The biggest library of theatre recordings will offer performances from the Dejvice Theatre, Klicpera Theatre, J. K. Tyl Theatre, Goose on the String Theatre, and many others from the Czech Republic. The viewers may see the performances that are sold out or those that can be labeled experimental. “We want to bring theatre closer to people and allow them to spend more time with it than it was possible until now,” explains Martin Zavadil, one of the founders. “I believe that Dramox can attract more people to the theatre, just as similar services have attracted people to films or music,” he adds.
According to Martin Hájek, every live performance has a limited number of viewers it can approach. However, Dramox can potentially extend the number of viewers to the whole Czech Republic. “I initiated the platform intending to amplify the cultural impact of theatre and help play a bigger role in fans’ leisure time. I have been thinking about the project such as Dramox for several months and kept asking myself why nothing of this kind exists in the Czech Republic. I felt the absence of a service that can offer the performances online in the first lockdown. I then contacted Martin Zavadil with the offer to launch Dramox. He agreed, invited Radim Horák to the team, and Dramox was born after five months,” Hájek says.
Most money from the subscriptions will return to theatres, co-founder Radim Horák sees this step as essential for the whole project: ”We will support theatremakers, actors and theatres in their operation in the time that is not much favorable to culture. The theatremakers will also benefit from the wider scope of their audience who can experience their production. Dramox can also work as a teaser, so you can see the next performance in the theatre when it is possible.” The service will also help theatres remove illegal copies of their recordings.
Dramox is the first Czech service that provides watching the recordings of theatre performances online. It is currently associated with 30 theatres from the Czech Republic. The service is based on two types of subscriptions: the monthly fee is 299 CZK, the annual subscription costs 2,990 CZK. Most of the money will go to theatres, theatremakers, and actors. You can also support theatres outside the subscription via Dramox and the portal will deliver the whole sum of money you have donated. The service was founded by Martin Hájek – e-commerce businessman and owner of Livesport, Martin Zavadil, who dealt with digital companies and worked in Creative Dock, and Radim Horák. He assisted with the launch of voyo.cz and also owns Weemazz 2.0 company, who removes illegal copies of copyrighted works.
Author: Denisa Morgensteinová