K. H. Mácha: Kat

Mácha's poetic and prose works were a strong source of inspiration for director and composer Emil František Burian. In the year of the centenary of the poet's death, he dramatised the novel Křivoklad - the first part of an intended tetralogy whose hero was an executioner in the service of King Václav IV. In 1936, Burian transferred the production from the stage of his Déček to the studio of Prague's Radijournal, where it was - as was customary at the time - broadcast live. In 1965, Burian's pupil, director Josef Henke, returned to the dramatisation and cast the "Burian" actor Vladimír Šmeral in the title role. Persons and cast: Poet (Otakar Brousek), Executioner (Vladimír Šmeral), King Václav (Stanislav Remunda), Miláda (Irena Kačírková), Jan Hus (Josef Patočka), Jaroš (Antonín Zíb), Stivín (Ladislav Kazda), Duchoň (Bohumil Křížek), Honza Nebojíms (Jiří Hurta), Baba (Svetla Amorta), The Old Knight (Karel Benisko), Young man (Jiri Novotny), Panos (Jaroslav Kepka), The announcer (Bedřich Bobek), George, Václav's armour-bearer (Alfred Strejček), Oldrich, the armour-bearer of Wenceslas (Josef Velda), Benes (Vladimir Leraus), Jetrich (Bohumil Švarc), The Lord of Václav's retinue (Josef Bláha) and others.