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Archa is Prague’s premiere venue for avant-garde music, dance and movement theatre, recently hosting David Byrne and France’s Compagnie Pál Frenák.

Žižkov’s artsy appeal owes much to the Akropolis. International rock, jazz and world beat acts regularly appear on Akropolis’s larger stages, while local bands crowd their guitars, trombones and violins on the smaller one.

A community group recently came to the financial rescue to ensure this theatre continues hosting its outstanding non-verbal theatre.

Prague’s new dance theatre has all aspects covered, from top international dance acts to workshops for young talent.

Under Communism, it was playhouses such as this that gave vent to dissident thought. By staging daring works, they helped draw world attention to events such as the outspoken young playwright Václav Havel continually getting in trouble with the law.

This company was the main proponent behind Black-Light theatre, a genre in which black-clad actors, working against a black background, manipulate objects. See for yourself what all the fuss is about at their stage next to the National Theatre.

The National Theatre’s curtain first raised for Bedřich Smetana’s opera Libuše in 1883; you can still see this or other Czech operas on the same stage today. Go to a performance, if only to appreciate the artistic work that went into creating the theatre.

The Rudolfinum is home to the Czech Philharmonic. During World War II, the Nazis sought to remove Felix Mendelssohn from the gallery of statues on the roof. They inadvertently plucked Richard Wagner instead.

The Estates Theatre is well known as the venue where Mozart’s Don Giovanni saw its first performance. It was also the first Czech-language playhouse in what was then a largely German-speaking city. The productions occasionally leave something to be desired, but if you don’t see the Don here, then where?

The National Marionette Theatre represents the pinnacle of the much-loved puppet genre, staging wonderful productions of Czech fairytales and other child-pleasing shows (in Czech). They also have the best Beatles tribute in town and a delightful marionette version of Don Giovanni (see Puppet Shows).