LYRICAL ACTION POETRY

performance length: 50 min
a duel between the body and the word
Ondřej David
words and actions: Ondřej David

Nothing like a TV poetry reading! But a stream, a frequency, hanging constantly in the air. Ditch the logic, follow the stream!

In fact the delightfully nonsensical verses, interpreted with considerable vigour of body and voice, are not only witty but also open the way to the concealed nuances of sound inherent in the Czech language which we hardly notice in the everyday stream of life, save to enjoy them. Lyrical action poetry pulls language out of its stereotype and truly uplifts the way we perceive it.


„…children’s playground:
Sandy time whirls dancing
Tomorrow’s scorpions spread across the place
Through a wide river to a darkened empire
The childhood shatters…. “


Ondřej David’s lyrical poetry one man show has a long history. This year it has been ten years since it premiered. This racy physical poetry project in which the author and actor in one has amazed the audiences with challenging and even neck-breaking movements to communicate a delightful nonsense is back after a few year’s break. Bursting with power and new ideas the eager actor rolls out in full aerodynamic force.

Ondrej David remembers one extraordinary staging of Lyrical action poetry: “Three years ago, Martin Marecek and I were working on auto*mat (a long-term project aimed especially at calming traffic) near a car showroom in Letnany, Prague. I was asked if I wanted to do a bit of Lyrical action poetry. They were just holding some event and, besides that, there was a brand new Octavia on display. A huge tent, with a hexagonal podium made of artificial marble in the centre, on it this polished super Octavia and two chicks. I started bowing down like in a mosque for a long time, my head touching the ground, then I began oming, which eventually resulted into: “Om om om Octavia, you gift from the Czech meadows and groves, etc. Thanks you for acid rains, for floods and warming …” It all was intended to emphasise the facts that get suppressed about the automotive industry. What happened? I ended up and there was a round of applause, surprisingly. A guy turned up and says, “Hello, thank you, this was an excellent marketing presentation. Here’s my business card ...”

“… They are one of the most distinctive faces of the Prague alternative scene. With their solo performance Action Lyrics, subtitled “The Fight of Body against Word”, they follow up on the trends initiated in the Czech performance art by Petr Vasa, the Physical poet. Their performances are staged irregularly in the Alfred ve dvore theatre in Prague and outside Prague as part of the New Web project …”
Vladimír Hulec, Právo – Salon, 13. 3. 2008
MOTUS, C. A. – ALFREDVEDVOŘE Theatre production.

This performance is part of the New Web 2008 project.

photo Tomáš Bořil photo Tomáš Bořil photo Tomáš Bořil photo Tomáš Bořil photo Tomáš Bořil photo Tomáš Bořil photo Tomáš Bořil photo Tomáš Bořil photo Tomáš Bořil photo Tomáš Bořil photo Tomáš Bořil photo Tomáš Bořil