Originated by Havel during his days as a dissident, the Ferdinand Vanek character has an autobiographical base; but several of Havel's fellow playwrights took him up, making him into a collective symbol of individual dissidence. These two one-act dramas were written in the late '70s, intended to be performed together.
The Kohout play, "Permit," no doubt a provocation when first produced, seems a period piece now; a somewhat slapstick parody of the inept but absolute dictatorship of the bureaucracy under Soviet rule, with Vanek a hapless blacklisted dog owner trying to register the pedigree of his new pet, a recent hybrid called a "Czech grabber," especially bred "to have no distinguishing character whatsoever."
But the Havel play, "Protest," remains resonant, like the others of his in the sequence I've seen (notably the much-produced "Audience"). It concerns Vanek's attempt to persuade a noted, officially sanctioned writer of television drama to sign a letter urging the release of a young dissident detained by the police.
In this play, as in the others, Havel puts an unusual twist on the typical police interrogator's tactic. It is the ostensibly powerless Havel/Vanek who says little and waits, forcing the person ostensibly in power to fill the silence with his or her rationale, excuses, bluster, and lies. I do not expect the government of my native land to be headed by anyone with Havel's courage, intellectual subtlety, or moral acuity in my lifetime. The Czechs chose Havel; my fellow citizens opted to play the smart chimp to Ronnie Reagan's benign scientist in Bedtime for Bonzo. We're the ones who need worrying about.
