Miroslav Machacek
Miroslav Machacek - 8.5.1922 - 17.2.1991. A native of Nymburk, he originally trained as a locksmith. From 1945 he studied acting for three years at the State Conservatory in Prague. After his studies he joined the East Bohemian Theatre in Pardubice. In 1950 he moved to the Realist Theatre of Zdeněk Nejedlý in Prague. In 1952 his career as a director began. First four years in the theatre in České Budějovice, then in 1956 back in Prague. After three years at the Municipal Theatres of Prague, he moved to the National Theatre, where he gave birth to unforgettable productions. The National Theatre will tour eight European countries with the play From the Life of Insects by the Čapek brothers. For years, his productions of Le Havre on the Lagoon, Cyrano of Bergerac, Henry IV, Hamlet and others have remained in the memory of audiences. Thanks to the television recording, one can still admire his sensitive version of Stroupežnický's Our Furiants, which received more than 160 performances.
At the beginning of 1975, he gave a critical report at a public meeting of the National Theatre, which caused an uproar among the communist management of the theatre, and it was decided to end him in the Golden Chapel. But since he had been awarded Best Director for the first scene shortly before, he was pressured into volunteering his resignation. He refused to submit it. As a defence against this pressure, he accepted a quite random offer to be hospitalized in a psychiatric hospital in Bohnice. There he kept a brief diary, which was published posthumously in 1995.
