Drábek, David

David Drábek (18.6. 1970) - dramatist, director and artistic head of the Klicpera Theatre in Hradec Králové. Graduate of the Arts Faculty of the Palacký University in Olomouc in the field of film and theatre studies. At university he and Darek Král founded the Studio of the Burning Giraffe which specialises in modern cabaret. From 1996-2001 he worked as dramaturge for the drama company of the Moravian Theatre in Olomouc. From 2001-2003 he led the new alternative stage Burning House. In 1995 he received the Alfréd Radok Award for best play for Joan of the Park, in 2003, the same prize for Aquabelles, his play that was later also awarded as the Best Czech Play of 2005. His play The Coast of Bohemia won the second place in Alfred Radok Playwriting Competition 2007, this play was later also awarded as the Best Czech Play of 2009. The play Chocolate Eaters won the Czech Play of the Year at Alfred Radok Awards 2011. In 2003, Větrné Mlýny published an anthology of seven of his plays, his newest ten plays are included in a collection Aby se Čechům ovary zachvěly published by Kosmas in 2011. As author, director and dramaturge he works with the Klicpera Theatre in Hradec Králové and the Petr Bezruč Theatre inOstrava. Drábek’s texts are marked by an anecdotal and epigrammatic quality. A major source is film and television, whose styles he enjoys imitating parodying in his grotesque and cabaret texts and which are also a key theme of his dramas: kitsch, the media world, mass and commercial culture. 

List of plays (selection):

• Malá žranice, 1992 (in cooperation with Darek Král)
• Hořící žirafy, 1993
• Jana z parku, 1994
• Vařila myšička myšičku, 1995
• Kosmická snídaně, 1997
• Švédský stůl, 1998
• Kostlivec v silonkách, 1999
• Kuřáci opia, 2000     
• Kostlivec: Vzkříšení, 2002
• Embryo čili Silicon Baby, 2002
• Akvabely, 2003
• Žabikuch, 2004
• Čtyřlístek!, 2004 (in cooperation with Petra Zámečníková)
• Děvčátko s mozkem, 2005
• Planeta opic aneb Sourozenci Kaplanovi mezi chlupatci, 2006 
• Náměstí bratří Mašínů, 2007 
• Berta (od soumraku do úsvitu), 2008
• Unisex, 2009
• Noc oživlých mrtvol, 2010
• Tvrdě / Měkce, 2010 (autorský projekt, spolu s Martinem Františákem)
• Jedlíci čokolády, 2011
• Koule, 2012 

Translated plays:

• Akvabely - Kunstschwimmer - German
• Akvabely - Aquabelles - English 
• Akvabely -El club de natacion sincronizada - Spanish 
• Akvabely - Balerinele acvatice - Romanian 
• Akvabely  - Plywanie synchroniczne - Polish
• Švédský stůl  - Szwedsky stol - Polish
• Náměstí bratří Mašínů – The Coast of Bohemia - English