“We called our new place Azyl78 because we want to provide the roof for our projects, but also many other theatres and cultural projects in the middle of the park. We are looking forward to seeing the audiences and want to welcome them outside, yet dignified theatre place that is safer as far as hygiene is concerned. After the year of restricting contacts among people, we want to meet audiences and colleagues. We want to see them after the performances as well and there is no better place than grass and shadows of the trees in Stromovka,” says Štěpán Kubiš, director of Jatka78.

Azyl78 will be the asylum for many theatres and live culture, the construction was initiated by Jatka78 due to the planned reconstruction of their permanent stage in halls 7 and 8 at the Prague Market. The circus tent can sit 500-800 viewers and it means the audiences will travel only several tram stops further to Výstaviště Praha.

Jatka78 is associated with the contemporary circus company Cirk La Putyka that founded the theatre back in 2014. “We haven’t had a break for the whole year, but the idea of the summery in Azyl78 drives us. We plan to open the season with Sweat and Shine cabaret, which will also be streamed at Film Naživo. It will combine a film and theatre experience and will be a smooth transition between the quarantine and online period and the return to live audiences,” said Rosťa Novák Jr, the head of Cirk La Putyka and director of Sweat and Shine. He will imitate the opening of the summer stage 2020 when only a small number of viewers saw it in the theatre due to the measures, but the stream was popular with 140,000 fans. Cirk La Putyka will also stage other productions in Azyl78, including the premiere of Runners directed by Vít Neznal.

The tailor-made circus tent arrived in Prague in March. The tent at Výstaviště, whose making took one year, was tested by Italian specialists. The tent has a black interior that allows it to play in daylight as well. It will be white from the outside, with the original large-scale painting by Lukáš Musil aka Musa, who also designed the interiors of Jatka78. A circus tent is thus an artistic object that is 30 meters wide and 15 meters high.

Apart from the theatre and cultural program, the audiences will be able to see film premieres, theatre run Velká holešovická, and family event Ukončete nástup, dveře se otvírají. The summer stage will also feature a music program and the theatre bar will be open all day long.

The date of opening Azyl78 can change due to the epidemic measures, but #kulturunezastavis/#youcannotstopculture, so the tent will open as soon as possible.

The program of Azyl78 will be available in April on www.jatka78.cz.