Emanuel Bozděch

21 July 1841, Prague – after 10 February 1889

After graduation from grammar school, in 1860 Emanuel Bozděch began studying law in Prague and later transferred to philosophy. He regularly contributed theatre criticism to Czech and German newspapers from 1868. From 1869 to 1876, Bozděch was the dramaturg of the Provisional Theatre, but in reality only until 1974. In 1881, like many writers such as Jan Neruda, refused the position of the dramaturg of the National Theatre. He mysteriously disappeared on 10 February 1889 and his body was never found. A year later he was officially declared dead.

As a dramaturg, he was influenced by French plays, which represented an approach different from the often heavy and deep Czech and German productions. He based his own works on the tradition of French conversational comedy. He could write perfect dialogues and situations relating to apparently accidental events and their consequences. His theatrical debut was the play From the Age of Cotillion (Z doby kotillonů, 1867), which introduced the genre of conversational comedy into Czech repertoire. In his works, Bozděch expressed scepticism towards the majestic political and social concepts. His drama Baron Goertz (premiered in 1868) had a historic significance, dealing with the Austro-Hungarian dualism, while Adventurers (Dobrodruzi, performed as late as 1888 in Vienna by an amateur ensemble) had references to the contemporary situation, although the play was set in the era of Emperor Rudolf. His history plays were especially popular with the audience and he even won a prize in Náprstek’s competition. At the same time, however, he was criticised for relying on Eugène Scribe and even directly accused of plagiarism, especially by the director of the Provisional Theatre Josef Jiří Kolář. After that he stopped publishing plays. Urged by his friends, however, he published the plays Adventurers and State Exam (Zkouška státníkova) in 1872.