Mým divákům - rozhovor s L. Smoljakem – Čechová Blanka (2010)

This Czech-language book presents a unique collection of previously unpublished interviews with Ladislav Smoljak, offering an intriguing insight into the versatile director and actor. He recalls his own beginnings and those of Divadlo Járy Cimrmana, reflects on acting and humour, and discusses political shortcomings, the inflation of words in the media, his reasons for supporting European integration and his Sisyphean struggle against the Communists. The conversations are accompanied by comic observations, anecdotes and excerpts from his correspondence with Blanka Čechová. Smoljak answers questions about how he joined Semafor Theatre, how the play České nebe came into being, the strongest argument against democracy, his later view of signing the so-called Anticharter, his refusal to stand for the Senate and books recommended to him by Professor Vojtěch Cepl. Čechová studied law in Prague and creative writing in Oxford, worked abroad as a lawyer at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg and as a member of an OSCE mission in Kosovo, and later worked as an assistant director at Divadlo Járy Cimrmana. She is completing a novel and screenplay inspired by her time in the Balkans and runs a non-profit project supporting primary schools in Kosovo.