This year, exactly ten years have passed since the opening of the extension of the Puppet Theatre building in Ostrava, which houses its alternative stage. The extension has the shape of an elongated cube or, as its creators say, the shape of a tower near a basilica. It is on the tower that a gallery of six fairy-tale characters, carved according to the design of Tomáš Volkmer, opens every day. The name of Tomáš Volkmer and, in the past, of his father Jiří as well, are inseparably linked to the Puppet Theatre.
The Puppet Theatre — my destiny; that is a short way of saying how much you are connected to the Puppet Theatre. How does it happen that an artist and puppeteer by birth finds himself in the role of an architect who co- reates the look of a theatre building?
In the original design of the theatre building, there were supposed to be puppets on the facade. The theatre was initially supposed to be bigger, and the layout was a bit different. The design was abandoned, and eventually, the present building — where I designed the figures for the facade — was constructed. However, the astronomical clock was only realised when, thanks to European subsidies, it was possible to finance the construction of the extension. I was approached back then to actually continue the work that had been started. There are five figures on the building. There is a male and female element in the form of a king and queen, good and evil represented by a devil and an angel, and a jester as the equivalent of a figure who turns things upside down. He therefore has his face at the bottom instead of at the top, as is the case with the other characters. In designing the astronomical clock, I based it on the statues placed around the main building of the Puppet Theatre. However, I had to find a sixth character to join the King, the Queen, the Devil, the Angel and the mocking Jester — and I chose the Grim Reaper as a counterpoint to the latter character. It is a kind of eternal struggle between those two fi gures. Neither of them is downright evil, and they are juggling on edge. Our little Jester is more of a clown. That traditional figure, which is close to children, is the personification of the tradition of humour and objective insight.
How has the alternative scene’s audience changed in the ten years that it has been around? How much does such a specific place as Ostrava affect the puppeteer’s work?
Over the last ten years, we have learned to use space more. It has been a process for us in the theatre. It is a more intimate, alternative space. Several productions have moved from the big auditorium to the alternative scene and have benefitted from it. But in puppet theatre in general, there has been a huge shift from illusory theatre to open acting. We are playing with that approach ourselves, and there are now shows being explicitly created for the alternative stage. The traditional stage would not allow us to put on such performances. It should be said that Ostrava has a completely unique audience. Ostrava is a large agglomeration. The theatre was always full. But a lot has changed in the last two years. Now it turns out that things are not what they used to be. But the child audience has not changed that much in its needs. For children, personal contact is extremely necessary. And we are looking for new ways to reach the audience. The epidemic is teaching us a whole new way of communicating with the audience. It now appears that theatre for preschool and early school-age children should be more intimate. Theatre is where a living person meets life, or it should try to be. It is the alternative stage that has allowed us to realise such encounters in recent months.
Thank you for the interview.
