The Marionette Troupe of Prof. Josef Skupa

Professor Josef Skupa (1892-1957) was a Czech puppeteer, who in the early 1920s created his most famous puppets: comical father Spejbl and his rascal son Hurvinek, setting up in 1930 the first] modern professional puppet theatre. During the Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia, Skupa performed satiric and allegorical puppet plays on hundreds of stages all over Czechoslovakia, leading to the puppets imprisonment by the Nazis (in a filing cabinet!) for being generally too subversive. After 1945, Skupa continued to produce work for children and adults in Czechoslovakia and also performed abroad. In 1947, Dr Bedrich Belohlavek got together with Peter Ustinov and arranged for the Skupa troupe to visit the Arts Theatre for a kind of gala performance. The company then went on tour around the UK - here Josef and wife Irina are shown with the puppets on the pavement at Bath

Bedrich Czechoslovakian Featuring Filing Generally Hurvinek Imprisonment Irina Marionette Marionettes Organised Prof Puppeteer Puppets Skupa Skupas Subversive Suffered Troupe

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