Father and son back onstage

Spejbl and Hurvínek, the famous Czech father and son duo, are back in the spotlight at a newly renovated theater after nearly two years of vacation from their home stage in Prague 6.

Did we mention that they are puppets?

The Spejbl and Hurvínek Theater reopened April 1 after a two-year, 130 million Kč ($6.9 million) complete reconstruction, which included raising the stage to make it more visible for children, adding wheelchair accessibility and introducing a puppet museum. The theater and its famous family are back for a new season of performances, and, by a "stroke of good luck," the company has a convergence of anniversaries to celebrate this year, says theater spokeswoman Denisa Kirschnerová.

"2010 is our 65th year in Prague, our 15th year at this theater in Prague 6 and the 80th anniversary of the founding of the original puppet theater in Plzeň," she said. "So we have many events to celebrate. It's very symbolic and purely by chance that all of this is happening now."

The Spejbl and Hurvínek Theater is named after the two main characters in the theater's repertoire. The other resident puppets are Žeryk, the family dog, Mánička, a family friend, and her grandmother, Mrs. Kateřina. The marionettes, especially Spejbl with his bald head and big black eyes, are instantly recognizable to anyone who has strolled past the countless puppet shops in the center of Prague. But, according to Kirschnerová, the puppets' now classic appearance belies the innovation of their original design.

In the 1920s and '30s, Spejbl and Hurvínek were unlike any puppets audiences had seen before, Kirschnerová said.

"Josef Skupa, the spiritual father and original voice of these puppets, was very much inspired by Dadaism and wanted to create a modern kind of puppet. He had a carpenter create Spejbl in 1920 for his amateur theater in Plzeň, and the character was immediately very popular. But there was a problem because Skupa found it inappropriate to pair such a modern puppet with classic ones. The same carpenter then created Hurvínek, Spejbl's son, in 1926, and they have been inseparable ever since," she said.

Foreigners might find it difficult to keep all the puppets' names straight, but Spejbl, Hurvínek, their family and their friends are a staple for Czech children and adults alike. The theater performs traditional puppet shows for children and more satirical comedy shows for adults.

Word clowns

"The stories reflect people's lives and the general situation in the Czech Republic, and there's always a bit of humanist absurdity in the performances," Kirschnerová said.

The majority of the theater's performances are in Czech and intended for Czech audiences, but Kirshnerová said the theater is capable of performing in more than 20 languages and holds occasional international-oriented performances.

"The puppets are word clowns, so it's important for the audience to understand what they are saying," she said. "The theater has traveled to 30 countries and always performs in the native language of the country, so non-Czech performances are possible to prepare," she said.

Spejbl's family adventures will doubtless remind Americans of another comedic family, the Simpsons. Spejbl and Hurvínek are much older than Homer and Bart, of course, but the connection is apt. Helena Štáchová, the voice of Mánička and Mrs. Kateřina, as well as the director of the theater, also plays the voice of Lisa Simpson in the Czech-language version of the American cartoon.

"To be honest, it is really difficult to describe how I do it, but I think it is not too different from my own voice," Štáchová said. "It's the kind of voice that could be considered a falsetto."

Over the years, the puppets have teamed up with famous singers like Waldemar Matuška and Karel Gott to record comedic and musical CDs. Three generations of actors and actresses have lent their voices for performances, with each person giving voice to two puppets. Kirschnerová said such collaboration is all part of the theater's history.

"The puppets have had three different sets of parents over the years," she said. "They can live forever, of course, but we unfortunately cannot."

Stephan Delbos can be reached at
sdelbos@praguepost.com