| Pictures from the Insects' Life | |
|---|---|
| Written by | Karel Čapek |
| Date premiered | 1922 |
| Original language | Czech |
| Genre | satire |
Pictures from the Insects' Life (in Czech: Ze života hmyzu), also known as Insect Play or The Life of the Insects, is a satirical play in the Czech language written by the brothers Karel Čapek and Josef Čapek. It was published in 1921 and premiered in 1922. In the play, insects stand in for various human characteristics: the flighty, vain butterfly, the obsequious, self serving dung beetle.
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The play premiered in 1922 in Brno. American (1922) and British (1923) premieres followed. The play is performed less frequently.
Several works have been inspired by Čapek's play. Finnish composer Kalevi Aho composed an opera Hyönteiselämää (Insect Life) in 1987, which was submitted to a competition for the Savonlinna Opera Festival. Aho's opera lost to Paavo Heininen's Veitsi, and was not performed until 1996 with the Finnish National Opera (for which it received great acclaim). Aho also adapted material from his opera into a symphony, Hyönteissinfonia (Insect Symphony), which premiered in 1988. This work, Aho's Seventh Symphony, features six movements, each a portrait of a different species of insect and reflecting the satirical characterizations of the play.
Another opera Zo života hmyzu (From the Insects' Life) based on the play was written by Ján Cikker and premiered in Bratislava in 1987. A film version with the title Insects is under development by the Czech director Jan Švankmajer, and has a preliminary release set to 2015. According to Švankmajer, the film "will combine dark comedy, grotesque, classic horror genre, and both animation and feature acting."[1]