Fast confession - Eva Hrušková: The role of Cinderella led me onto a different path

You look great. Do you feel great?

I am doing really well. I don’t think that is something to be taken completely for granted and you have to reach that state over time and appreciate the contentment and the situation as it is, to not look for something which isn’t there. Happiness lies in being satisfied with things the way they are.

Is that how you look at things?

Yes, and I certainly don’t look back! That is a very bad thing, when people allow themselves to be influenced by the past. That seems to me to be bordering on a mental disorder. You should be able to step out of that rut and not be afraid to move forward. You should not allow yourself to be influenced by the bad things. Notice how a lot of people who have experienced something very bad are the people who are satisfied, smile a lot and are happy.

But quite the opposite is also sometimes true. It grinds some people down …

Everyone has a choice. We have to choose whether we want to be happy or not. 

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You said that it is not a good idea to look back. Have you never gone through a period like that?

I don’t think so. Maybe when the boys were all grown up, I said to myself that I could have been a better cook. But I certainly for example have no regrets that I didn’t devote enough time to them. Time does fly by and you can’t get it back. My conscience is clear in that respect. (laughs)

And what sort of cook are you now?

(laughs) well ... I can’t do creamy sirloin and Czech classics like that. Soups are my speciality. After the revolution, I bought a cookbook by Marie Ulehlová Tilschová. That is from the 50s and even back then, the author dealt with the idea of healthy eating and gave advice on which foods to combine to ensure that the meals were balanced.

Do you follow her advice?

I certainly do.

And what about your husband?

He likes it.

So, you have won the lottery! Men mostly don’t like that sort of food ...

Well yes, I have (laughs). He actually doesn’t want me to cook and I really only do cook when I am in the mood and I enjoy it. He will eat absolutely anything, so if I gave him a sausage with some mustard, he would eat it.

I honestly can’t imagine an elegant man like your husband eating a sausage with mustard.

I don’t actually give him that (laughs). But he isn’t fussy and eats everything. He also likes visiting select restaurants. 

Could you say that you spend a lot of money on restaurants?

We don’t go out to eat very often, but when we do, we don’t worry about how much it costs. We go to restaurants with a view of the Charles Bridge or in the Municipal House. We don’t risk going to places we don’t know.

Do you combine that with doing other things? Do you go on dates?

We do now go together, but there are usually some roses waiting for me at the table. We also like going for brunch at the weekend, because you can try out lots of different foods there. We have one restaurant where they have a different brunch every week, so we enjoy that.

What about you and dieting? Is that compatible with eating out?

That is something you have to struggle with all of your life. That is what it is like for the both of us.

Both of you? Do you support each other? It does sometimes work like that …

We do support each other, but we also support each other breaking the rules. (laughs) We will have just had a light dinner and Honza will come and ask whether we have anything for dessert. That of course gets me in the mood for something sweet.

Do you also support each other exercising?

Honza swims regularly.

I know that. He goes to Podolí, doesn’t he?

Yes, he does. I have already started too. Other than that, I do exercise because of my back. We do a lot of exercise. But I also like classical music, ballet and architecture. And also the fine arts.

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Have you ever thought about any of those professions?

No, I was never good enough for that. I wasn’t cut out for ballet, I didn’t have the patience for classical music and you also need to be really talented to do that, like for example Václav Hudeček or Jarda Svěcený. Our generation has a lot of people in that field, so I don’t intend to get in their way.

You on the other hand are great at puppet theatre and people love the fairy tale Cinderella where you played the starring role. I read that you decided to take a completely different path after filming that fairy tale. Why was that?

I have no idea where that came from. I suppose the intellectual in me came to the forefront for a while and I said to myself that I would not do any theatre and instead of that, I would get involved in the history of art, the history of theatre. I look back on that with horror now, thinking what would have happened … By this time, I would have retired long ago and would have spent my whole life either in the library or in the archives. I don’t think it would have been the right thing for me. I need to fulfil my potential in puppet theatre and show off a little.

Is it possible to hide behind the puppets a little more than when people see you “as an actress”?

I think that even a person who is not inherently extrovert can also work in puppet theatre. Everything goes via your hands into the puppet. I would be able to act out anything with puppets, but not up on the stage. It is a very difficult profession, but there are a lot of people who are very good at it.

And are you very good at it?

I think so. (laughs) I try to do it in such a way as to entertain the children ...

Does that keep the spirit of childhood in you?

I don’t think so. You have to see those children as partners, but you have to make it quite clear to them that you are the boss. Not allow them to get up to all sorts or to talk amongst themselves … I do by the way know how to give a really angry look! 

The children are then silent in an instant ...

Above all, they have to enjoy it. If I were to do a performance which did not entertain them, they would start to get fidgety and they are entitled to do so. They have not yet been taught to stay seated looking at the stage for a long time. They have to express themselves regarding the show and they should have the opportunity to do so. When I did my first fairy tales with the director Miroslav Vildman, he taught me that. I was singing a quiet song there and the children started to talk among themselves. But he told me that the children had to have their say and that I should leave them. But they were silent after the first verse. He knew exactly what children’s theatre was like.

Seeing as we are talking about fairy tales, Christmas is coming. That is a time when a lot of fairy tales are shown on television. Do you watch them?

I don’t. I really like reading. We have a lot of work in the runup to Christmas. I already have the presents bought in November. I don’t want to buy any rubbish and this is how I avoid all of that. What is more, our boys, even though they are 22 and 26 years old, are used to writing to baby Jesus. I have to write to him too, so does Honza. So the baby Jesus brings those presents from somewhere …

Which presents does baby Jesus bring?

I bought the boys paintings once or twice recently. Original works by the artist Magdalena Timplová. I had a statute made of Honza for him, but we regularly give books, books and more books. We are also partial to pictures from Czech history.

What traditions do you have?

We go to the French restaurant in the Municipal House on 24 December for a Christmas Eve brunch.

So you relax and take things easy, no slaving over the stove.

It is wonderful. We have been doing it for 15 years already. The whole family always gets together there. We are going with our first granddaughter Elinka for the first time this year. She is three months old. She will have a headband and be all dressed up. You can buy such beautiful things for children nowadays.

And what about for you? What about you and shopping? And how in fact do you look after yourself? It seems to me that you have lost a lot of weight.

I do try a little, but it really is difficult. I regularly go to the same people. To my physiotherapist, then to get my hair done, for a manicure and pedicure. I go to Dům Módy to buy clothes and there is a Canadian company there which does clothing which although it looks great on young ladies, can also be worn by women of various ages.

How does your husband pamper you the most?

That would be a never-ending list, I have never experienced anything like it ... One of my classmates at grammar school said: “I could spend a month with your husband and then die happy.” So I told her she could borrow him if she wanted. You meet him in the hall in the morning and the first thing he says is that you look nice, even though you look completely awful. Everything I do is the right thing for him …

Surely you wouldn’t lend him out!

You are right. I wouldn’t.

Are you not jealous?

I’m not. I don’t think I am. Things are different at our age. And Honza doesn’t even show any interest in anyone else despite the fact that he does act in a very gallant manner towards women. He is even for example nice to the petrol station assistant. He was brought up well.

How do you pamper him?

For example, by not being a typical woman who has to be right about everything, even though I am. That is obvious (laughs). I just don’t force my opinion on him so much. It doesn’t matter at all in the end anyway.

Do you use your feminine charms when you want something?

I don’t know whether it is charm, but we are always nice to each other. We haven’t argued once in the sixteen years we have known each other. We hate arguments. Honza did raise his voice once, but that was gone immediately.

So you don’t have any tricks for making up because you never have to make up.

Exactly. We don’t ever have to make up.

What do you wish for in the coming year?

That all of my family is healthy and at least a little happy. The young ones cannot of course be happy. That is a sort of driving force for them and that is the way it should be. We were like that too. But we have now come to a different stage in our lives. We recently started going to Františkovy Lázně and have both become very fond of it.

And is there a dream location you would like to visit?

Not really. We really like Venice, we always like going there, it is such a beautiful city ...