‘The Last Cyclist,” a uniquely immersive new film directed by Edward Einhorn that captures a stage performance of a rediscovered dark comedy written and performed once in the Nazi concentration camp Terezin in 1944, will be seen on THIRTEEN’s Theater Close-Up for its broadcast premiere on Tuesday August 16 at 9:30pm (and re-aired Sunday August 21 at 11pm). The film received its festival premiere in February 2020 in the Mene Tekel Film Festival in Prague, and, during the pandemic, it went on to win awards at the Chain NYC Festival, and the Melech Film Festival in Israel.
The original script of the “The Last Cyclist,” by the playwright Karel Švenk, was irrevocably lost during the Holocaust, when Švenk was sent to his death at age 28. But his production was not forgotten; it acquired mythic status among survivors despite having been banned following its dress rehearsal.
Staged in front of an audience for film capture at La MaMa in 2017, the critically acclaimed immersive production – which treats the audience as if they are watching the play’s dress rehearsal with their fellow Terezin Ghetto inmates — is a remarkable new addition to the historical record of Nazi atrocities, as well as a fascinating artifact of Jewish resistance to racial intolerance.
