Passion play

Like POB's Romeo and Juliet, The Greek Passion from National Theatre Brno (NTB) — a Czech institution and one of Central Europe's leading opera houses — is a recent live performance, in this case filmed in November. As part of HKAF-50, the show is available for free online viewing from March 17-24. Opera director Jií Heman led NTB's stellar cast of nearly 150 soloists and actors, with Robert Kru?ík conducting.

The modern composer, Bohuslav Martin, enjoyed infusing his works with a range of musical styles. Kru?ík cites traditional Czech music (from the Bohemian-Moravian Highlands), jazz, and traditional Greek, in particular Byzantine choral music, as influences. The production also features three distinct choirs.

Kru?ík echoes Lang's and Hr?a's thoughts in terms of the advantages of the film version: "Viewers can see the smallest details — the facial expressions of the singers," he says. "It's like film acting, and the audience will be more involved in the story.

"The disadvantage is the loss of atmosphere — this amazing, magic moment can never be fully transferred. But we're glad that through the online broadcast, we can at least share our productions with the audience."