František Šubert
In this period, he wrote two historical plays: Probuzenci (The Awoken) taking place in the 18th century and a biographical drama about the Czech Renaissance knight Petr Vok from Rožmberk.
At least in the first years of Šubert's office, Rieger's influence on the management, repertoire and engagement of artists of the National Theatre, where he had been present from its very beginnings, was very strong, even decisive.
Only A Midsummer Night's Dream, which stood out for its large romantic stage design and many scantily clad actresses and ballerinas in the roles of fairies, had twenty eight reruns within the first year.
If the emperor had agreed (he refused because he did not want to invest more money in other theatres), the largest patriotic project of the Czech nation would have come under the patronage of the House of Habsburg.
His only artistic collaborator was playwright and dramaturg Ladislav Stroupežnický, an important person of the first years of Šubert's management, who became his right-hand man till his death in 1892.
In 1894, in the second year of the National Theatre's existence, stage director Antonín Pulda, tutor and lover of the actress Maria Pospischil, tried to take more power over the theater's dramaturgical and artistic direction.
He was arguing about the repertoire with the Board of trustees, that focused on an economic point of view and promoted popular genres such as French melodramas, comedy plays and operettas.
Pavel Švanda ze Semčic staged Ibsen's An Enemy of the People with Eduard Vojan and A Doll's House with Hana Kvapilová (these two actors of the National Theatre performed with touring companies in Czech regions to fulfill their artistic ambitions).
This optimistic and opulent revue of simple dance numbers about the progress of human society and Industrial Revolution was harshly condemned by critics, but it was performed 170 times, being the most popular show of Šubert's era.
The two biggest premieres of his era - Gabriela Preissová's drama Její pastorkyňa (also known as Jenůfa, an inspiration for the successful opera by Leoš Janáček) and tragedy Maryša by brothers Alois and Vilém Mrštík - found their way to the stage in an unconventional way.
The third major premiere of this period in 1887, Naši furianti (in English: Our Uppish and Defiant Fellows, also Our Swaggerers) by Ladislav Stroupežnický, did not receive a very warm reception at first.
The rising popularity of the village setting during this time (quite exceptionally compared to the rest of the continent) explains why Šubert's dramaturgy did not develop any relationship with the work of William Shakespeare, perhaps because of Renaissance roughness of the Bard.
In a competition of Eleonora Duse starring in A Doll's House or Antony and Cleopatra, Comédie-Française or Deutsches Theater, also present at the exhibition, they didn't hope to draw any attention.
The ensemble members traveled in second- and third-class train to minimize the financial risk.”[21] But the success of Czech theatre representation was immediate and immense, especially of Bedřich Smetana's opera The Bartered Bride, presented for the first time in Vienna.
It was a great triumph for Šubert and the National Theatre and brought the music of the Czech composer Bedřich Smetana, especially his opera The Bartered Bride, to worldwide attention.
Some of them detested him, and over time there was a number of actors who were forced to leave the National Theatre in the shadow of a scandal (Marie Bittnerová, Maria Pospischil, Antonín Pulda and others.
"[23] Šubert, who demanded obedience but was subject to his libido, was unable to establish long term stability, and the female part of the ensemble went through a continuous crisis with numerous scandals and dramatic departures.
The opera singer Bohumil Benoni, in his memoirs, openly expressed his dislike for the director and the way he did, or rather did not develop artistic personalities of his troupe: "Šubert was against any Star-system in the National Theatre.
From the beginning of his career, Šubert maintained love affairs with a number of actresses and dancers from the National Theatre ensemble in exchange for part and salary increases.
His lovers included, for example, actresses Hana Benoniová, Marie Laudová and Karla Velsová or opera singers Anna Adamcová and Irma Reichová.
Actress Velsová did not achieve a significant position in the troupe and ended her theatrical career in 1897 due to dissatisfaction with the assigned roles, low salary and acting uncertainty.
For example, a German fictional autobiography called Aus dem Tagebuche einer deutschen Schauspielerin published in 1912 reveals many sinister conventions of those days.
[34] Some archive sources show the double standards of society, for example Bronislava Herbenová, the wife of journalist Jan Herben, was close friends with Šubert, but she considered his lovers, actresses Hana Benoniová and Maria Laudová, to be harlots.
Another memorable premiere was Julius Zeyer's romantic drama Radúz and Mahulena in 1898, a Slovak fairy tale that has survived to this day rather only thanks to Josef Suk's music.
Jaroslav Kvapil's Princess Dandelion (Princezna Pampeliška) and Alois Jirásek's Emigrant (an inventive look at Habsburg oppression, the main character - an antagonistic Protestant in a post-Catholic village) also opened.
Audiences and critics alike pointed to the low artistic standard, but on the other hand a fluctuating level of quality is relatively common for a repertory theatre troupe, often over several seasons.
the world smash hit romantic tragedy, Edmond Rostand's Cyrano de Bergerac in 1899 (produced in Prague fifteen months after its Paris premiere).
One of the main works of art newly created for the exhibition was a large painting by Mikoláš Aleš with a historic theme of “The Slaughter of the Saxons at Hrubá Skála”.
The canvas was exceptional due to its acute political context and its size of 10 × 8.5 m. The image of the painting is based on the Manuscript of Dvůr Králové, the authenticity of which was strongly disputed at the time of its creation.
The play was first banned by the censors for its social risqueness and was not first performed until ten years after it was written, Šubert died on 8 September 1915 in Prague and was buried in a grave at the Olšany Cemetery.
