - a sinful attempt to buy love - leaves its mark on the whole family. Dr. Pompe's attachment to the house led him, before the outbreak of World War II, to refuse to take his Jewish wife and her parents abroad. Later, he similarly refused to sell the house to pay for his wife's brother's flight across the frontier, thus sealing the fate of his brother-in-law. Still clinging to the house, Dr. Pompe talked his wife into denying her Jewish origins and, in a paternity case, present counterfeit evidence that she was not her parents' daughter and did not have Jewish blood. His wife still suffers guilt over this. Fear of losing the house meant that thirty years later Dr. Pompe disinherited his son DUSAn after he (DUSAn) had fallen foul of the Communist authorities. Even today this morbid fear of losing the house is the reason why Dr. Pompe tries to prevent his daughter sarka from being taken into a psychiatric clinic. sarka and her husband have a daughter, and Dr. Pompe knows that if sarka's husband divorces her, no court would give a mentally ill wife custody of the child. In this way his granddaughter's share of the house would pass to an "alien" family. That, at least, is how the lawyer DUSAn Pompe, a fanatic for truth, sees the family history. DUSAn is the elder son of the owners of the "dark house". One Sunday in June 1992 he arrives with his wife Vi?ka for a family gathering. His mother promises that it will lead to a reconciliation and the restoration of DUSAn's rights of inheritance. However, his Father theatrically avoids the meeting, pretending he has to make some urgent repairs to a faulty stopcock. DUSAn's wife Vi?ka is the good angel of the play, the creator of the miracles which take place that day in the "dark house". Unlike her husband she respects her parents-in-law and their suffering. She saves sarka from an attempted suicide attempt. She manages things so that under the new inheritance arrangements the entire house will pass to her sick sister-in-law and be a source of betterment for her; and she indirectly contributes towards her father-in-law - when his amateur bungling has caused the water main to burst - giving up his former terrorisation of the family and calling for a plumber. However, he takes DUSAn's closing apology comically, continuing to pretend he has confused him with his younger son. DUSAn's mother hopes that the family reconciliation will be confirmed on their next visit.
Notes:
-
1st Produced:
Theatre Na Zabradli, Prague 2007
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
- -
Music:
-
To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies
Booksellers:
Genre:
Play/Drama
Parts:
Male: 4 Female: 4 Other: -
Further Reference:
-
Top of Page