The theatre was built by the Braník architect and builder Vašek Šindelář for local amateur actors over the years 1924-25, with the first performance taking place on the 1^st of August 1925. Significant changes to the building occurred, for example, in the years 1966-67 with temporary adaptations for cinema operations, during which the orchestra pit was disbanded and a projection cabin introduced in the balcony. Another significant change took place in the years 1993-94 with a deepening of the space under the stage and an adjoining storage area with the aim of establishing here a theatre club. At that same time the floor coverings were replaced, a new velvet curtain was hung on the border and the chairs were newly upholstered. In the year 1998 the basement was reconstructed according to a design by ing. Vorel and a practice room, dressing room, rest room, workshop for technical maintenance and toilets were created.

The building is part of the eastern front of Branická street (no. 63/411) with a six-windowed façade. Entrances to the corridor along the auditorium are located in retreating edge axes while the exterior axes of the central  group of four are framed by fluted lesenes. A portico with two main entrances projects outward in the centre with its fluted half-columns bearing up a large triangular fronton with the name of the theatre in the frieze along with two theatre masks. The façade is crowned by a triangular gable with a figural composition by Rudolf Březa carried out in high relief.  A woman with long braids stands in its centre standing in front of a lime branch, holding in her left hand a laurel twig. Two kneeling figures are on either side of her, on the left a woman with a book and behind her a boy with a fluttering banner and on the right a man handing a boy behind him a hammer and preparing to put on a mask.

The auditorium with a rectangular ground plan is situated behind a diagonally designed vestibule. Its parterre with 19 rows is slightly inclined. Two massive Tuscany columns (greenish artificial marble) in the rear area hold up the balcony with two rows of seats and two extending loge arms of a broken layout (the present look also includes four short rows of fixed seats). The space covers up a compressed vaulting. The side walls are divided up into six fields by fluted pilasters which correspond to the profiled vaulted belts. The back wall behind the balcony is articulated by a trio of blind arcades on Tuscany half-columns whose rhythm, with the wide central field, matches up with the longitudinal belts on the vaulting. The black stage border (originally framed by fluted pilasters) bears in its upper arch a gilded relief of a comic mask, a roll of paper and both lime and laurel springs, white nudes of a man and woman (author not determined) are located in front of the jambs on black socles. The interior of the auditorium is painted with a whitish, cream colour while the flutes of the pilasters, filled with arched belts, half-columns and spandrels of the blind arcades behind the baloney are dark red. The vaulting areas are black.

Sources:

- Stavební archiv městské části Praha 4.

- Javorin, Alfred: Divadla a divadelní sály v českých krajích, Praha 1949; I. díl, s. 257-258.

Tags: Neoclassicism, Interwar period, Cubism, terraced house

Author: Jiří Hilmera

Translator: David Livingstone