Why take your shoes off when the river ford is still far away?
Download image
Jaroslav Ipser was born on the 2nd of December, 1949, in Louny. At the age of three he moved with his mother, Maria, and younger sister, Dagmar, to Turnov to live with his grandparents.Jaroslav’s mother soon became ill and died in 1953, leaving Jaroslav and his sister under the care of their grandparents. Well into his childhood, Jaroslav formed an adoration to puppet shows, and as a student he attended a puppetry group. Between 1965 and 1968, he apprenticed under an electrician and performed with the puppet theatre in the SSM (translator´s note: Socialistic Youth Association). In 1968, he started the compulsory military service. On the 21st August, 1968, he was stationed near Sokolov. The leaders gave orders which complicated the proceeding of occupation armies. Upon returning from the military, he joined the JUTA Turnov as a boiler man and worked there until retirement. In 1974 he became a member of the Amateur set of puppet theater in Modřišice. Jaroslav manged to become the leader of the group, and later the group was known as “Čmukaři.” He used all the possibilities a theatre education had to offer. In 1982, he graduated from the folk conservatory at Drak Theater. Together with Daniel Weiss--with whom Jaroslav formed the central couple of the ensemble--they found success as author’s in theatre. In the following years, both Weiss and Jaroslav officially represented the Czech and Slovak Socialist Republic abroad. Following the opening of the borders in 1990, they have found traveling to be more easy. Čmukaři is still a very successful performance group.
