Miroslav Macháček

Miroslav Macháček (May 8, 1922 – February 17, 1991) was a Czech theatre director and actor. Macháček was born in Nymburk. His father was a car painter and a custodian of (and sometimes actor and director in) the theater in Nymburk, where young Miroslav met many famous Czech actors who were guests of the theater. His father enrolled Miroslav in high school, but he was expelled after a few years and had to return to elementary school. After graduation, he went to a trade school where he learned to become a hammerman in the Aero factory. During his studies he took part in evening theater rehearsals in Prague, and met famous actors such as Jiří Sovák, Martin Růžek, and Václav Voska. He decided to enroll in a theatrical college. He passed the admission exam, but at that time, institutions of higher education in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia were being closing down. He entered the school after the war (Miloš Nedbal was his teacher) and graduated in 1948. At the time of his studies he was so poor that he had to sleep in the college building (Rudolfinum) but later he lived with his colleagues (e.g. Stanislav Remunda). After graduation, he worked in the Pardubice Theater. In 1950 he moved to Prague and started working for Realist Theater and DAMU (Theater Conservatory). A year later he was accused of revolting and having spy contacts and was fired from the theater as well as from the college. He had to write an obligatory public confession. As a consequence he suffered from depression, and even tried to commit suicide, but eventually left Prague for České Budějovice to work in the local theater. In 1956 (at the time of the 20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union) he returned to Prague, and in 1959 he started his career in the most prestigious theater in the country – the National Theater. He was a constituent member of the Činoherní klub (1965). In April 1969 he left the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. The secret police constantly harassed him and interrupted his professional work as a theater director and an actor. With others in the National Theater he successfully staged Shakespeare's Henry V; his success was remarkable because the audience rightfully understood this play was making fun of communists. He directed what the authorities claimed to be an anti-communist play/translation by Břetislav Hodek and was accused of disrespect for the Communist Party and the government of Czechoslovakia.