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Most teenage attempts at poetry remain locked up in private diaries – but not so if you are a successful playwright. A Czech magazine asks readers to vote for Miss Parliament, and weeks of persistent rain have spoiled many an outdoor event in the Czech Republic. Find out more in Magazine with Daniela Lazarová.

Prague’s Divadlo na Zábradlí is known mainly for staging former President Havel’s plays but in the last couple of years, it has also focused on producing English-language plays. Thursday will see the premiere of a play acted in English with Czech subtitles on the theatre’s main stage. The play, written by a young Polish author Dorota Maslowska, has a rather complicated title: A Couple of Poor Polish-Speaking Romanians in English with Czech Subtitles.

Former Czech president Václav Havel was applauded before and at the end of the US premiere of his latest play “Leaving” at Philadelphia’s Wilma Theatre on Thursday night. The former dissident and first non-Communist president after the Velvet Revolution in 1989 attended the premiere with wife, Dagmar. In the audience were former US secretary of state Madeleine Albright and singer Suzanne Vega. During the afternoon Havel took part in a discussion about the play which was attended by the main actors including male lead, Oscar-nominated David Strathairn. Theatre director Jiří Žižka, who is also directing the play, said he first became interested in theatre at the age of 15 after seeing a performance of a play by Václav Havel in Prague. Tickets for the performance have been sold out for several weeks, the theatre is considered one of the city’s best. Mr. Havel will be returning to the Czech Republic after the premiere and a three-week stay in the US.

Former Czech president and esteemed playwright Václav Havel is to attend the US premiere of his latest play “Leaving” at Philadelphia’s Wilma Theater with his wife Dagmar on Thursday night. The male lead is played by Oscar-nominated actor David Strathairn, the general director of the theater, Jiří Žižka, is directing the play. Mr Žižka says he first became interested in theater at the age of 15, after seeing a performance of a play by Václav Havel in Prague. Tickets for the performance have been sold out for several weeks, the theater is considered one of the city’s best. Mr. Havel will be returning to the Czech Republic after the premiere.

Ex-president Vaclav Havel has shot a video-clip in support of the Green Party. In it Mr. Havel criticizes what he calls money- driven city planning which he says is changing the face of Prague without any consideration for the needs of future generations. He says he is happy to see that at least one party in the Czech Republic feels as strongly about the problem as he does. Prague councillors have frequently come under fire from the Greens for being unsympathetic to the environment and pandering to the demands of lobbyists. The popular ex-president is making no secret of the fact that he intends to vote for the Greens in May’s general elections.

Former Czech president and playwright Václav Havel, will attend the premiere of his latest play, Leaving, in the United States at the end of the month. The 73-year-old author is also preparing for a new role – in July, he will direct a film version of the play

Both President Václav Klaus and his predecessor in office, Václav Havel, have criticized the aggressive tone of campaigning ahead of May’s general elections. In an interview for Euro magazine, Mr. Klaus said that the campaign was full of empty slogans, foolish billboards and inappropriate personal attacks. He also warned voters against supporting newly founded parties such as TOP 09, stating that their political programs were vague and void of content. In an interview for the Týden weekly, Mr. Havel said that for most people, politics had become synonymous with something suspicious and that a shake-up in Czech politics would greatly benefit the country. He added that in the Czech Republic, such shake-ups take place with each new generation, once every twenty years. Mr. Havel himself has made it clear that he supports the Green Party in May’s general elections.

Former Czech president Václav Havel says his successor Václav Klaus has an “indefensible need to provoke”. Mr Havel made the comments about his long-standing political rival in an interview for the magazine Týden, adding that he did not believe there was cold calculation behind what he called Mr Klaus’s constant need for confrontation. The present and former presidents, regarded as the two most important Czech politicians of the post-communist era, disagree on a number of issues.

The authorities have examining claims by a former intelligence agent that a fatal explosion in 1984 was the work of the communist secret police, the StB. Twelve people died when a gas mains exploded in the town of Třinec. The agent claims the whole thing was a secret police plot aimed at discrediting dissidents around Václav Havel, but historians and police are sceptical.

A department of the Czech police that investigates communist-era crimes has started looking into a 1984 explosion in a residential tower block building in Moravia, the daily Právo reported. According to a testimony given by former secret police agent Karel Muroň a month ago, the explosion was not, as previously believed, an accident. Mr. Muroň claims that it was planned by the Communist secret police, the StB, in an effort to disband the Charter 77, a dissident group whose most prominent member was Václav Havel, who later became the Czech president. According to the testimony, the StB was going to charge members of the Charter 77 with having caused the explosion. Mr. Muroň claims he was one of the agents to take part in organizing it, but escaped to Poland before it took place. The explosion, which killed twelve people and injured nine, is considered the most tragic event of this kind in Czech history.