This stimulating compilation of essays and images reveals an essential and valuable component of Czech contributions to the world of modern theatre heretofore largely unseen outside the country itself. Featuring the craft of twenty-seven of the best stage and costume designers of the twentieth century, Joe Brandesky supplies ample evidence of their consistently high quality and dynamic creativity, survival skills for a people whose national identity had been dismantled during many years of occupation and repression.
    Essays by Vera Ptacková,  Dennis Christilles, Delbert Unruh, and, Marie Zdenková their full texts restored and reedited for this volume since their initial publication in exhibit catalogs, provide historical and linguistic insights into contemporary Czech scenography as well as comparisons to the major art movements affecting the designers. Brandesky’s informative introductory essay contextualizes the shifting tenets of Czech theatre design. Also included are biographies of the designers, a bibliography, and thirty black-and-white photographs.
    The accompanying CD provides access to the vibrant and sophisticated images of the Czech theatrical world: 138 richly colorful paintings and drawings of costumes, models, and set designs and in situ photos of exhibited designs plus 27 color and black-and-white photos of the designers. The CD also includes the full text of the book with links to all the art and to the designers’ biographies. Book and CD together showcase the Czech Republic as a center of international stage design.

Joe Brandesky is professor of theatre at Ohio State University–Lima. Most of his professional career has been devoted to bringing visually expressive examples of Russian and East European theatre to the attention of American audiences. In 2000 he co-created and edited the catalog for the U.S. exhibit Metaphor and Irony: Czech Scenic and Costume Design 1920–1999, and in 2004 he produced the exhibit Metaphor and Irony 2: Frantisek Tröster and Contemporary Czech Theatre Design and co-created and edited its catalog.