Dramatist and director, recipient of many awards. His most successful play, Akvabely (Aquabelles) has been published in English, Spanish, Russian, Polish, Romanian and German. He was born in Rychnov nad Kněžnou on 18 June 1970 and grew up in Týniště nad Orlicí.
| Title | Publisher | Year | Selected published translations | Awards |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| To Children! (Dětem!) | Akropolis | 2013 | ||
| Aquabelles (Akvabely) | Svět a Divadlo | 2004 | ||
| Frogscalibur (Žabikuch) | nepublikováno | 2004 | ||
| Joan of the Park (Jana z parku) | Divadelní ústav | 2003 | ||
| Buffet (Švédský stůl) | nepublikováno | 1998 | ||
| The Little Mouse Cooked the Little Mouse (Vařila myšička myšičku) | nepublikováno | 1995 | ||
| Giraffes on Fire (Hořící žirafy) | nepublikováno | 1993 | ||
| A Small Blow - out (Sousta (spolu s D. Králem)) | nepublikováno | 1992 |
Drábek moves around easily as a writer and director in the genre of the grotesque; indeed, all his fantastical “freaks” and “outsiders” (outsiderdom seems to be his fundamental theme) are also grotesque, if you want to give a name to the carnival-like poetic.
The plays Jana z parku (Jana of the Park in 1994) and Akvabely (Aquabelles, in 2003) won the first prize in the Alfréd Radok Award for original play, and Náměstí bratří Mašínů (Mašín Brothers’ Square) came second in the same competition (in 2007). After they had been performed, both Akvabely a Náměstí bratří Mašínů won the Alfréd Radok Award for best Czech play of the year (2005, 2009).
His first play was Malá žranice (A Small Blow-Out), which he wrote with Darko Král in 1992. Soon after it was performed he founded the Burning Giraffes Theatre Studio in Olomouc, which Drábek and Král wrote dozens of productions for. From 1996–2000 Drábek worked as a dramaturge for the Moravian Theatre in Olomouc, from 2005–2007 he was a director at the Minor Theatre in Prague and since 2009 he has been the artistic director at the Klicper Theatre in Hradec Králové, where he is also a director.
A collection of his plays was published by Větrné mlýny (2003), and the book contains four plays: Hořící žirafy, Jana z parku, Kosmická snídaně aneb Nebřenský and Švédský stůl (Burning Giraffes, Jana of the Park, Cosmic Breakfast or Nebřenský and Buffet). In 2007 Drábek wrote Náměstí bratří Mašínů with the subtitle Hra o nehybnosti (A Play About Rigidity), which was published by Větrné mlýny two years later.
Akropolis publishers first brought out the play Koule (The Ball, 2011), and in 2012 added Drábek’s other plays electronically. All of Drábek’s plays from 2003-2011 were published as a collection called Aby se Čechům ovary zachvěly (So That The Boiled Beef Quivered for the Czechs, Akropolis, 2011).
Drábek combines farce with cult postmodern films, is inspired by musicals, parodies TV broadcasts and is ironic towards pop culture and the idolization of commodities. He also wrote the radio play Koule, which was acclaimed by critics – the main character is Milena, a shot-putter, who is strikingly similar to shot-putter Helena Fibingerová. When she admits to doping on radio she also talks about Radomila, who in turn is reminiscent of athlete Jarmila Kratochvilová. Both sportswomen objected to the play and threatened legal action.
The author has also written plays for children, which were published in 2013 as Dětem! (To The Children!, Akropolis), he wrote the screenplay for the children’s programme Kabaret z maringotky (Caravan Cabaret).