I just returned from seeing an eclectic, riveting, and marvelously absurd production of Václav Havel’s satire “The Garden Party” at the Estates Theater in Prague (the theater where Mozart conducted the premiere of “Don Giovanni”).

Havel was a terrific playwright, a voice of Czech dissidence, and a leader of the Velvet Revolution (not to mention first president of the new Czech Republic!). If I described the staging, you might not believe me. Suffice it to say that, at one point, the audience was woven through with glittering gold crepe paper. And the main character, after making the transition from regular guy to party ideologue, was attached to a cord at his waist and floated above the stage for the intense last moments. Ke-bam! I feel so fortunate to have seen this tonight.