Vladimír Kulhavý
I was born in 1944 in Pardubice and, until the moment of my emigration, I used to live with my parents and two brothers in Sezemice. That little town was significant for my later life. There was an amateur theatre ensemble with many talented, experienced and organizationally capable people, so they were among the best in the country and regularly participated in festivals such as Jiráskův Hronov or Šrámkův Písek. This joyful existence led me to the desire to live in the theater world, so at the age of sixteen, during my high school studies, I became a member of the Pardubice Small Forms Theater. Because there was great interest in similar ensembles everywhere, I traveled with it to many cities, as the school principal willingly released me after our appearance on Czechoslovak television. After graduating from high school, at the age of seventeen, I began my professional career as an actor-student in a theater in Český Těšín, where the head actor and director Zdeněk Bittl (originally from the Pardubice theater) heard about me and offered me a job. Of course, I was too young and inexperienced for such a challenge. Fortunately, in 1963, I got to study acting at the Janáček Academy of Performing Arts in Brno, which I graduated from four years later. That was the happiest period of my life. After graduating, I joined the Municipal Theater in Příbram, where I stayed for a year before starting my one-year compulsory military service on August 1, 1968, which I served almost entirely at the Prague-Kbely military airport.
I was convinced that I would be able to return within two years at the latest
Three weeks after my discharge from the army a year later, I left for Milan. On my first Italian evening, I saw footage from Czechoslovakia on television, when demonstrators were being beaten by the police at many places. This led me to the decision not to return immediately, even though the new theatre season was starting in ten days. I was convinced that I would be able to return within two years at the latest; I did not want to emigrate definitely, but rather to get to know the world a little. During the next few months of my stay in Italy, I collaborated with the theatre in Bergamo. Twice a week, I was able to attend two-hour acting rehearsals with Dario Fo, a famous actor and mime, so I must also evaluate my Italian period as a happy period. However, I had to look elsewhere, as Italy was not very interested in immigrants. When the American consulate told me that I had to count on being drafted into the American army and thus into the Vietnam War, which was unthinkable for me, I tried to apply for a visa to Canada. And I am glad that I succeeded.
In February 1970, I found myself in Halifax, Canada, where I had arrived after a twelve-day voyage from Naples on a huge cargo ship. I came across a sympathetic immigration officer who immediately put me in touch with a local Czech stage designer. Thanks so him, I met Czech director Tomáš Gregor in Toronto, who worked for the Canadian television CBC and even gave me two roles in a program about immigrants. This was my first overseas job opportunity and for a while also the last one, as the possibilities of starting work in the Canadian professional theatre were very limited. Nevertheless, a week after my arrival, I stood on stage at the premiere of the legendary play Lantern by Alois Jirásek in a Czech amateur troupe called the New Theatre (Nové Divadlo), directed by Adolf Toman, who had graduated in acting from Prague in 1967.
I also got to know Dušan Tóth, a graduate of the Bratislava Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts from the same year, who later studied theology in Canada and became a preacher in the Slovak Lutheran church. In addition, in the 1980s he held the position of Secretary General of the World Congress of Slovaks and, after the Velvet Revolution, worked for some time as an advisor to President Václav Havel. Because a number of talented volunteers arrived with the wave of post-August emigration (the Čulíks, Bohouš Máca, Markéta Příbramská, Tomáš Mašek, Zdena Novotná, Maruška Klečková and many others), the New Theatre began to present three to five premieres per season, and could afford to hire even the largest theatre hall in Toronto for several performances. It had one thousand five hundred subscribers and played an important cultural and social role in the lives of Czech compatriots in the city (it is estimated the community there had around 10,000). In 1975, the acting legend Jiří Voskovec also visited us. In the play “Forty Villains and One Innocent” directed by Adolf Toman, he brilliantly portrayed the role of an officer. I played his opponent as a priest and had the opportunity to spend several hours with him every day for three weeks of rehearsals and the following week of four performances.
I love Canada, I spend some time at my cottage on the lake every year, and I maintain my Canadian citizenship
When people are united by a shared interest, and there is at least one experienced person among them, sometimes an atmosphere is created between them that their joint activity is joyful and fruitful and becomes an important and integral part of their lives. This happened in Toronto at the New Theatre. Originally, it was a typical amateur club, where, in addition to passionate people, the majority of members were those who were persuaded to appear in a theatrical performance once a year. This changed after August 1968, when several professionals, experienced and successful volunteers, and especially more young people, joined the theatre and felt extremely comfortable in this environment. And so, over the years, the ensemble was created and developed its level of performances to a quasi-professional level. Our plays (Dürrenmatt’s The Visit of the Old Lady, Anouilh’s Antigone, Strauss’s The Bat, etc.) brought thousands of spectators to the auditorium. Those were happy years!
From Toronto, I moved to the west coast of Canada, to Vancouver. There was also an amateur expatriate theater which usually presented one performance a year. It presented, for example, Kundera’s Jakub and His Master, Kisch’s Tonka The Gallows, Havel’s The Beggar’s Opera, and The Audience. The collapse of the Communist regime in November 1989 also found me in Vancouver, but by the beginning of January 1990, I was already in Prague to soak up the echoes of the euphoria of the Velvet Revolution and to hand over a check for 2,500 dollars to the Civic Forum movement. I finally returned from emigration with my family at the end of the summer of 1990. I got a job at the Pardubice Theatre and later at Otomar Krejča’s Theatre Beyond the Gate II. However, it ceased its activities due to disagreements between Krejča and the Prague municipality in 1995. At that time, I founded my own travel agency and focused on foreign visitors to Prague. The earnings were truly extraordinary. I also worked as an actor in domestic and foreign movies (A Knight´s Tale, Casino Royale, Illusionist), and I was also blessed with roles in multiple TV series. I still work in this profession, although only occasionally, the role offers in my age category are limited. I love Canada, I spend some time at my cottage on the lake every year, and I maintain my Canadian citizenship. However, I want to stay for the rest of my life in the Czech Republic…
