Jiří Frejka

Jiří Frejka

Jiří Frejka (born April 6, 1904 in Outěchovice , Austria-Hungary , † October 27, 1952 in Prague ) was a Czech director and theater theorist, a representative of poetism .

Life

Frejka grew up in the Outěchovice hunting lodge, which was hereditary property of his family. After graduating from high school, he studied philosophy , at the same time he began to be interested in the theater. In 1925 he was the founder of the Osvobozené divadlo (Liberated Theater) together with Emil František Burian . After disputes, he left it again in 1927 and founded the Da-Da theater with Jindřich Honzl .

From 1930 to 1945, also during the German occupation , he was a member of the Národní divadlo (National Theater), then until 1950 head of the Divadlo na Vinohradech theater . Here he was often criticized because the pieces shown there did not reflect the ideas of socialism as they did not involve any political commitment.

He was transferred to the Karlín Operetta Theater , which became one of the best theaters of its time thanks to his services.

Frejka was a professor at the Conservatory and was one of the leading co-founders of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague . There he was also appointed rector after the opening. He was released in 1952 for political reasons and committed suicide .

Works

In his literary works he describes his views on the theater and acting. However, most of these books did not contain the ideas that the socialist theater demanded at the time . Since he was not ready to change his mind, conflicts usually arose, which eventually led to his dismissal from government service.

Web links

• Literature by and about Jiří Frejka in the catalog of the German National Library