Havelka, Jiří (Czech republic)
Jiří Havelka is a Czech director, playwright and actor who graduated from the Theatre Faculty of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague (study programme Directing of Alternative and Puppet Theatre) in 2002. His theatrical work has always focused on collective improvisation as a method of creating an original theatre production. His plays often lie on the borderline between dramatic and alternative, or even motional and visual theatre. That’s why it’s no surprise that the first ten years after his graduation he was mostly connected with the Studio Ypsilon theatre in Prague where he, together with the colleagues of the same generation, created a lot of productions with related topics. The greatest attention was raised by an original play about the topic of theatre itself Drama v kostce (Drama in a Nutshell, 2005, shortlisted for the Theatre Newspaper Award) a Kam vítr tam pláž (The Beach Goes Where the Wind Blows, 2008, shortlisted for the Theatre Newspaper Award in the category of Alternative Theatre) which brings to the stage the topic of windsurfing. During his PhD studies and as a part-time employee of the Theatre Faculty of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague he created together with his students several graduation performances, for example a sort of a reality simulator in Člověče, zkus to! (Try it, man!, 2006, Festival Zlomvaz Award, Magazine Reflex Award), Velmi společenské tance (Very Social Dances, 2008, shortlisted for the Theatre Newspaper Award in the category of Alternative Theatre) or a theatrical documentary reconstruction of the Mašín brothers’ story Já, hrdina (Me, the Hero). Permutational repetition of one banal situation is the basic principle of the play Černá díra staged at The Dejvické Theatre (The Black Hole, 2007, 1st to 3rd prize in the Theatre Newspaper’s public inquiry called the Theatre Production of the Year). Havelka used for example also Einstein’s theory of relativity in his play Indián v ohrožení (An Indian in Danger, 2008) at HaDivadlo theatre in Brno.
He won the Alfréd Radok Award in the category of the Talent of the Year in 2008. After having left Studio Ypsilon he cooperated with the Na zábradlí Theatre, Vinohrady Theatre and HaDivadlo theatre. He also directed several international projects, e.g. Czech-German EXIT 89 (2008) or a concert show with the British band The Tiger Lilies Zde jsem člověkem! (Here I am Human!) at the Archa Theatre or several Czech-Canadian projects featuring American Indian actors.
His activities are tightly connected with his “home theatre company” Vosto5 where he is a member. This company has been introducing into Czech theatre verbal juggling, persiflage or mystification. He works mostly with Czech national topics, e.g. in his acrobatic-combat-motion performance called Pérák – Na jméně nezáleží. Rozhodují činy (Pérák – The Name Does Not Matter, It Is the Action that Decides, 2011) or in a highly acclaimed piece Dechovka (Brass Band Music, 2013 – Theatre Newspaper Award in the category of Alternative Theatre) and Společenstvo vlastníků (Homeowners’ Association, 2017 – Mark Ravenhill Award for the best Czech production of a contemporary drama of the year; shortlisted for the Play of the Year at The Theatre Critics’ Awards).
His plays regularly gain votes in the public survey called Theatre Production of the Year, and they get invited to prestigious festivals not only in the Czech Republic, but also in Poland, Slovakia, Germany, Finland, Austria, Ireland, Spain, Bulgaria, Slovenia and other countries. During the festivals Havelka often leads workshops focused on embracing elementary components of the theatre language. He was the head of the Department of Alternative and Puppet Theatre of the Theatre Faculty of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague for several years.