Viktor Dyk: The Wisdom of Don Quixote

Dyk's tragedy in five acts is one of the most important works of 20th century Czech drama. Already in the contemporary review it was said to be a remarkable radio session and we can write similarly today. It is true that Ladislav Bohac's performance is a bit pathetic; but the pathos is sincere and true, fully in line with the intention to show the clash between the dreamer's world and the realistic world, which adjusts everything around it according to its limited vision. As pathetic as Bogáček's Quixote is throughout the play, he is all the more impressive in the tragic conclusion, in which he casts off his chivalric reveries and embraces a small, mundane world in which he cannot live. Alongside Ladislav Boháč, this play reminded us of the forgotten but great radio actor Antonín Zíb as the flamboyant Sancho Panza or František Hanus as the lusty father Pedro.