Klára Hosnedlová’s Ponytail Parlour is an installation taking place at the New Stage of the National Theatre in Prague. 

The New Stage - or Nová scéna as the locals call it - is the City experimental theatre, hosted in an iconic modernist building. Since its construction, it has been home of the City’s National Theatre and the Laterna Magika - the world’s first multimedia theatre, and has been a playground for avant-guard directors and performative practices. Transforming the cloakroom, a space of cross-dressing and identity exchange, into a performative space, Hosnedlová imagines a feminine retreat, a parlour, a place of sensitive dialogue populated by extra-ordinary characters. 

Precious motives and complex patterns decorate walls and furniture to create a charged and unique environment where time seems to slow down. A selection of costumes from the theatre’s archive, are presented in a group, softly constructed garments unveiling complex narratives and historical profiles.  Juliette, Eva, Elettra, Angelica - their identity impregnated  in each costume, open the transitional space of the cloakroom into a space of pure potential; a potential for acute catharsis and transformation. 

text: Attilia Fattori Franchini