Floor
I
The
Liberec Naive Theatre in Museum Collections
In
2009 the Liberec Na?ve Theatre (NDL) will celebrate its 60th birthday.
It was one of the first professional puppet theatres to be established
in the former Czechoslovakia. Over the years, it has created over
240 productions. From the long list of artists who were active
in its development and successes we have chosen a few of those
who have had a dominant influence on the artistic side of the
performances in the past twenty years. The splendid Czech artists
of the 1970's and 1980's, P. Kalfus and I. Antoš, were followed
by I. Nesveda, J. Zbořilová, J. Milfajt and P. Matásek (in succession).
In recent years, the younger generation, B. Jakůbková , R. Smolík
and others, is successfully taking over. Thanks to the care of
the Museum, which is collecting and preserving the most interesting
complete sets from productions, the "theatre memory"
can be revived from time to time and presented to the public.
(S. Doubrava, NDL Director)
(Opened from January 22nd 2009 till December 30th 2009) (photogallery)
Floor
II
Jaroslav Milfajt - a portrait of the artist
He
was born in Nové Město na Moravě in 1958. After his studies at
the Secondary School of Art Handicraft in Brno (SSAH), he went
on to read Puppet Stage Design at the School of Drama in Prague.
Since 1987 he has been a secondary school teacher at the SSAH
in Brno. He was one of the founders of the Stage Design Department
at the School of Drama in Brno (1990-93) and is now an assistant
professor there. He also gives lectures on the subject. He co-operates
with leading Czech directors Jan Borna, Petr Kracik, Zbyňek Srba,
Vladimír Morávek, Stanislav Moša, Pavel Polák, Dodo Gombár, Boleslav
Polívka, Zoja Mikotová etc. in preparing productions for the puppet
theatre as well as opera, drama, operetta or musical theatres
both at home and in other countries (Slovenia, Slovakia, Austria,
Hungary, Germany or Italy). He has designed puppets, costumes
and scenery for more than 200 productions. Several times he has
acted as stage director, as well. Occasionally, he does illustrations
and advertisements, works for television and film, designs interiors,
arranges exhibitions. He lives and works in Brno.
(Opened
from January 22nd 2009 till December 30th 2009) (photogallery)
Floor
III
Shadow Theatre
Shadow
Theatre originated in East Asia and was mainly developed in Indonesia,
China, Burma and some other oriental countries. Puppets are made
of parchment, leather, paper, cardboard or other stiff material.
There are incisions in the puppet sections so that the light shining
through will show not only the outlines but also details of the
figures. Shadow puppets achieve a special poetic effect. In Europe
the shadow theatre expanded in the 18th century and is occasionally
used in modern puppetry, too. In the Czech lands its use is rather
sporadic. The exhibition displays puppets mainly from India, Indonesia
and China.
(Opened from January 22nd 2009 till December 30th 2009) (photogallery)
