Мартін Класек

Martin Klásek is a prominent Czech puppeteer, writer, director, and long-standing artistic ensemble leader of the Spejbl and Hurvínek Theatre. He joined the theatre at the age of sixteen as a stage technician. Due to his talent for puppet manipulation, he soon moved to the artistic ensemble, where he alternated performing the puppet Hurvínek. After demonstrating strong acting skills and a gift for mimicking Hurvínek's high-pitched voice, Miloš Kirschner trained him to become his successor. He passed his acting test in the roles of Spejbl and Hurvínek in 1974 in the play Hurvínek Among the Beetles (Hurvínek mezi broučky). From 1982, he began alternating regularly with Miloš Kirschner, and in 1996, he became the third exclusive voice interpreter of both main characters. He continued the tradition of foreign-language versions, performing plays in numerous foreign languages. As a writer and director, he debuted with the play Hurvínek and the Mirror (Hurvínek a zrcadlo), followed by the production Hurvínek the UFO (Hurvínek UFOnem). He is also active in dubbing, television, radio, and CD recordings. He dedicates his time to training young puppeteers and, in 2017, chose Ondřej Lážnovský as his successor.