Ctibor Turba (16 October 1944 – 30 June 2025) was a Czech actor of non-verbal theatre,

mime A mime artist, or simply mime (from Greek language, Greek , , "imitator, actor"), is a person who uses ''mime'' (also called ''pantomime'' outside of Britain), the acting out of a story through body motions without the use of speech, as a the ...

, screenwriter, teacher and director. His work has been described as the first and pioneering Czech contribution to the global "

Contemporary circus Contemporary circus (or ''cirque contemporain'' in French-speaking countries) is a contested term in circus studies. In this article, it is used in contrast to the term 'traditional circus', combining with the genre elsewhere disambiguated as ne ...

' movement.

Life and career

Turba was born in

Mariánské Lázně Mariánské Lázně (; ) is a spa town in Cheb District in the Karlovy Vary Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 14,000 inhabitants. Most of the town's buildings come from its Golden Era in the second half of the 19th century, when many c ...

on 16 October 1944. When he was six years old, the family moved to

Brno Brno ( , ; ) is a Statutory city (Czech Republic), city in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. Located at the confluence of the Svitava (river), Svitava and Svratka (river), Svratka rivers, Brno has about 403,000 inhabitants, making ...

, where he studied at the Secondary School of Applied Arts, majoring in toy and puppetry. He then worked as a designer at the Radost puppet theatre in Brno, the

Spejbl and Hurvínek Theatre Spejbl and Hurvínek Theatre () is a puppet theatre located in Prague, Czechia. Founded in 1930 by puppeteer Josef Skupa, it was the first professional puppeteer's stage in Czechoslovakia. It was named after the puppets Hurvínek and Spejbl. ...

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

and in film studios in

Zlín Zlín (in 1949–1989 Gottwaldov; ; ) is a city in the Czech Republic. It has about 75,000 inhabitants. It is the seat of the Zlín Region and it lies on the Dřevnice River. It is known as an industrial centre. The development of the modern city ...

with Hermína Týrlová and

Karel Zeman Karel Zeman (3 November 1910 – 5 April 1989) was a Czech film director, artist, production designer and animator. He is best known for directing fantasy films combining live-action footage with animation, including '' Journey to the Beginning ...

. Later, in 1968, he studied theatre science for two semesters at the Faculty of Arts of Charles University in Prague. In 2004, he founded the Studio of Clown Stage and Film Production as part and parcel of the Theatre Faculty of the Janáček Academy of Music and Performing Arts and led it until 2008, when it was taken over by the French dancer and choreographer Pierre Nadaud in September 2008. In 2013, he received the Ministry of Culture Award for his contribution to theatre. Turba died on 30 June 2025, at the age of 80.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Turba, Ctibor 1944 births 2025 deaths 20th-century Czech male actors 21st-century Czech male actors Czech clowns Czech mimes Czech screenwriters Czech educators People from Mariánské Lázně