Bořivoj Srba was a theatre historian and dramaturg, who directed the Institute for Theatre Research in the years 2002–2008 and was a member of the Institute until 2014. He deeply influenced Czech theatre culture mainly by being one of the founders of Mahenovo nedivadlo Husa na provázku in 1967, and through his comprehensive research of Czech theatre history. He focused mainly on exploring eighteenth and nineteenth century stage design, National Revival theatre of the period, avant-garde theatre between the world wars (principally on E. F. Burian), theatre under the German protectorate, and also on twentieth-century theatre in Brno.
His 1967 doctoral thesis discussed the theatre of Josef Kajetán Tyl (the so-called “kajetánské divadlo”) and its effect on the development of professional Czech theatre. A long chapter on theatre during the world-war era and the Protectorate, which was based on primary archival research, that he published in the academic Dějiny českého divadla (History of Czech Theatre, 1983) had a significant influence on their – not strictly scientific – perception. The chapter was written, along with other works, during the period that he spent at the Department for Czech Theatre Studies within the Institute of Czech Literature of the Czech Academy of Sciences in Prague (1963-1990). His analytical works focusing on the development of the post-1918 Czech dramatic art are distinguished by a structuralist approach to theatre; his inquiries concentrate primarily on the individual constituents of stage productions that shape their intended meaning.
In collaboration with Eugenie Dufková he edited the three-volume encyclopaedia Postavy brněnského jeviště (Figures of the Brno Stage, 1984–1994) surveying the theatrical activities in Brno. From the perspective of a theatre historian and theorist he provided a scholarly reflection of the work of his theatre co-workers, for instance the director Miloš Hynšt (Umění režie [Skill of Directing], 1996) and the dramatist and translator Ludvík Kundera (Více než hry [More than Plays], 2006).
He started to pursue dramaturgy in 1954. Initially he worked at Divadlo bratří Mrštíků in Brno; in 1959 he was hired by the Mahen’s drama ensemble of the Brno State Theatre, and from 1967 he continued in his role as a dramaturg in the newly-established Husa na provázku Theatre, where he held the post of an art director until 1972. Due to a political interference his subsequent theatre work was not official until 1989.
He was first employed at JAMU’s Faculty of Theatre in the years 1958-1970 as an external lecturer and later as an assistant professor. After an involuntary break he returned in 1990 as the head of the Studio of Dramaturgy – the so-called Studio D, of which he was in charge until 2008. He also shaped the doctoral study programme at DIFA JAMU by conducting doctoral seminars. In 1991 he was awarded the academic title of professor. Between the years 1993 and 2000 he was the head of the Department of Theatre and Film Studies at Masaryk University Faculty of Arts, where he had already worked as an assistant professor in the 1960s.
He was born in Bílovice nad Svitavou, in 1951-1955 he studied dramaturgy and theatre studies at the then JAMU in Brno. He received a number of accolades for his academic and educational work: these were awarded by national institutions (Národní cena), the Ministry of Education (Cena ministra školství), South Moravian regional authorities (Krajské uznání), Brno municipality (Cena města Brna), Masaryk University (Cena rektora Masarykovy univerzity), JAMU (Zlatá and Stříbrná medaile JAMU), the festival of independent and alternative theatre ...příští vlna / next wave... (Živoucí poklad), and a number of others.
List of Published Works:
http://www.slovnikceskeliteratury.cz/showContent.jsp?docId=973