A professor of the Faculty of Theatre JAMU, prof. PhDr. Bořivoj Srba, who was born on 19 November 1931 in Bílovice nad Svitavou would have lived to be 90 years old today. The leading Czech theatrologist, theatre historian, theorist and critic, playwright and legendary educator of the Brno Academy of Music and Performing Arts died in May eight years ago in Brno. It was a huge loss for the Czech theatre scene at that time. Bořivoj Srba was a great personality who has significantly shaped and, through his legacy, continues to shape both the artistic form of Czech theatre and the way we think about it.
Professor Srba significantly contributed to the development and excellent professional level of the Janáček Academy of Music and Performing Arts, from where he was, rather paradoxically, uncompromisingly dismissed in 1971 during the sneaky normalisation process for not having joined the Communist Party. And remember that this university of fine arts was his lifelong destiny. In his youth, he attended a Realschule grammar school in Brno (1945–1951) and a school for music teachers at the Philharmonic Society – Beseda Brněnská (1948–1952). He also privately studied music composition and conducting with Rudolf Wünsch and Zdeněk Kaňák. As a boy, he wanted to become a conductor and musician.
Between 1951 and 1955, Bořivoj Srba studied at the Department of Dramaturgy and Theatre Studies at JAMU in Brno. He wrote his diploma and later his doctoral thesis on the topic of the Czech Theatre in the Josef Kajetán Tyl Theatre in Prague in the Lesser Town of Prague (PhDr. 1967). In the years 1954–1959 he was employed as a dramaturge of the Regional Theatre in Brno (Mrštík Brothers Theatre, Brno Municipal Theatre); in 1959–1967, he was the main playwright of the State Theatre in Brno. In the years 1958–1971 he taught at JAMU and in 1961–1971 also at the Faculty of Arts of Jan Evangelista Purkyně University in Ústí nad Labem. From 1963 he was also employed in the Cabinet for the Study of the Czech Theatre at the Institute of Czech Literature in Prague. In the period from 1965 to 1978, he was administratively kept as an employee of the Brno branch, from where he was fired at the urging of regional authorities for his civic attitudes in 1968–1969. He was later re-hired by the Prague Cabinet. In 1990 he received a CSc. degree (through his thesis Poetic Theatre of E. F. Burian) and was appointed associate professor for theory and history of theatre and literature at the Faculty of Arts, Masaryk University (he headed their Department of Theatre and Film Studies until 2000) and associate professor for dramaturgy and authorship at the JAMU dramaturgy Studio D. In 1991, he habilitated his older works at both faculties and was appointed professor. In 1992, he received a DrSc. degree (for a set of works with the joint title “E. F. Burian and his poetic theatre programme).
Bořivoj Srba lectured and researched at the Faculty of Theatre JAMU until his very last days. His influence on the development of Czech theatre and theatre science since the middle of the 20th century has been truly considerable. One can easily see this in the number of excellent scientific publications at JAMU, such as the monumental monograph dealing with the issue of Czech stage design entitled V zahradách Thespidových (In the Gardens of Thespides) or the extensive volume called Vykročila husa a vzala člověka na procházku: Pojď! (A goose stepped forward and took a man for a walk: Let’s go!). On its more than 650 pages, the book summarises paper and pictorial documents, as well as memories.
The professional career of the winner of the Brno City Prize, a city with which he connected his entire life, is admired by theatre actors and theorists alike. The list of Srba’s theoretical works includes more than one hundred and thirty items and the thematic scope of his scientific activities comprised of research into Czech theatre from the 18th century to the present, with an emphasis on the Czech avant-garde, especially the work of E. F. Burian. Srba wrote major book monographs on his work, such as Poetické divadlo E.F. Buriana (Poetic Theatre of E.F. Burian – 1971), the distribution of which was disallowed in the following years, Inscenační tvorba E. F. Buriana (The Staging Work of E.F. Burian 1939-41 – 1980), or the print of Řečí světla (In the Language of Light – 2004). In the last decade of his career, Bořivoj Srba published fundamentally extensive book theatrical monographs summarising the results of his lifelong scientific research. These are mainly the following books: Múzy v exilu (Muse in Exile – cultural and artistic activities of Czechoslovak exiles in London on the eve and during the Second World War 1939-1945 – 2003); the already mentioned Řečí světla (In the Language of Light – the principle of light theatre in the production of Emil František Burian – 2004); Více než hry (More Than Plays – Dramatic works by Ludvík Kundera – 2006); V zahradách Thespidových (In the Gardens of Thespides – on the developmental issues of Czech stage design in the 19th century – 2009), Vykročila husa a vzala člověka na procházku: Pojď! ( A goose stepped forward and took a man for a walk: Let’s go! – foundation and first five years of artistic creation of Mahen’s non-theatre Goose on a String – 2010). Each of these books, some up to a thousand pages long, deserves a separate great deal of attention.
Srba’s most significant dramaturgical achievement was the staging of the Passion of Jesus play entitled Komedie o umučení a slavném vzkříšení Pána a Spasitele našeho Ježíše Krista (Comedy of the Passion and the Glorious Resurrection of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ – 1965), directed by Evžen Sokolovský, a production that became one of the most important works of Czech theatre in the 1960s. In 1968, together with his students of direction at JAMU Peter Scherhaufer, Eva Tálská and Zdeněk Pospíšil, he established the Goose on a String Theatre, laid down its programme principles and principles of irregular dramaturgy, which still determine the direction of this quite important studio theatre that earned its reputation and recognition throughout Europe. Bořivoj Srba was also the first artistic director of this ensemble, but as the normalisation advanced, he handed over the management to his younger colleagues and retreated into the shadows so that his person – a target of the normalisation regime – would not jeopardise this theatre and its development. “Nobody taught me more about theatre than Mr Srba,” said one of the most famous faces of contemporary Czech theatre, JAMU graduate and actor Miroslav Donutil. Looking at his professional scope, Bořivoj Srba could be described without exaggeration described as one of the last polymaths. To this day, the Janáček Academy of Music and Performing Arts considers it an honour to have had this great man and an excellent expert in its ranks.
Mgr. Luboš Mareček, Ph.D.