Oscar-winning actor F. Murray Abraham will perform at the world premiere of a newly discovered play by Václav Havel titled Varování (Warning) on September 26 in New York, according to announcements from the 92nd Street Y cultural center on Manhattan. Abraham, who won the 1984 Academy Award and Golden Globe for playing Antonio Salieri in Miloš Forman’s film Amadeus, will join American essayist Adam Gopnik for a stage reading of the piece.
Discovery of the Lost Havel Manuscript
The text was found in the estate of writer and Charter 77 signatory Zdeněk Urbánek by his grandson, David Dušek, according to reporting from ČTK and Czech outlets. Dušek previously described the script’s discovery as a gift for what would have been Havel’s 90th birthday on October 5. Director Jiří Havelka noted that the manuscript survived inside a jumble of notes and in Havel’s personal diary, relating directly to the playwright’s first imprisonment in 1977. Havelka explained that the author ultimately left Varování unfinished because he channeled that specific personal experience into his 1985 play Pokoušení (Temptation).
Plot Structure and the Vaněk Character
Varování is a single-act play featuring just two characters: Ferdinand Vaněk and a secret police officer named Šeřík, according to source material. The plot centers on Šeřík visiting Vaněk to issue a warning, sparking a direct dialogue between the two figures. Theater adapters and translators worked to preserve the surviving materials as closely as possible, with Havelka completing the script through selective editing rather than new writing. The project is intended to join Audience, Protest, and Vernisáž (Unveiling) as part of the established “Vaněk tetralogy.”
International Presentations and Czech Premiere
A brief excerpt of the unfinished text was previewed over the summer during a theater festival in Avignon, France, where organizers presented it as a staged torso. Following the Manhattan premiere, the Czech debut is scheduled for October 23 at the Riding School of Prague Castle during the Havel Alive festival, directed by Havelka and featuring actors Ivan Trojan and Martin Myšička in a staged reading. Paul Wilson, a former member of the music group The Plastic People of the Universe, translated the English-language version titled Warning.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Who discovered the lost Václav Havel play?
David Dušek found the manuscript in the estate of his grandfather, writer and Charter 77 signatory Zdeněk Urbánek.
Where will the world premiere take place?
The world premiere will happen on September 26 at The 92nd Street Y cultural center on Manhattan in New York.
Who is performing in the New York premiere?
Oscar winner F. Murray Abraham and American writer Adam Gopnik will perform the stage reading.
When is the Czech premiere scheduled?
The Czech premiere will take place on October 23 at the Riding School of Prague Castle during the Havel Alive festival, featuring Ivan Trojan and Martin Myšička.
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