This year’s Ostrava part of the Summer Shakespeare Festival at Silesian Castle opens with the performance How you like it with Lucía Štěpánková. It will be played from July 16 to 18, and her actor colleague and member of the popular “Three Tigers” Vladimír Polák talked to the actress.
Lucie Štěpánková and Markéta Děrgelová. | Photo: Pavel Hejný, Schok Agency
In terms of the cast, the Summer Shakespeare Festival project often features students from Ostrava’s Janáček Conservatory in the main roles. How do you remember your studies?
Ostrava is close to my heart because I was very happy there. It was the period when I, as a girl from a small town, got into the big world and tasted the first feeling of freedom, where I started to like the theater, so I will never forget it and feel a certain nostalgia. The major field of acting was taught by Mrs. Alexandra Gasnárková, for whom I have deep respect, because she gave me the foundation to love theater.
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Why is it that Mrs. Gasnárková, as a teacher, was able to arouse a fascination with theater in her students?
I enjoyed her for teaching us to perceive certain boundaries, for us to try even what is wrong, for us not to follow a well-trodden path, but actually she led us to “try it out”, which is the most important thing. She required us to go to the theaters and taught us to talk about the productions and thereby perceive the theater. Which I still perceive to be fundamentally correct.
Lucie Štěpánková was born in 1981 in Vsetín. She graduated from the Janáček Conservatory in Ostrava, while still studying at the conservatory, she was a guest at the Ostrava Theater Company of Petr Bezruč in the production The House of Doni Bernarda and at the Moravian-Silesian National Theater in the Royal Games. From 2001 to 2007, she worked at the East Bohemian Theater in Pardubice, from 2007 she was a member of the Vinohrady Theater in Prague.
Two years later, she won the Thálie Award in the Actors under 33 category. He plays in the V Řeznické theater, in the Ungelt theater, Studio DVA, Kalich, Mana.
Did you already touch Shakespeare at the conservatory?
For part of one grade, we did an excerpt from A Midsummer Night’s Dream, where I played Puck. It is definitely part of acting education to touch Shakespeare at school. Then in my first engagement in Pardubice I played Jesika in The Merchant of Venice (directed by Michael Tarant, premiere 2002), Juliet in Romeo and Juliet (directed by Petr Novotný, premiere 2004) and in the Summer Shakespeare Project I played Bianca in The Taming of the Shrew (directed by Daniel Špinar , premiere 2011). I have to say that I like Shakespeare and I believe he must have been a genius. It does not translate to the actor exactly what the character should be like on a plate, but gives the opportunity to search for an interpretation of the character for both the director and the actor. There are a lot of possibilities, and that’s what I enjoy about it. That search process.
The Shakespeare Festival project brings together actors from different theaters with different experiences. How difficult is it to find harmony, in musical terms to find the same key? Is it just in the hands of the director?
I think it’s a compilation of everything. So necessarily under the direction of the director. And combining it is not easy. Actors can learn from each other. That’s what makes the mutual meetings of the Shakespeare project nice and rewarding.
You left the Na Vinohrady theater, you are a so-called freelancer and perform in chamber scenes. And suddenly in a Shakespeare project in a large open-air space?
Just last fall, I lamented that although I play beautiful roles in various small theaters, I have nothing to complain about, but I would like to play some classics. And “take off those shoes”, suddenly the phone rang and this offer came. It is a kind of return to classical theatre. I missed it a bit, after all, it’s something different than standing on stage as two people. I love this too, it has its charm, but I’m glad I can spice it up like this.
Lucie Štěpánková and Václav Matějovský. Source: Agency SCHOK/Pavel Mára
She also played the minor role of Bianca, although there are no small roles in Shakespeare. But the role of Rosalind, that’s a log. How do you prepare for the number of reps?
Rehearsing was difficult, especially in the evening and at night. They didn’t let us into the castle before. It was composed differently as the actors could and we also fought fatigue. I’m actually surprised myself. I’ve only done ten shows and I’m still enjoying it. I was worried about how I would get through the days knowing that I was the main character every night, but it doesn’t bother me at all. On the contrary, I always look forward to the evening. When I can discover new and new things in my role.
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The role of Rosalind is also complicated in that part of the play is disguised as a man. How did you prepare for it? Did you, for example, wear shorts, watch your colleagues, watch men’s movements?
There are two paths to such a role. At first, the actress tries such masculine gestures, but director Jakub Nvota didn’t want me to. We went about it the other way, the so-called from the inside, as they say through inner experience. I needed to be aware of the thoughts of when Rosalinda thinks like a woman, when like a man, and when it gets out of hand. I had to catch just these thought processes. External negotiations then broke out somehow by themselves. But I really started to observe men somehow more. Mainly their actions. How are such observers, how one thinks he is better than the other. And their reasoning… Or how they show themselves to be those roosters.
How was it for you to rehearse with the actor Václav Matějovský, who is a little younger?
He is much younger (laughs).
Could you imagine that a woman of your beautiful age would fall in love with such a young boy?
At first it was not easy for me to accept. Then I realized that Rosalinda was raising this Orlando with love. A certain overview and greater experience is therefore in order.
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The truth is that it follows directly from the text how Orlando is tested by Rosalinda in disguise about what it means to love…
At one performance, I had acquaintances in the audience, and I wondered if they would find the age difference ridiculous. They said it was fine.
What’s next for you besides theater? Where can viewers see you?
I’m part of the Golden Swan, where we’re currently on a holiday break from filming. I would also like to invite the audience to the biggest role I have ever filmed. It’s a three-part miniseries on the Mathematics of Crime, which will be on VOYO from July 28. Directed by Petr Bebjak, it is about how court opinions are treated and it is not always clear-cut. I’m glad that such a topic was covered at all.
*The summer Shakespearean festivities in Ostrava start this year on Sunday, July 16. They will offer a total of six titles – more here: The Shakespearean festivities in Ostrava start this weekend, and they will also offer two premieres.
2023-07-16 08:55:21
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