Radio Show

Radio Show consists of a loose collection of scenes recreating the broadcasts of pre-war radio station Prague 1. All the numbers listed and even the lyrics and sheet music for the original songs were found in the collection, along with three versions of the list of participants. As Horpatzky remarks during the introduction to the performance, the show was written to mark the one-year anniversary of the group’s work together in Block A IV. However, they chose an unusual way to commemorate their time in the ghetto: the performers took the audience five years back in time, to December 27, 1937. They present news broadcasts on events of the 1930s, favorite songs of the inter-war period, sports commentary based on a famous 1934 soccer match, and more scenes that recreate in great detail the social and cultural environment of 1930s Czechoslovakia. Nevertheless, in many scenes that are apparently about the pre-war past, the prisoners’ Terezín/ Theresienstadt present is allegorically represented. Another thread weaves its way through almost all the scenes: veiled commentary on the state of the war, which reveals how much the prisoners knew about the international events that were to determine their fate.