Czech Revolutionary’s ‘Desolato’ Has O.C. Debut

When Vaclav Havel was still a dissident Czech playwright whose every move was watched by the secret police, M. James Breslin was pacing his living room here and talking fervently about the need to stage Havel’s plays in Orange County.

Nobody had done any of them and it seemed shameful, Breslin said. It was not only a reflection of the local theater scene’s superficiality, he contended, but also a commentary on its lack of current material. Little wonder that theater professionals pay scant attention to the county, he said.

The Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles already had done three of the 53-year-old Havel’s plays: “A Private View,” “Largo Desolato” and “Temptation.” And last spring, it organized a read-in of his banned works to protest his incarceration--one of his several prison terms since 1968--on a trumped-up charge of “hooliganism.”

Breslin, a 30-year-old actor who had learned about Havel’s plight through his involvement with Amnesty International, which promotes the cause of human rights worldwide, promised that he would mount the county’s first production of a Havel play even if he had to produce it himself.

All this was long before the so-called “Velvet Revolution” toppled the Communist Czech regime and catapulted Havel himself to the Czech presidency on Dec. 29.

Ironically, now that political events in Eastern Europe have outpaced him, Breslin is making good on his promise with “Largo Desolato,” which opens tonight at Fullerton College’s Studio Theatre in a county premiere.

Proceeds of the invitation-only performance will go to Amnesty International, Breslin said. Public performances begin Thursday and will continue through Feb. 11.

“Like everyone else, we’re amazed at what has happened,” Breslin said earlier this week. “And we’re obviously thrilled. If anything, it shows that Havel did not struggle in vain.”

Breslin said he chose “Largo Desolato” because, among other reasons, it is a black comedy that portrays many of the details of the playwright’s life under the old regime. The protagonist, named Leopold Nettles, is an author and human-rights activist charged with the crime of “intellectual disturbance of the peace” by a repressive government trying to get him to recant his writings.

Seen by his friends and his lover as a heroic figure, Nettles lives under house arrest in constant terror of being hauled off to the gulag. He suffers from depression, insomnia, impotence and writer’s block, and feels like anything but a hero. Havel, who has described Nettles as “a caricature” of himself in a “despairing state of mind,” is said to have written “Largo Desolato” in four days after his release from a five-year prison term in 1983.

“The play shows how the state can break down an individual through insidious psychologic pressure and how you must struggle for your identity,” Breslin said. “The text does not end on a hopeful note. Although circumstances have turned out quite differently, we are presenting the text as it was written. To change it would be a disservice to Havel.”

In fact, some elements of tonight’s presentation will underscore the pre-revolutionary atmosphere of “Largo Desolato.” For instance, the program notes have been designed to resemble police dossiers, and huge projections of black-and-white photographs show political prisoners and “the effects of human degradation,” Breslin said.

Nevertheless, the production does take note of recent developments in eastern Europe with an epilogue of photographic slides excerpted from press accounts of the aftermath of the Czech revolution and related events such as the dismantling of the Berlin Wall.

“What that does is enable us to make the statement that the end of the play is not the end of the story,” Breslin said. “If we really were to do ‘Largo Desolato’ exactly as Havel wrote it, we would have to produce it as an environmental piece for somebody’s living room.”

Because Havel’s plays were illegal, he explained, they couldn’t be done at a theater. A small group of Czech dissidents would gather for a secret performance at one of their homes. That is why, when you look at Havel’s scripts, you realize they all seem to take place in a single room or office with virtually no set changes, as though to simplify production, Breslin noted.

Coincidentally, Breslin used to write and produce “environmental plays” intended for living-room performances during the mid-’80s as a co-founder of the now-defunct Kobre Theatreworks. Among its offerings--also presented in local theaters and restaurants--were “The Bespoke Overcoat,” “Mortal Thunder,” “Ain’t It the Truth” and “Repertory on Call.”

“Largo Desolato” is being mounted as an alumni project at Fullerton College, said Robert Jensen, chairman of the college’s theater department, which has financed the $4,000 production.

Eugene Rubenzer, a professional actor, will star in the role of Leopold. April Faine, who is married to Breslin, will direct. The translation is by Tom Stoppard.

Breslin said guests who are expected to attend tonight’s sold-out benefit performance include Magdeleno Rose Avila, Western regional director of Amnesty International, and John Farrel, president of P.E.N. Center West.

Public performances of “Largo Desolato” begin Thursday at Fullerton College’s Studio Theatre, 321 E. Chapman Ave., Fullerton. The schedule: Thursday to Feb. 3 at 8 p.m.; Feb. 4 at 2 p.m.; Feb. 7 to Feb. 10 at 8 p.m.; and a performance by college interns on Feb. 11 at 2 p.m. All tickets: $10 ($8 for members of Amnesty International; $7 for students and seniors). Information: (714) 871-8101.