Already in the spring, for his 75th birthday, Bolek Polívka gave himself a game. The theater creator’s so-called biopic “The Saga or the Vizovsky Miracle” is presented in the theater that bears his name. Polívka celebrates half-rounds on July 31. For the next season, he is preparing other author’s works – for example, a play about Jiří Pech. He met the editor Tomáš Maleček shortly before he performed Shakespeare’s The Merry Wives of Windsor with his colleagues.
Brno
12:48 July 31, 2024 Share on Facebook
Share on LinkedIn
Copy the url address
Abbreviated address Copy to clipboard
Bolek Polívka is still active, but according to himself, he also finds time for himself (archive photo) | Photo: René Volfík | Source: iROZHLAS.cz
How does the connection between Shakespeare and Bolek Polívka work? According to the actor, surprisingly well. “Not only do I play Fallstaff, but I’ve played King Lear or even Shylock in The Merchant of Venice. Those are three beautiful roles and I’m glad I got to meet them, it’s enlightening,” he says.
‘Two Shores’
He has been playing the Merry Wives of Windsor for fifteen years, he originally rehearsed them with the late director Jiří Menzel, who also designed the unique form of the scene made up of sheets and linen. Polívka fondly remembers working with him.
1:31
The Summer Shakespeare Festival begins. He will be the first to present the comedy Futile Love Effort
Read the article
“The director and the actor are like two shores. The closer they are to each other, the sharper the flow,” he describes the collaboration with Menzel by quoting another director, Zdenek Kaloč.
‘The scribble has faded a bit’
How does the actor, who in the song that always ended his TV show Manéž Bolka Polívky, described himself as a “scribbled clown”, feel on his life anniversary? “The scribble has faded a bit. When a person is young, he tends to exaggerate and make jokes, with age he understands the psychology of the characters better,” he admits.
As an example, he cites the 1965 play Strange Afternoon by Dr. Zvonk Burke, dramatist Ladislav Smoček, where he plays the title character. He tried the role for the first time at the age of twenty-two, when he was a fresh graduate of the conservatory. While in his youth he acted more energetically and fiddled with props on stage, now, according to his own words, he has a better understanding of the thinking of the aging character.
The drama club has been presenting the play since 1990. According to Polívka himself, he performs it most often, but now he is also awaiting a premiere – the play Saga or Vizovský žráčul, which he wrote himself, has autobiographical elements.
“It’s a kind of grotesque-nostalgic memory. There are real facts from Vizovice and from my volunteer beginnings,” he says about her. And why the word miracle? According to Polívka, this is a reference to the work of the same name by Slovak director Dodo Gombár.
Seven active decades
“Mothers, as is well known, consider children to be a kind of miracle,” further explains the origin of the name of the game, Polívka, recalling her youth. He showed his acting inclinations at a very young age, and it is said that he put on his clown nose for the first time when he was about four years old.
33:30
They have thousands of puppets in their collection. ‘It started with an inheritance, then a search in the bins,’ Jirásk laughs
Read the article
But he hasn’t lost his love for the craft even after seven decades, although he plays less than before. “I’ll play maybe two or three shows, but then I have three days off, so I have enough time for myself and enough time to write something at the same time.”
He has a new show planned for the next theater season, but he does not want to reveal the details yet. He only mentioned that he was devoted to Jiří Pech aka Peca, a legendary theater actor with whom Polívka often collaborated.
The cast of the game has not been thought of yet. However, he is considering a variant in which he would play himself, but also the ghost of his fellow actor, who died in 2019.
Share on Facebook
Share on LinkedIn
Copy the url address
Abbreviated address Copy to clipboard
