Svoboda, Josef (1920– )

Czech stage designer and director. He worked in Prague from 1945, and was influenced by Appia and Roller. He developed a style which used novel lighting techniques, including film projections and laser beams, in order to create an integrated stage picture. His designs for Les vêpres siciliennes were first seen in Hamburg (1969) and appeared at major opera houses before appearing at the London Coliseum in 1984. Also on view in London, at Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, have been Die Frau ohne Schatten/The Woman without a Shadow (1967), Pelléas et Mélisande/Pelléas and Mélisande (1969), Nabucco (1972), and The Ring (1974–76). He designed the Czech premiere of Martinů's Ariadne at Prague in 1987, and produced and designed La Sonnambula/The Sleepwalker at the 1992 Macerata Festival.