{"id":5563,"date":"2026-06-10T21:30:59","date_gmt":"2026-06-10T19:30:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.talentdrama.cz\/?page_id=5563"},"modified":"2026-06-10T21:30:59","modified_gmt":"2026-06-10T19:30:59","slug":"ivan-vyskocil","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.talentdrama.cz\/en\/ivan-vyskocil\/","title":{"rendered":"Ivan Vysko\u010dil"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

He studied acting and directing (1948\u20131952) at the Drama Conservatory, which in 1949 became the Theatre Faculty of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague (DAMU). His teachers included Karel H\u00f6ger, Otomar Krej\u010da, Ji\u0159\u00ed Frejka, Ji\u0159\u00ed Plach\u00fd, Bo\u017eena P\u016flp\u00e1nov\u00e1, Ladislav Pe\u0161ek, and Radovan Lukavsk\u00fd.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From 1952 to 1957, he studied psychology and pedagogy with philosophy at the Faculty of Arts, Charles University, where he was taught by the renowned Czech philosopher Jan Pato\u010dka. He worked as an external educator in psychiatric and correctional institutions. He was interested in rehabilitation based on trust, contact, and relationships.\n\nIn order to gain a deeper understanding, he spent one month incognito as an inmate in a boys\u2019 correctional facility in Opatovice. He later collaborated with Dr. Hugo \u0160irok\u00fd, and at the Ledce\u2013\u0160ternberk institution they were among the first in the country to experiment with socio-drama and psychodrama.\n\nIn the field of psychology and psychiatry, he continued to collaborate on occasional projects until the late 1960s, not only with Hugo \u0160irok\u00fd, but also with Eva Sy\u0159i\u0161\u0165ov\u00e1, Ferdinand Knobloch, and Eugen Wolf.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From 1957 to 1959, he became the first teacher of psychology at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague (AMU). During this period, together with Ji\u0159\u00ed Such\u00fd, he created the so-called \u2018text-appels\u2019 \u2013 public performances of original texts and music at Reduta in Prague.\n\nAlongside Ji\u0159\u00ed Such\u00fd, Helena Philippov\u00e1, and Vladim\u00edr Vodi\u010dka, he co-founded the Theatre on the Balustrade (Divadlo Na z\u00e1bradl\u00ed), where he served as head of the drama ensemble and was active as an actor, playwright, and director. He co-authored five original premieres (with Ji\u0159\u00ed Such\u00fd: If a Thousand Clarinets, Faust, Mark\u00e9ta, Servant and Me; with Milo\u0161 Macourek: Trochu; with Pavel Kopta: Sad Christmas; with V\u00e1clav Havel: Autostop).\n\nAfter leaving the Theatre on the Balustrade, he returned to Reduta, became the artistic director of Salon Reduta, and founded the theatre group Nedivadlo there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the 1960s, Vysko\u010dil\u2019s texts began to be published, both in journals and in book form. He was also successful as a writer of radio plays and as a presenter of radio programmes. In 1968, he took part in an international congress of psychologists, where he met Roy Hart, with whom he led a workshop in \u2018baby talk\u2019. With the onset of the period of normalization, he was forced to leave Reduta and was no longer allowed to publish. Together with Nedivadlo, he toured various locations across the Czech Republic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From 1971, he began teaching at the L\u0160U \u2013 a specialised programme offering courses for working people in Josefsk\u00e1 Street in Prague. It was here that his concept of studying psychosomatic disciplines and authorial acting as a form of personality education gradually emerged.\n\nOver the years, he gathered a team of collaborators around him, and with its core members (V\u00edt\u011bzslava Fryntov\u00e1, Libu\u0161e V\u00e1lkov\u00e1, Hana Smr\u010dkov\u00e1) he moved to the Theatre Faculty of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague (DAMU) after 1989. Nedivadlo gradually developed as an alternative theatre scene, characterised by a distinctive narrative poetics and an exploration of improvisation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the 1980s, Vysko\u010dil made occasional appearances in film. After 1989, he fully returned to public life. He published his work, took part in radio discussions, and television produced stage adaptations based on his stories. Several television and film portraits were also made about him, including GEN, Master Vysko\u010dil, Theatre Guru \u2013 Prof. Ivan Vysko\u010dil, and Landscape of Fate.\n\nDuring this period, he devoted most of his activities to the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague (DAMU), particularly to the research of Dialogical Acting with the Inner Partner. He initially served as head of the Department of Dramatic Acting, and in 1994 he founded a new independent department, which he named the Department of Authorial Theatre and Pedagogy, later renamed the Department of Authorial Creation and Pedagogy, which he led until 2003.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1992, he was appointed Professor of Acting and Authorial Creation. He also received several honours, including the Next Wave Festival award Living Treasure (2003), an honorary doctorate from the Jan\u00e1\u010dek Academy of Music and Performing Arts in Brno (2005), and the Gold Medal of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague (2009). Ivan Vysko\u010dil was a practising Catholic and lived in Prague throughout his life. He died on 28 April 2023, the day after his 94th birthday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What did Vysko\u010dil tell his students?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n