This year, March is passing. 100 years since the birth of actor Janez Albrecht, who played around 180 roles in Slovenian theatres from the end of World War II until the mid-1990s. He was employed by the Ljubljana Drama Theatre (1945–49), the Ljubljana City Theatre (1949–52 and 1954–62), the Celje Slovenian Folk Theatre (1953–54) and then again by the Ljubljana Drama Theatre (from 1962 until his retirement). He also played a lot in radio plays and created for film and television.
Portrait record in the book One hundred Slovenian drama artists by Dušan Moravec and Vasja Predana outlines the actor's theatrical initiation with the words:
"When twenty-year-old Janez Albreht graduated from theatre school in 1945 with the famous Slovenian actor and director Milan Skrbinšek, his teacher wrote in his certificate: 'According to his acting individuality and organ, he will be suitable for character roles of all ages, and given his appearance, he will also be able to be employed in so-called salon roles.' The teacher's prophetic words came true: Albreht's almost fifty-year artistic journey testifies that Janez's acting nature, which was predicted to be so, developed and ascended from the very beginning, marked by character and salon-likeness."
He was awarded twice for the role of Grajžar: first in 1957 for his portrayal of this character in the production of Cankar's Tale Martin Kacur (MGL, 1954, directed by Jože Gale) received the award from the central Novi Sad newspaper at Sterijin pozorje, and in 1976 he received the award for his portrayal of the same character in the film Idealist (Viba film, directed by Igor Pretnar) also received the Stop Award for best episodic role at the Domestic Film Week in Celje.
He later received other awards: in 1977 at the Radio Week festival in Ohrid for the best male role in a radio play Problems with dragons, in 1981 he received the Prešeren Fund Award for his acting in the Ljubljana Drama Theatre, in 1989 for the role of Hutter in the production of Jančar's play Daedalus received the award of the Association of Dramatic Artists of Slovenia. In 2001, the President of the Republic awarded him the honorary badge of freedom of the Republic of Slovenia for meritorious and creative work in the field of theatrical art.
At the 100th anniversary of his birth We will remember the actor who made a significant mark on Slovenian theatre with the help of materials from our collections – with sound and audio-visual recordings and photographs of Albrecht's most prominent roles. The evening is being prepared by the theatre scholar and curator Ana Perne.
Free admission. You are welcome!
Moments from the memorial evening. Photo SLOGI.
In the cover photo: Janez Albreht as Colonel Redfern, one of his last roles on the stage of the Ljubljana Drama Theatre, in a production of Osborne's play Look back in anger (directed by Janez Pipan, premiere: 28. 9. 1996). Photo: Tone Stojko, source: Ikonoteka SLOGI – Theatre Museum.
