Puppet Theatre Profiles – Marek Zákostelecký, Drak Theatre

The exhibition presents the work of the theatre set designer, director and artist Marek Zákostelecký, who has been associated with the Drak Theatre in Hradec Králové since 1994, and served as the head of the set there from 1999-2013. It features puppets from several of his productions: About Smolíček (1997), Václav, Nicknamed Bajaja (2000), How Dull Honza Went to the World (2003), and The Cannoneer or the Battle for Hradec Králové (2011). Special attention is paid to the project The Wonderful Circus of Dr. Tarzan (2014), where Marek Zákostelecký was not only the set designer, but also co-author and director. The exhibition is complemented by posters and photographs from other Zákostelecký's "Drak" productions.

The new exhibition builds on the existing exhibition at the Museum of Czech Puppets and Circus in Prachatice, which presents three important chapters of puppet theatre in our territory: puppeteers who wandered through villages and towns from the end of the 18th century, the phenomenon of family puppet theatre and remarkable amateur art scenes from the first half of the 20th century. The exhibition concludes with the creation of the Central Puppet Theatre in 1949. This was the beginning of another glorious era of Czech puppet theatre, with professional theatres such as the Drak Theatre gradually emerging from the 1950s onwards.