Czech Culture Minister Martin Baxa today announced the name of the winner of the competition to succeed Jan Burian as Director General of the National Theatre. The Czech First Stage will be led from August 2028 by director and current director of the National Theatre Brno Martin Glaser.
"One of the features of a mature cultural society is predictability, which is essential for the responsible and successful management of large and important cultural institutions, which the National Theatre undoubtedly is. It is common in the world for selection procedures for similarly prestigious positions to take place well in advance to ensure the participation of the best and most qualified candidates. And this has been done in this case. In the person of Martin Glaser, the National Theatre will have a top-notch General Director," said the Minister of Culture Martin Baxa.
The selection process has been ongoing since September last year. The chairman of the selection committee, consisting of renowned experts and representatives of the Ministry of Culture, was a dramaturg, translator and pedagogue prof. Mgr. Jan Hančil. "The candidate convinced the members of the selection committee of his deep insight into the issues of the National Theatre and its unmistakable position on the theatre map of Prague, the Czech Republic and Europe. It was obvious that his extensive experience in managing a multidisciplinary theatre enabled him to be acutely aware of the opportunities and risks facing the National Theatre in the near future," said Jan Hančil, chairman of the commission, after the meeting. "The bidder identified the opening of the reconstructed New Stage and the need for a full rehearsal room, which would allow the theatre to increase revenue by more fully staffing the stages, as essential. The bidder also mentioned the need for close cooperation with the Ministry of Culture and the financial demands of the tasks that the ND will have to deal with. The specific and informed answers convinced the committee that the candidate was an exceptionally good candidate for the position of director of the National Theatre, and he received all the votes of the committee members present," he added.
Martin Glaser graduated in drama direction and dramaturgy at DAMU, founded the generational Theatre on the Threshold and during his studies accepted a position at the South Bohemian Theatre, where he worked as a tribal director and then as artistic director of the drama ensemble from 1998. For his staging of Schimmelpfennig's play The Arabian Night he won the Josef Balvín Award, and Zelenka's play The Purification was awarded the Alfréd Radok Foundation Prize for the best Czech play he directed. His comedies written for the revolving auditorium in Český Krumlov in collaboration with dramaturge Olga Šubrtová (The Three Musketeers, Henry VIII's Women or Poor King(em), Decameron, etc.) became audience hits. Since 2013 he has been the director of the three-ensemble National Theatre Brno, and he is also the director of two international festivals, Janáček Brno and Divadelní svět Brno. He will lead the National Theatre from the 2028/2029 theatre season.
"I accept this task with all the humility and responsibility that is due to it, and it will be a great pleasure for me to devote my time and energy to the National Theatre and all the people who work there," says Martin Glaser.
"Under my leadership, the National Theatre should move towards a modern public cultural institution that is efficiently organised and consistently financially managed. I will seek resources that will enable us to have adequately remunerated core staff and to develop broad international cooperation. The National Theatre must have the ambition to be a respected partner on the European cultural scene. Its operational and production facilities must be transformed to meet the demands of an emblematic cultural institution and the requirements of a 21st century theatre," he promises.
Martin Glaser is counting on one of his closest collaborators, Mario Radačovský, to lead the ballet company. He will bring Jiří Heřman to the head of the opera company, with whom Patricie Částková will come from Brno to take over as chief dramaturge. Glaser will lead the dialogue with the current artistic directors of the Činohra company, Lukáš Trpišovský and Martin Kukučka. He is considering redefining the mission of Laterna magika.
The open selection procedure was conducted as a two-round procedure. The first round was open to candidates who met the requirements. In addition, the Commission approached several other candidates with an offer to participate. Those advancing to the second round submitted written concepts and were interviewed. The winner received the votes of all members of the selection committee.
The committee consisted of: dramaturg, translator and pedagogue prof. Mgr. Jan Hančil, director and creative producer of the X10 Theatre and chairwoman of the Association of Independent Theatres Lenka Havlíková, prof. MgA. Blanka Kolegar (Chládková), Vice Dean of the Theatre Faculty of the Janáček Academy of Performing Arts in Brno, Rector of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague doc. PhDr. Ingeborg Radok Žádná, journalist Jana Machalická, Rector of the Janáček Academy of Performing Arts MgA. Petr Michálek, former director of the Slovak National Theatre Mgr. Matej Drlička, ArtD., General Director of the Czech Philharmonic MgA. David Mareček, Ph.D., Director of Dejvice Theatre MgA. Lukáš Průdek, Director of Theatre Na zábradlí doc. Mgr. Petr Štědroň, Ph.D., on behalf of the Ministry of Culture. Milan Němeček, Ph.D., Chief Director of the Economic and Contributory Organizations Section Ing. Jan Vořechovský and Director of the Department of International Relations and the European Union PhDr. Petr Hnízdo.
"I very much appreciate being approached directly by the selection committee, which was an essential aspect of my decision. I believe that my concept is a supporting strategy for the development of the National Theatre and that by choosing me the founder expresses a clear will to fully support me. At the same time, I am very happy that the Minister has decided to follow the standard procedure in European countries and that I will have enough time to prepare for my new mission and at the same time complete my third mandate at the National Theatre Brno, whose development is of great importance to me," said Martin Glaser.
"The implementation of the selection procedure for the General Director of the National Theatre is a good example of a responsible founder that takes care of its contributory organisation in a transparent and predictable manner and makes decisions sufficiently in advance to enable the continuity of such an important position," said the chairman of the Association of Professional Theatres of the Czech Republic Stanislav Mosha.
Until August 2028, the National Theatre will be headed by the current Director General Jan Burian, who is facing the task of reconstructing the New Stage and preparing the transformation of the theatre into a new legal form - a public cultural institution.
"I appreciate the approach taken by the Ministry of Culture and I congratulate Martin Glaser. I look forward to working with him, especially as we will be working together on strategic projects for the development of the National Theatre that require continuity and long-term planning. Specifically, for example, the construction of an institution with efficient operations for a modern theatre," explained the General Director of the National Theatre Jan Burian.
"When Martin Glaser took over the management of the National Theatre Brno on 1 November 2013, it was at a time when the largest cultural institution established by the city was not doing very well. And probably few people could have imagined how successful a director he would become. He really made 'his' theatre a confident metropolitan European stage, as his promise sounded. The announcement of where Martin Glaser's next career steps will be comes at a time when the National Theatre Brno, which he runs, is presenting an exceptionally successful year 2024 with record attendance and sales and rightly describes the last decade as the golden era of its existence. I thank him for all he has done for our National and for the city of Brno, I look forward to continuing to work with him during his current mandate and wish him at least as much success at the National in Prague," said the Mayor of Brno Markéta Vanková.
Martin Glaser
He studied chemistry at the Faculty of Science of Charles University, but after two years he transferred to DAMU, where he studied drama directing and dramaturgy.
During his studies, he founded DIVADLO NA PRAHU with his classmates, before graduating he accepted an engagement at the South Bohemian Theatre, from 2006 he was the artistic director of the South Bohemian Theatre's drama department, and in November 2013 he became the director of the NdB.
As a director, he prefers contemporary drama - he has premiered a number of domestic and foreign plays in the Czech Republic. In his productions, he most often deals with the themes of play, manipulation and power (Havel - Leaving, The Difficulty of Concentration, Wright - The Pen of the Marquis de Sade, Letts - Protocol, Shakespeare - Macbeth, Something for Something, Hampton - Dangerous Relationships, Trier - Who is the Director Here, Lausund - Benefice, Presnyakovs - Playing the Victim, Maupassant - The Darling, Mastrosimone - Like Utter Madmen), faith and fanaticism (Schwab - The Presidents, Słobodzianek - The Prophet Ilya, Corneille - Polyeuktos) and the disintegration of traditional moral values (Zelenka - Purification, Crimp - The Misanthrope, La Bute - The Fat Pig). He often returns to the theme of outsiderness, loneliness and uprootedness (Havlicek - Petrol Lamps, McDonagh - The Orphaned West, The Cripple of Inishmaan, Belbel - Mobile, Vedral - Kaspar Hauser, Egressy - Portugal, Chekhov - Three Sisters). Together with dramaturge Olga Šubrtová, they have formed a successful authorial tandem (transcription of Jaroslav Havlíček's juvenilia The Man of Seven Sisters, adaptation of Nathanael West's novel The Comforter, original play Blackout). The plays and adaptations they have written for the revolving auditorium in Český Krumlov (Henry VIII's Women, Decameron, The Three Musketeers, Dracula) are also of great interest to audiences.
M. Glaser has been a guest in theatres in Prague, Brno, Ostrava, Olomouc, Liberec, Pardubice and Pilsen. For the Olomouc production of Roland Schimmelpfennig's Arabian Nights he received the Josef Balvín Award, which is awarded by the Prague German Language Theatre Festival. The production of Dangerous Relationships was awarded as the most remarkable artistic achievement of the Czech Theatre in 2008. Zelenka's Purification was named the best new Czech play at the Alfréd Radok Foundation Awards. The production of The Fat Pig won the Student Jury Prize at the Grand Festival of Laughter in Pardubice. Havel's Leaving and Havlíček's Petrol Lamps were selected for the prestigious Pilsen Theatre Festival, while The Presidents and Mobile were presented at the Theatre of European Regions Festival in Hradec Králové. Abroad, his productions have been presented at festivals in Sibiu - The Owners of the Keys, Leipzig and Bydgoszcz - Her Pastor and Regensburg - Otello.
Even as director of the National Theatre Brno he did not stop directing. He staged Havlíček's Petrol Lamps, Ferdinand von Schirach's Terror, Shakespeare's Something for Something, his own adaptation of the novel Han A. Mornstein, Kundera's The Keeper of the Keys, Schimmelpfenig's The Golden Dragon, etc. He also began to devote himself regularly to opera. With the Brno ensemble, he staged Janáček's Jenůfa, Tchaikovsky's The Queen of Spades, Eugene Onegin, Verdi's Don Carlos and Otello, and Dvořák's Jacobin.
Concept for the development of the National Theatre for the period 2028-2034 - Martin Glaser
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