 Shadow Theatre by HILT Prague
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Since 2015, HILT Prague has expanded its artistry beyond black light theatre into the captivating world of shadow performance. From the poetic fairytale of Cinderella to large-scale shows for prestigious events, our shadow theatre blends dance, silhouette artistry, and custom-made projections to create immersive visual stories. We design each performance to match the mood and theme of your event — and can even merge shadow theatre with black light effects for a truly unique stage experience. |
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| Cinderella BMW Gala Hewlett-P. Gala O2 Arena |
Cinderella — Shadow Film Theatre (2016)
Our Cinderella was not a classic shadow-play with a rear-lit white screen. We created a “shadow film theatre”: live silhouettes of performers interacting with custom photo & video projections to make it feel as if the actors moved inside the projected world. The result is a cinematic, non-verbal story told through dance, silhouettes and precisely timed visuals.
The production was performed in Prague at ROYAL ROAD (Karlova) and later at Divadlo U Valšů. A final duet from the show appeared at the Hewlett-Packard gala in 2019 as the intro piece before Karel Gott at Žofín.
Created by: Theodor Hoidekr — concept, music, projections, direction. Choreography collaboration: Vladimír Jícha (former soloist of the original Karlín Theatre company, incl. the era of Hello, Dolly!).
BMW Gala — Shadow Theatre Performance (2017)
In 2017, HILT Prague was invited to create a special shadow theatre act for a closed gala event in Slovakia. This was a mini-project designed to follow the client’s event scenario, marking the launch of a new product. Our performance combined object play, dynamic silhouettes, and visual effects to create a sleek, modern presentation fitting the atmosphere of the evening.
Although smaller in scale than our full-length productions, the piece demonstrated how shadow theatre can adapt to exclusive corporate occasions, working seamlessly with the client’s branding, staging, and event flow.
HP Gala — Palác Žofín, Prague (2019)
In 2019, HILT Prague had the honor of opening a luxurious gala evening for HP at the historic Palác Žofín in Prague. The performance began with a custom shadow theatre piece incorporating HP-themed visuals, followed by our signature Cinderella shadow duet — serving as the opening act for the legendary Czech singer Karel Gott.
The HP segment was developed in close coordination with the client, while the Cinderella scene remained our original creation. Karel Gott was delighted by the performance, and after his set, he kindly took time for a group photo — something he rarely did. We had hoped to collaborate again in the future, but sadly, 2019 became the year of his final public appearances, making this evening even more memorable.
O2 Arena — “True Crimes” Live Show (2024)
In November 2024, the famous Czech podcast “Opravdové Zločiny” (“True Crimes” — focused on real-life criminals and murder cases) took to the stage of a sold-out O2 Arena. The show’s hosts invited HILT Prague to create a unique shadow theatre performance depicting the disturbing story of serial killer Peter Sutcliffe.
Director Theodor Hoidekr immersed himself in Sutcliffe’s biography, initially intrigued by the dark, horror-like theme. However, as work on the projections and script intensified, the reality of these crimes brought a deeply unsettling feeling. The final result was a rare and powerful stage piece — unlike anything HILT had ever done before. Dance played no role here; instead, the performance relied entirely on physical shadow acting, demanding precision and emotional weight from the performers.
The show was a huge success, and a few months later, its recorded version was released in cinemas across the Czech Republic, marking a new chapter in the collaboration between live performance and true crime storytelling.
