1991 Professional sphere – Josef Krofta
Born March 30, 1943 in Uherské Hradiště. In 1968 he started in the Little Theatre of České Budějovice and since 1971 is working as director of the Drak puppet theatre in Hradec Kralové. The most famous titles he directed here include Eulenspiegel, Sleeping Beauty, Petroushka, Unikum – For the Last Time Today, The Song of Life, Midsummer’s Dream, the Bartered Bride or Pinocchio. He now returned to the story of the wooden figure with the big nose in a circus musical, which he directed together with his son in the circus tent of the Berousek Circus. He also teaches in the Institut Inernational de la Marionnete in Charleville-Mezieres and since 1990 he heads the department of alternative and puppet theatre of the Faculty of Drama of the Academy of Music. Seven years ago he founded the International Institute of Figurative Theatre in Hradec Kralové. He directs and lectures in many European countries, in the United States, Mexico, Australia and Japan. He introduced Czech puppetry at the series of workshops entitled Meeting with Masters being held by the Guggenheim Foundation in New York.
Josef Krofta has the eyes of a wild beast, the heart of a child, the dogged forehead of a ram, the smile of a kind father. His life is like th frantic run of a racehorse around the race track. He loves obstacles as well as deep ploughed ground. He loves grounds which frighten others. He often rushes somewhere he cannot even see. But always with the vision of a dream in mind. Furthermore he can also have the character of a draught horse. Patient and tough – when he decides to extricate the trapped cart from a muddy road, and to bring it wherever he himself determines. Born under the fiery sign, he himself is the bearer of fire. He ignites and burns as well. Himself as well as his environment. It is easy to be ignited by him, but it is difficult to continue burning without him. A marathon runner, who ignites the flame of the Olympic Games, with the mission to hand over the legacy of the past to the hopes of the future. With the profound belief in the values of such a legacy and at the same time with the desire to make the heard word an impulse for something yet to be born. (L. Bělohradská and A. Vášová: Introduction to the article “Josef Krofta and VALD”)
Josef is a good director because he is a most demanding spectator, who cannot stand to be bored for even a second. And that’s how he does it himself.
Jiří Vyšohlíd