Hanging in a double transition

Kateřina Rudčenková’s theatre heroines in 21st-century Czechia

Abstract

This paper examines the dramatic oeuvre of Kateřina Rudčenková (b. 1976), a prominent author on the Czech literary scene of the twenty-first century. By contextualizing her plays against the backdrop of recent Czech history and the reception of Western feminism in Czechia during the post-1989 transition, we show how the playwright—drawing on a distinctly Central European cultural milieu as well as on autobiographical elements—illuminates the condition of contemporary Czech women. Her protagonists frequently function as alter egos who, on the one hand, find themselves entangled in dysfunctional relationships with men who are either possessive or emotionally absent, and, on the other, despite enjoying certain freedoms, struggle to emancipate themselves fully from the conventions of a middle class that retains a markedly conservative outlook. These theater heroines demonstrate that many women of Rudčenková’s generation remain in a state of suspension, unable to keep pace with the latest global feminist developments.