ABSTRACT
E. F. Burian embodied still another type of creative personality in the interwar era of the 1920s and 1930s. Classically educated K. H. Hilar produced the most creative, apolitical work done on the large, subsidized stages during the first Republic. Remarkably gifted student amateurs, Voskovec and Werich found the exact pulse of their times and achieved huge success in their very own commercial theatre, which shied away from any orthodox political commitment even as it became increasingly supportive of the leftist anti-fascist front. Distinct from all three, E. F. Burian was a highly trained musician who eventually created his own marginally financed theatre company in improvised quarters; here he championed the autonomy of art and attracted international attention with his innovative staging, even as he consciously dedicated his efforts to the Marxist-Leninist cause.
