Standing ovation as Havel returns to theatre

                                
 By Jan Lopatka
                                
 PRAGUE, May 23 (Reuters) - Vaclav Havel, former
anti-communist dissident and Czech president, won a standing
ovation and praise from critics at the premiere of his new play,
marking a successful return to theatre after two decades.
                                
 Havel's "Leaving", inspired by Shakespeare's "King Lear" and
Chekhov's "The Cherry Orchard", depicts a former ruler whose
world falls apart after he leaves office. It is his first new
play since 1988.
                                
 Its release last year caused a literary sensation in the
Czech Republic. Preparations for the stage debut filled the
media as talks with two top theatres collapsed, and Havel's wife
abandoned a role written especially for her.
 Havel, who swapped a prison cell for the presidency within
months during the 1989 Velvet Revolution that ended communism in
the Czech Republic, said he wrote most of the play before he
entered politics.
                                
 But he said his 13 years in office, during which he was
bewildered by unfamiliar ceremonial functions and clashes with
political opponents, gave him extra inspiration.
                                
 "The play is evidence that Havel retained an admirable
ability of self-reflection," said daily Lidove Noviny after the
premiere in Prague's Archa Theatre on Thursday.
                                
 "It can even be said that his time in top politics even
sharpened his eye, and his self-irony grew to become at times
devilishly biting."
                                
 The play follows the fate of a former chancellor, evicted
from a government villa by a successor resembling unscrupulous
politicians from the early post-communist years.
                                
 Czech newspapers have speculated Havel lampoons his
right-wing successor and long-time rival Vaclav Klaus, but aside
from a few ironic allusions to the post-communist transition,
the play mostly avoids present day politics.
                                
 Havel, 71, said he was interested in the existential
dimension of the crumbling life and relations of a former top
official.
                                
 The author himself plays a role. On a pre-taped voiceover,
he ponders where to take the plot next and chastises performers
for overacting.
                                
 He ends by telling the audience to turn their mobile phones
back on and repeats the catchphrase of his ascent to presidency
after the peaceful Velvet Revolution: "Truth and love will
overcome lies and hatred".
                                
 The play was directed by David Radok, an opera director
whose father Havel worked for as an assistant in the 1960s.
                                
 "After all the humbug, it is a relief to say: 'Leaving'
directed by David Radok is good production," said daily Mlada
fronta Dnes.
                                
 In September, the play will be performed at London's Orange
Tree Theatre.
 (Editing by Alison Williams)