Gazdina roba

Radio adaptation of Gabriela Preissová's famous village drama about passion, dreams and desire that cannot be fulfilled. František Adolf Šubert, director of the National Theatre in Prague, was responsible for the creation of Gazda's Robe. It was he who encouraged the young author, who had just successfully published a collection of prose, Images from Slovácko, to try her hand at drama. Preissová first offered him the plot of the play Ideal for consideration, but the experienced theatre practitioner saw more potential in the short story Gazdina roba, which was printed in the January 1889 issue of Osvěta. Sometime around the middle of the year, Preiss began work on a dramatization of her story about the unequal love between a seamstress named Eva and a wealthy landowner's son named Manek. In September 1889 the play was completed and accepted for production at the National Theatre. Gazdina roba was staged by Czech Radio in 1953 in a Brno studio, arranged by Dalibor Chalupa and with music by Emanuel Kuksa. The director was Vladimír Vozák, the main roles were played by Viola Zinková, Rudolf Krátký, Otakar Dadák, Jarmila Urbánková and Vlasta Fialová.