[1] During his studies he took part in evening theater rehearsals in Prague, and met famous actors such as Jiří Sovák, Martin Růžek, and Václav Voska.

He passed the admission exam, but at that time, institutions of higher education in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia were being closing down.

[1] At the time of his studies he was so poor that he had to sleep in the college building (Rudolfinum) but later he lived with his colleagues (e.g. Stanislav Remunda).

[1] As a consequence he suffered from depression, and even tried to commit suicide, but eventually left Prague for České Budějovice to work in the local theater.

He directed what the authorities claimed to be an anti-communist play/translation by Břetislav Hodek[3] and was accused of disrespect for the Communist Party and the government of Czechoslovakia.

In 1975 he made a speech in the National Theater that was critical of the government (after the opening night of the Optimistic Tragedy by Vsevolod Vishnevskiy[4]) and as a result he was forced by the authorities to begin treatment in the psychiatric asylum in Bohnice, where he spent 117 days.

[5] After his dismissal from the asylum he came back to the National Theater and directed most of his masterpieces, among them Naši Furianti by Ladislav Stroupežnický.