This article discusses the Enlightenment concept of theatre as formulated in the work of the Viennese playwright Paul Weidmann, who was active in the reign of Joseph II (1765-90). In Weidmann’s conception, theatre has two main functions: one is to provide a theoretical basis (the idea of a national theatre; theatre as a school of moral educational); the second is to delineate a socio-historical context. The themes explored by Weidmann are civil war and wars of religion, and the question of how to level social differences - problems that still very much beset the modern world. In the face of current religious, political and economic conflicts, Weidmann’s stage plays still carry a powerful message., Joanna Giel., and Obsahuje bibliografické odkazy
Theatrical activities of Václav Mihule (1758 - after 1808) are documented at his various positions in 19 European cities. Born in Prague Mihule left his home at a young age. His earliest experience was as an actor (1781-89), traveling to distant places such as Warszawa (1781), St. Peterburg (1784-86), Königsberg (1787-88), Mainz and Frankfurt a. M. (1788-89). His first Prague ensemble (1789) was a collaboration with Jean Butteau, the company played at ThunPalace Theatre at the Lesser Town of Prague. Later he directed the ensemble Vlastenské divadlo (Patriotic Theatre) in the Theatre U Hybernů (in summer in Karlovy Vary) and the German company at the Nostitz Theatre. After his abrupt departure from Prague in mid 1793 he became a theatre director in Augsburg (1793-94), in Nürnberg, Ansbach, Erlangen, Ulm and Nördlingen (1794-97), Stuttgart (1797), Wiener Neustadt (1797/98), Olomouc (1800-02), Opava (1802-04), Prešov (1805) a Košice (1804-08). He seems to have ended his career in Košice, where he may have died. In the time from 21. 12. 1796 till 13. 9. 1797 he led on lease the Court Theatre Company of Friedrich Eugen II. of Württemberg in Stuttgart. It was in Stuttgart for the first time, when the Court Theatre was rented to a theatre entrepreneur. The Duke tryed in this way to keep the theatre running in the bad economic situation in the course of the War of the First Coalition (1792-1797). For the director Mihule was the offered contract for 6 years - after experience with various theaters in the cities - an extraordinary occasion to achieve a firmly established place of work with above standard conditions. It is possible to describe and characterize the Stuttgart period of the entrepreneur Mihule on the basis of archive documents and account books (aspect of organization) and periodicals (theatre repertory). Some features of the abilities of actors an, Alena Jakubcová., and Obsahuje bibliografické odkazy
The study focuses on the history of the regional, royal and dowry town of Hradec Králové in the latter years of the Enlightenment, at the end of the first stage of the formation of the modern Czech nation. Within the small territory of this fortress town, the seat of both regional authorities and a bishopric, there was a tertiary, secondary and primary school, a printing house and a theatre. At the episcopal seminary, grammar school (Gymnasium) and main school (Hauptschule), the teaching staff were connected with a petite bourgeoisie that had potential to participate in the future national movement. Graduates of the episcopal seminary and the Hradec Králové grammar school became an educated social elite who later used their cultural and social capital in various areas of religious and cultural life, in state or ecclesiastical administration. Although taught in Latin and German, and despite the growing importance of the German language as a means of communication among state and private employees, these men went on to play an active part in the formation of the modern Czech nation. At the same time, the Hauptschule provided essential skills in literacy and numeracy for multitudes of young people, teaching them the fundamentals of Czech and biblical history, natural science, and even the basics of Latin. The development of amateur theatre (the first documented amateur theatre performance in Hradec Králové, in which townspeople and officers participated, dates back to 1790; the theatre company acquired its own building six years later), and the establishment of a publishing house (formerly a printers), as well as the creation of a readers’ community, were important for the acceleration of social communication – a prerequisite for the formation of a civic society.