Havel’s play The Increased Difficulty Of Concentration (TIDOC) , a farce about a sex-crazed sociologist being invaded in his office by hoards of women who want him to sign unexplained official papers, opened in September 1989 at the Old Red Lion Pub & Theatre, London, produced by Hostage Productions, to support Havel in his fight against Czech Communist detention of earlier that year. The production was generously supported by the London community of West End theatre producers.

In the week of Havel's death, Czech newspapers sang Havel’s praises. Jindrich Sidlo In Hospodarske Noviny said, “We have no idea in what condition the Czech Republic would be, had Vàclav Havel not taken on the responsibility for it and had he instead enjoyed his more natural role of global intellectual star. Havel put this personal bonus in the service of not only his country, but all of post-communist Europe. He it was who, in the eyes of the world, pulled the entire region back into civilised society”.

Czech President Vàclav Klaus said, “Vàclav Havel became a symbol of the modern Czech state. He must take credit for his daring fight with the communist totalitarian regime, as the leader of the Velvet Revolution, and as the first president of our free country. His personality, name and work substantially helped the Czech Republic become part of the community of free and democratic countries”.

Czech Prime Minister Petr Necas said, “I am personally touched, as President Havel was a symbol of what happened here in 1989. He did a lot for a peaceful transfer to democracy, for settling upon a democratic structure, for the integration of our country into the European Union…”

The Increased Difficulty Of Concentration first opened in 1968 at Theatre Of Balustrade in Prague, and has a politically iconic history, being an integral part of the Prague Spring uprising of the time. At the same time, Havel’s earlier play, The Memorandum, also originally produced by Theatre Of Balustrade, was playing in New York, and he was already establishing himself as an international theatre star. Havel supported the Prague Spring social reforms to Czech Communism of Czech leader Alexander Dubcek throughout, and was an active campaigner for greater Czech democracy. He must have been looking forward to a bright future of personal freedom.

But Soviet Union tanks crushed the Prague Spring, Dubcek was forced from power, and Havel quickly found himself banned from theatre and forced to take a menial job in a brewery. He became an internationally recognised Czech dissident, frequently reported about on the BBC World Service, and was also frequently imprisoned for "anti-state activities", particularly after founding the Czech Human Rights organisation Charter 77, in 1977 itself.

At heart, Havel remained a political liberal throughout, rather than an agitprop radical. "I never wanted to be a political writer," he once said. "I think that good writers and good art and particularly good theatre, is always political, not because writers and directors want to be political, but because it is something which is in the substance of theatre."

The Increased Difficulty Of Concentration remains Havel’s most performed early play, first produced in New York in 1970, and most recently staged by the Lounge Theatre, Los Angeles, in 2009. It was first produced in London by Hostage Productions in September 1989, and the Gate Theatre revived the play in 2003.

Words by Michael Black