Josef Skupa

JOSEF SKUPA d1957. Czech puppeteer. In the years 1919-1926, he created his most famous puppets ; comical father Spejbl and his rascal son Hurvínek. In 1930 he set up the first modern professional puppet theatre. In 1933 he became the president of the International Puppetry Association. During the Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia, he performed satiric and allegorical puppet plays on hundreds of stages all over Czechoslovakia. After 1945, he moved his theatre to Prague. He was praised as an official "national artist" during the Communist regime but he was criticised for his lack of political engagement. Thereafter he focused on plays for children and mime with puppets for adults