‘Really, people from all over the world come to JAMU in Brno for the International Festival of Theatre Schools SETKÁNÍ/ENCOUNTER.’

With the start of the new year, the International Theatre Schools Festival SETKÁNÍ/ENCOUNTER seems to be getting dangerously close. But three months is still a long time we to endure, and because waiting can be very unpleasant and lengthy, I suggest shortening it with an interview!

I took the liberty of interviewing Vojtěch Obdržálek, a recent graduate in acting who became a long-term participant in the festival during his time at the Theatre Faculty of JAMU. After graduation, Vojta has become a member of the acting ensemble at the Městské divadlo Zlín. Even though he is currently in the middle of dress rehearsals, he found a moment to share his memories and experiences from the festival with us so that we could reminisce about the festival atmosphere with him for a while. 

When you hear SETKÁNÍ/ENCOUNTER, what comes to your mind first? 

Lots of young people who are interested in theatre. Lots of fun, getting to know each other, learning about other cultures, or rather, how theatre is done in other countries and what their approach to it is. 

How many times have you participated in the festival? Were you always just a spectator, or did you also shine on stage? 

I was at ENCOUNTER all four years I was at JAMU, so from 2021 to 2025, and always just as a spectator. I never managed to get on stage as a participant.

Do you remember your first ENCOUNTER? Did it meet your expectations? What surprised you?

I don't remember it in detail (laughs). Since I was there four times, it all kind of blends together. I didn't really know how prestigious it is. That surprised me a lot. Like, really, people are willing to come to ENCOUNTER from as far away as Africa, Asia, America... Really, people from all over the world come to JAMU in Brno for The International Festival of Theatre Schools.

Is there a performance from the festival that you still remember today? 

I recently recalled a monodrama, and I think it was last year. Some girl, and now I don't know, man, whether from Germany or Sweden... she had huge curly hair, and it was absolutely luxurious in terms of movement. (author's note: Accademia Dimitri Verscio, Shooting Snow White, 2025, Switzerland) Or another thing that was quite interesting, I liked when the Koreans did King Oedipus – a Greek tragedy in Korean dress. They were kids in Korean clothes with masks, and they performed a Greek tragedy through movement. That was interesting. (author's note: Korean National University of the Arts: The Nape, 2025, South Korea) 

And what is it like to watch a performance in a language you don't understand?

Well, fortunately, most of them had subtitles, so you could more or less keep up with it. On the other hand, when it's well-acted, you literally don't need to know what they're saying. You just read their looks and how the actors react to each other, and you can figure out what it's about relatively easily. Or, for example, when you go to see Slovaks or Poles, it's pretty much the same. You're able to get it even without subtitles, within reason. 

Do you have a story from ENCOUNTER that you're not afraid to share with us? 

(laughs) Well, I have a lot of stories from ENCOUNTER, of course, but most of them are completely unpublishable, so I can't tell them (laughs). But it often happened to me that when I went to a party in the evening as part of the program, as you meet people there, you stop and start talking to someone. Since it's ENCOUNTER, you both assume you don't speak the same language, so you start speaking English, and only after about three minutes of conversation does it become clear that you're actually both Czechs, and that you can talk to each other in Czech. (laughs) 

Do you plan to maintain your loyalty to ENCOUNTER and visit it again this year, even though you are no longer a JAMU student? 

Wow... I haven't really thought about that at all. Since I'm already a working person and my schedule isn't completely set, it will depend a lot on whether I even have time, whether I'll even be able to get tickets, which will be much more difficult now that I'm not at JAMU as a student. It would be nice and I would like to go, but for these reasons, it probably won't work out. 

What advice would you give to someone who is going to their first ENCOUNTER this year? 

I have a few things... Buy an off-pass, that's a must-have! Then I would also say go to parties and leave early enough so that you can manage to catch at least two, preferably three performances the next day, because such a range of genres, approaches to theatre... it doesn't happen often. It's nice to take advantage of the fact that you have such an opportunity, so ideally catch two, preferably three shows a day. 

Is there anything you would like to share through the article? 

Well, not really (laughs). Love each other. As my colleague from the theatre, Gustav Řezníček, would say: "We are theatre. We love each other." 

I would like to thank Vojta very much for such a pleasant conversation. I hope that you, like me, have returned to the festival mood for a little while, and that those who plan to go to their first ENCOUNTER this year have learned something new from the perspective of a long-time viewer, and that the time that remains until the start of this year's edition now seems much less painful. 

I believe that we, too, will be able to take away such memories and stories from April 14th to 18th, 2026 as Vojta has from past editions of the festival.

Photo: Martin Chmelík, Bára Kučerová