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VII. From Kašpárek to Spejbl
and Hurvínek
Skupa began to make his presence felt as an actor, director and author. He
soon showed an ability to take control of master the puppet theatre in its
entirely and went on to become the exact personality, with a complex sense
of theatre, which Czech theatre was lacking. His great talent as an actor led
Skupa to an unerring understanding of the laws of the puppet theatre. He often
deferred his artistic aims to the capabilities of the puppets, and thus sought
to limit the artistic hegemony which was characteristic of that period. For the
first time in the modern history of puppetry in this country a new hierarchy was
established among the production elements, in which priority was given to the
puppet and its specific characteristics. Josef Skupa´s other significant
contribution was his relationship to traditional puppeteering. While the first
generation of amateur puppeteers had fought for the right to their own development,
distancing themselves from traditional puppeteering. Skupa´s relation to the
phenomenon was influenced by his relationship of several years with K. Novák.
Despite reinforcing the modern approach to puppet theatre, in accordance with
new tendencies in theatre development, Skupa was perhaps the only one of his age
who managed to distinguish between outdated mannerism in the work of the
traditional puppeteers and the valuable experience originating in the laws of
the puppet theatre which they had grasped intuitively and verified with years
of experience, and who also managed to apply the latter in his work. Taking a
lead from folk puppetry, Skupa started to examine the possibilities offered by
stock characters, as for example Kašpárek was among the folk puppeteers, and
after several years of searching, he created new character types which could
provide contemporary replacements for the archaic Kašpárek. In the second half
of the 20s, his main means of artistic expressions became the pair Spejbl
and Hurvínek. The puppet of Spejbl, which was carved by Karel Nosek
from Skupa´s design, appeared on the Camper´s stage as early as 1919. He was
stylised artistic impression of a balding big-eared father figure with goggle
eyes and matching grotesque costume of shapeless dress jacket, white sleeves
and clogs. This stylisation differentiated Spejbl from other puppets to such
an extent from the other puppets used on the Campers´stage, that initially,
he only appeared as a comic figure in the literary revues shown at the beginning
of the 20s. The Hurvínek puppet was carved in 1926 by a close associate of
Skupa´s, Gustav Nosek (1887-1974). He was related to Spejbl by an obvious
resemblance and almost identical grotesque stylisation. Skupa made this pair
into an unforgettable team: the muddle-headed, semi-educated, but ambitious
father Spejbl and the inquisitive and provocative street urchin Hurvínek. The
grotesque characterisation in the design of both puppets gave Skupa the freedom
to try other forms of realisation. As an author and with Frank Wenig
co-author of the majority of the texts the pair used, he created a quite original
vocabulary for them. He spoke for both puppets himself - a snuffley bass for
Spejbl and a staccato treble for Hurvínek. This vocal characterisation also
served to define their character. Both puppets soon acquired national celebrity.
Many theories have been put forward, attempting to place interpretations on
Spejbl and Hurvínek. Some looked at them in a narrow contemporary perspective
and understood them as period caricatures of townspeople and outmoded styles
of behaviour. Other interpreters stressed the timeless significance of these
two figures representing an archetypal form of the relationship between
generations. It was apparently the multi-faceted nature and at the same time
the undeniable lovingness in the subtext of Skupa´s humour which lay behind
their immense audience popularity. In 1930 Skupa founded a professional theatre
The Pilsen Puppet Theatre of Professor Skupa. On tours of the whole
republic Skupa performed mostly puppet revues (e.g. Tip-top Revue; History
versus Spejbl 0:5, Spejbl and the Blind Passion), in which Spejbl and Hurvínek
had the main roles. At the beginning of the 30s the pair were supplemented by
an enthusiastic girl, Máni?ka (artistically created by Ji?í Trnka) and a dog
Žeryk.
(Author: Alice Dubská, Czech Puppet Theatre over the Centuries)
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