Vaclav Havel in England [Volume: 7(1988), pp. 385-398]

HAVEL IN ENGLAND
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among the young. In the second scene the Faustian origins of the play
become explicit. Candlelight reveals that Foustka (John Shrapnel) is occupied with a chalk-drawn magic symbol. He is interrupted by the arrival
of a stranger called Fistula (David Bradley), who smells "like a strong
cheese."* In spite of Foustka's protestations, he finds himself committed
to an agreement with Fistula.
Fistula proves his powers by making sure that the innocent Maggie
(Sally George) falls for Foustka's philosophizing rhetoric at the Institute
social that evening. It is her only moment of happiness, for Foustka is
shortly back playing jealousy games in the bedroom of his mistress Vilma
(Julie Legrand). Havel's circular construction returns the audience to the
Institute for the last scene of the first act, where the Director accuses
Foustka of being a "two-faced character... engaged in various so-called
hermetic practices...." Foustka is allowed time to prepare his response.
In Act 2 Foustka, at first successfully, presents himself to both Fistula
and the Director as a double agent, insisting on his good faith to each in
turn. However, Fistula has insinuated to him that Vilma is possibly the
informer who betrayed him at the Institute; when he voices his suspicion,
she rejects him. The final scene takes place at the second Institute social,
a Walpurgisnacht in which Foustka's double allegiance is exposed and
mocked.
This outline of the narrative of the play gives only a small idea of the
complexity of its structure, which uses repetitions and reversals differently
from Largo Desolato and the Vanek plays, not so much for their cumulative
effect, but to interlink the lines running through the play. In this respect,
Temptation resembles The Memorandum (1965) and The Increased Difficulty of Concentration (1968). In an interview with the critic John Peter
in 1968, Havel described his way of writing:
I like an architectural construction. When I write a play, I draw a
diagram, like geometry, you know. I have an idea for a new play,**
made like 'The Art of Fugue' by Bach. Oh yes, it is reality, that's
how I see it. My personal way of thinking. It may be wrong but it is
mine. Structures, relationships-all that is the world. What I experience,
not what I took from somebody else's finished theory. 8
In the two earlier plays Havel demonstrated how artificial and pseudoscientific constructions can, through the importance awarded to them,
lose their neutral status and become actively evil. The Institute in Temptation is a similar example of this. At the beginning the Deputy Director
*The English unfortunately loses the wordplay on "sulphurous," with which Havel economically
establishes the presence of Mephistopheles.
**Hotel in the Hills.