Acts of Courage: Vaclav Havel's Life in the Theater

A unique interweaving of the influences of politics and theater revealed in a spellbinding narrative of the life of Václav Havel during Czechoslovakia’s struggle for freedom.

Václav Havel –dissident, activist, essayist, philosopher, politician, founder and president of the Czech Replublic—is known throughout the world as a hero of the human rights movement and martyr for the "right to write" (he was imprisoned many times under Communism in his country). But few in the West know that he is also his country’s most famous playwright. This book tells the dramatic story of his life in the theater during three dark decades under Communism and the extreme risks that he and many other took to perform his works. Havel’s ten full-length plays and eight one-acts are also discussed – plays that not only tell the story of his country but also helped to change it, plays that have a significant place in twentieth-century world drama. For those who love the theater, his story is a powerful and moving one about what it means to be a playwright, a story wherein writing for the theater is an act of courage.