a realistic drama about maternal love
“The theatre management has shown extremely good taste. The audience confirms this opinion completely, rejecting at the stroke the baseness of the judgment that is not ashamed to accuse Her Stepdaughter of immorality! We like the fact that Her Stepdaughter seeks no unnecessary effects and like its simplicity and authenticity. You can see on the faces in the audience how genuinely moved it is.” Such were the reactions to the first performance of the drama Her Stepdaughter at Prague’s National Theatre in 1890. Since that time, the drama has been performed countless times since 1945 alone, and it has also taken on a fundamental importance following the success of Leoš Janáček’s opera adaptation of 1904, known abroad as Jenůfa.
Gabriela Preissová (1862–1946) was already a recognised author and playwright at the time. A year earlier, her first drama The Landlord and the Woman, which she wrote based on her own story at the direct instigation of then director of the National Theatre František Adolf Šubert, had had its premiere. It was a time when a new artistic movement, realism, had appeared on the Czech stage, and so the plays that we consider “Czech classics” today (Our Swaggerers by Ladislav Stroupežnický, Maryša by the Mrštík Brothers, Vojnarka and The Father by Alois Jirásek) had to defend their place in theatre programmes. The realistic description of the problems of society at the time, often exacerbated to the point of tragic situations, was not easily accepted by the audience, for which reason the plays were often labelled immoral and inappropriate. This was also the case with both of Gabriela Preissová’s dramas. Fortunately, the perspective of the time on stories mostly from rural life, which revealed the real problems of ordinary people, was soon to change. Realism defended its place both on the stage and in the hearts of the audience. The aforementioned dramas return to Czech stages on a regular basis and compel new stagings.
Her Stepdaughter tells the story of a woman named Kostelnička who is respected in the village, devoted, but strict. She tries to protect her stepdaughter Jenůfa from shame and suffering. When she finds out that Jenůfa is expecting a child with Števa, a frivolous young man who has no plans to marry her, she decides to take action. In an attempt to protect the girl’s honour and ensure a better future for her, she commits a terrifying act in the throes of desperation. While the tragic decision is devastating for Kostelnička and calls into question all the morality she has believed in thus far, Jenůfa ultimately finds reconciliation, understanding and love.
Her Stepdaughter has been performed only once on the stage of our theatre, in 1950, directed by Zdeněk Dopita. After long years, our audience has now awaited a new production of this famous and full-blooded story directed by Petr Gazdík.
