The director, actor and teacher contributed significantly to the development of professional theater in Slovakia Ján Jamnický († 66). In almost 50 acting portraits, he portrayed a variety of contrasting character types and created a number of directions, the best of which deviated from conventional procedures.
He died on August 4, 1972 during one of his ascents to the popular Tatra finish line, but the cause of death remains a mystery to this day. According to the portal, a book by journalist Ján Čomaj, who described his end as a suicide, shed some light on the case.
However, even doctors in those days could not determine whether the cause of death was hypothermia or the act of a person who voluntarily decided for it. In the summer of 1972, he was treated in the Tatras for severe pneumonia, but in addition to the disease, he was also troubled by depression. On the fateful day, he went on a hike and the cleaning lady found a note in his room that he had gone to Kriváň and if he didn’t come out, he would be in Sedielka. After three days, they alerted the mountain service.
She found him and for the next 11 days he fought for his life in the Poprad hospital. One of the rescuers was supposed to say that next to the artist was found a juice in which he crushed a handful of green toadstools. “But the professor thought of everything. He also ate some pills. He may have used them to fall asleep as soon as possible and then die in his sleep, or to avoid painful convulsions in his agony.” described Čomaj.
Jamnický spent his childhood years in the days of the monarchy, his studies and theater beginnings relate to the interwar atmosphere of Czechoslovakia, he earned an artistic name and high prestige with his remarkable productions during the wartime Slovak Republic, after its demise came the communist regime in the restored Czechoslovakia. His neither simple nor problem-free personality did not swim smoothly in the current waters of the time, when creative people were faced with tests of the resistance of their own conscience, convictions and civil attitude towards reality.
Ján Jamnický (pseudonym Gustáv Marro) was born on May 20, 1908 in Jasenová in the family of an evangelical priest and professor of theology at a university, in a family where high cultural, human and social habits and values were a matter of course. While studying medicine, he met his future wife, actress Vilma Březinová, who introduced him to the theater. So he exchanged medicine for studying acting at the Bratislava Academy of Music and Drama, and also studied law alongside it.
He joined the Slovak National Theater (SND) in 1932. He was a sought-after representative of heroic and intellectually demanding characters. Criticism celebrated his stage speech and movement culture. She appreciated his consistent effort to find the deep psychological motivation of the characters. The audience was impressed by his tall, slim figure, economical stage movement with an emphasis on expressive gestures.
In SND, he also worked as a dramaturg, translated foreign plays, and was also a director. He prepared 25 productions for the first national stage, and as time went on, he only engaged in acting sporadically. He was the first to emphasize the symbolism of expressing human destinies on stage. His personal and creative vicissitudes are intertwined with the names of several leading protagonists of our theater culture, such as Janko Borodáč, Andrej Bagar, Emil Belluš, Ferdinand Hoffmann, Martin Gregor, Vilma Jamnická, Jozef Felix, Ján Sedlák and Zoltán Rampák.
After the end of the Second World War, Jamnický did not return to directing work. He acted in television films and productions, worked as a reciter. He gained recognition from the cultural public with his brilliant interpretation of modern poetry. His way of delivery greatly influenced other Slovak reciters. He emphasized the musical side and melodiousness of the Slovak speech and created a new stage speech. He had an unusual poetic talent and merits in the field of modern theater.
From the beginning, Ján Jamnický dealt with theater from a theoretical point of view. He prepared the concept of the theater law and also participated in the preparation of the law on the nationalization of the Slovak National Theatre. He was one of the members of the preparatory committee for the establishment of the University of Performing Arts (VŠMU) in Bratislava. In 1945, he was employed as a director and screenwriter of the Czechoslovak film for three years.
He devoted himself to students as a teacher at the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava and at the puppetry department of the Theater Academy of Performing Arts in Prague. His unusual talent and merits in the theater field were awarded in 1970 with the title of National Artist and in 1991 with the in memoriam award of the order of Tomáš G. Masaryk III. class.
