The article analyses the situation of creating new theatres in the Polish People’s Republic in the 1970s in the context of the changes in the cultural policy and the administrative reform. The author juxtaposes theatres in Elbląg, Legnica, Płock, Radom and Słupsk. He shows a confluence of multifarious problems that determined the launch of theatres and analyses the first years of operation, taking into account the issues of audience and educational activities.
The electronic publication Czy tylko Reduta? Wspólnota – zespół – spółdzielnia twórcza – kolektyw [Only Reduta? Community – Ensemble – Creative Cooperative – Collective] brings together selected papers from a conference organised as part of the 4th Congress of the Polish Society for Theatre Research in Spała (20–22 Sept. 2019). The article is not so much a review of the edited volume as a record of the author’s reflections inspired by the reading of particular essays. The book constitutes a polyphonic attempt at describing the phenomenon of the theatre collective. Fundamental as it is for theatre life, it has only recently drawn the attention of researchers. In this publication, the phenomenon of Reduta is a starting point for much broader research and analysis that address both general principles of the functioning of theatre ensembles and particular cases of Polish and foreign theatres. The author of the article comments on the analyses contained in the volume, describing various mythologisations of collectivity. (Transl. Z. Ziemann)
PL
Internetowa książka Czy tylko Reduta? Wspólnota – zespół – spółdzielnia twórcza – kolektyw w teatrze zbiera część referatów wygłoszonych na konferencji zorganizowanej w ramach IV Zjazdu Polskiego Towarzystwa Badań Teatralnych w Spale (20–22 września 2019). Artykuł jest nie tyle jej recenzją, ile zapisem refleksji, które zrodziła lektura poszczególnych tekstów. Książka stanowi bowiem wielogłosową próbę opisania zespołowości i zespołu. Chociaż jest to podstawowe zjawisko życia teatralnego, dopiero w ostatnich latach stało się przedmiotem namysłu badaczy. Fenomen Reduty jest w publikacji punktem wyjścia do analiz i badań znacznie szerszych, obejmujących ogólne zasady funkcjonowania zespołów oraz studia przypadków teatrów polskich i zagranicznych. Autor artykułu komentuje przeprowadzone w książce analizy, opisując różne sposoby mitologizacji kategorii zespołowości.
In journalistic publications about cultural policy, there is a prevailing conviction that the system change of 1989 put an end to the prosperity and carefreeness of Polish theaters and made managers of these institutions face many new problems, unknown in the days of communism. In this paper, based on the study of community efforts to strengthen the position of theater managers in relations with authorities, I argue that this view is overly simplistic and idealizes the situation of culture in the communist Poland. The prolonged and complex efforts to determine the rules of theater manager’s work – which took more than fifty years (1958–2011) – are like a television “soap opera.” Hence the paper’s title (loosely) alluding to the Polish TV show Dyrektorzy, popular in 1970s, which portrays managers of the socialist industry, although the paper does not contain as many dramatic turns of events. The analysis of the sources shows the unchanging ills of the Polish theatre life, which moved from socialism to capitalism, from dictatorship to democracy. Theatre managers are still forced to negotiate with authorities.
The main goal of the article is to present the first comprehensive and universal mechanism of financing of culture in Poland – state-earmarked fund, the Culture Development Fund. I present the circumstances of the birth of the idea, the creation and functioning of the Fund. This is one of the most interesting examples of cultural policy reforms in Poland – in the article I present the pros and cons of this solution. This text is part of institutional research on the organization and financing of theater in the People’s Republic of Poland.
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