Marie Viková

Important Ostrava actress Marie Viková comes from Olomouc and performing arts fascinated her as a child, she especially admired the combination of speech and music, to which is dedicated with success until now. She studied acting at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague (1959), along with other significant personalities as Jan Tříska, Libuse Švormová, Zdena Hadrbolcová or František Husák. After graduating from the Academy of Performing Arts she got an engagement in the ensemble of Petr Bezruč Theater, Ostrava, whose emeritus member is till nowadays.

Ostrava lifelong engagement offered to Marie Viková a large number of acting roles, she is fond of the Hungarian game Chicken head, for which she was nominated for the Literary Fund Award. Her other significant outcomes include  Streetcar Named Desire, Mother Courage, The Fox Cubs, and Mrs. Dawn, she often played well in fairy tales (Playing with the Devil, Ice Queen).

Marie Viková appeared in a film for the first time in her forties when she played the role of shop assistant in crime story The  Town Knows Nothing (1975), which was filmed in Ostrava. Later she often played in productions and series created by the Ostrava TV studio. Recently, we could see Marie Viková in minor role in the historical movie Bathory (2008), or in a fairy tale Hell with the Princess (2009).

Marie Viková is still very active, for a long time is dedicated to artistic recitation in connection with music, and thematic evenings with presentations of melodramas are the domain of her current activities. She performs regularly at the International Festival of Chamber Melodrama in Prague, participates in the organization of the International Concert Festival (also in Prague), and cooperates with the Janacek Philharmonic. Originally she worked mainly with music of Zdeněk Fibich, but later on she inspired modern artists to compose music specifically for her performances. Noteworthy is her recent individual performance of the Female from Bath.

In addition, Marie Viková acts in the sphere of teaching; she taught at the Janacek Conservatory in Ostrava and later worked at the Music School in Klimkovice.  She often takes a part in juries at various music and recital competitions.