The Glass Room - the play

Adapted for the stage from the Czech translation of the book, Skleněný Pokoj had its premiere at the City Theatre of Brno on 7 February 2015. Directed by Stanislav Moša, who also wrote the adaptation, the play was a faithful reflection of the novel involving a cast of over thirty players and some fifty-five scene changes - a theatrical tour-de-force!

	Viktor and Liesel Landauer in The Glass Room, in the early part of the play. Liesel is played by Pavla Vitázková, Viktor by Petr Štěpán. This is where we belong. This is our home. We don't know anywhere else...
Viktor encounters Kata in the Prater in Vienna. Kata is played by Svetlana Janotová. She is waiting for him in the shadow of the big wheel, a small, bright figure in her cheap clothes, a flame among the grey coals of the crowd.
	Liesel and Hana in front of the onyx wall. Hana is played by Ivana Vaňková. She draws again on the cigarette. Her hand isn't quite steady.Her expression isn't quite amused. 'It's you, of course,' she says.
The Landauers flee to Switzerland and Lanik (Michal Isteník) is left in charge... As he lights up a cigarette and contemplates the view through the windows, he says the name out loud, savouring it. 'Liesel.'
	Hauptsturmfuhrer Stahl and Hana in the Glass Room during the war. Stahl is played by Igor Ondříček. He takes some notes from his wallet and puts them on the table. Eighty crowns. 'I don't think that's quite enough admiration, meine Schatz,' she says.
While in Switzerland, Liesel expresses her anguish to Hana. She was in tears, tears running down her cheeks, tears threatening to dissolve the fragile fabric of her face, tears racking her body...
	After the war, Zdenka (Radka Coufalová) dances for Hana in the glass room. It is a slow and sorrowful dance... to the music of Janacek, the most sorrowful piano music that Zdenka knows...
And a quarter of a century after she left, Liesel, now blind, is finally reunited with Hana in the Glass Room... 'I wish I could see it,' Liesel says. 'It hasn't changed, has it?' 'Everything changes, even buildings.'

Poster for the play. The photograph of Pavla Vitazkova as Liesel was taken in the living room of the Tugendhat House.