Search results

1

Brytyjczycy i Amerykanie o teatrze polskim lat zaborów

100%

Deles P., Żuchowski S.

Pamiętnik Teatralny

|

2017

|

vol. 66

|

issue 3(263)

135-170

EN

The publication consists of fragments of 43 English-language texts of varied character, including classic travel accounts, autobiographies, reportages, reminiscences, as well as analytical or problem-focused studies. What they have in common is that their authors share their observations and experiences relating to the theatres and theatre life in the territory of the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the post-partitioning period of 1795–1918. The set is organized chronologically, opening with an account from 1804 and concluding with a report from 1915, so all the documents come from a time after the Third Partition, and several of the latest date from the First World War. They talk about the National Theatre headed by Wojciech Bogusławski, about Franciszek Bohomolec, and Adam Kazimierz Czartoryski, about the legendary 1899 production of Kordian in Cracow, and about the first tango in the Warsaw Nowości Theatre in 1915. They include information about theatre buildings and halls, actors, and repertories, about the way partition authorities related to the Polish theatre, about the audiences and the way they responded in Warsaw, Vilnius, Zamość, Cracow, Lvov, Gdańsk, Poznań, and Kalisz, about the curtain by Henryk Siemiradzki, and about the world-famous Polish actress, Helena Modrzejewska. The period in which the texts were written spans over a hundred years, meaning that the political and social conditions during that time were evolving, which, along with the political views of the authors, influenced the writing perspectives. Thus, the pieces that have been collected here do not form a consistent thematic whole, as they refer to different contexts; nevertheless, they do provide a lot of precious pieces of information and observations that are all the more interesting for having been made by foreigners: people from the outside. The edition is supplied with footnotes with biographical information about the authors of respective accounts.

2

Recenzja książki Małgorzat Bruder, Janusza Deglera, Budynki i wnętrza teatrów w Europie na dawnej pocztówce z kolekcji Janusza Deglera

100%

Komorowski J.

Pamiętnik Teatralny

|

2017

|

vol. 66

|

issue 1-2(261-262)

323-327

EN

In the Henryk Tomaszewski Museum of Theatre that opened in Wrocław on 26–27 March 2017, among other exhibitions devoted to outstanding individuals, there is also The Study of Professor Janusz Degler, which houses the library donated to the Museum by the professor who is a theatre and Witkacy scholar of international renown. And it is here that Professor Degler’s collection of postcards—or more precisely, a carefully selected part of it, a few hundred of several thousand items—has been displayed. This part of the collection is also presented in the wonderfully edited Polish–English catalogue with colour reproductions of the exhibits. There are exactly 597 of them, and additional two in the introductory part. The book takes us on a marvellous journey to the most distant theatrical corners of Europe. We travel from Paris to Petersburg in a blink of an eye. The images change in quick succession, as if in a kaleidoscope: theatre houses great and small, of brick and of wood, historically significant and completely forgotten. The authors of the catalogue rightly boast that it is the first publication in the world to present a unique collection of old postcards displaying theatre architecture. And the exhibition in Wrocław, along with the whole Museum of Theatre, is well worth visiting.

3

Felicji Kruszewskiej przygoda z teatrem

100%

Piekut M.

Pamiętnik Teatralny

|

2017

|

vol. 66

|

issue 4(264)

62-82

EN

A production of Sen [“A Dream”] by Felicja Kruszewska was Edmund Wierciński’s directorial debut. It is difficult to pinpoint when exactly he picked the drama for staging. His correspondence with Maria Wiercińska, his wife and actress who played one of the leading parts in the play, implies that the decision had already been taken in January 1927 and that by that time the work on the play was in full swing. Yet a letter written by the playwright to the director in the later half of February 1927 would make one believe that preliminary talks only just started at that time. The show premiered on 17 March 1927 at the Na Pochulance Theatre, and it was the first presentation of Kruszewska’s work as playwright. Felicja Kruszewska was born in Podolia in 1897; she studied literature on her own and taught herself French and English. Then she studied Polish and English philology at the University of Warsaw and journalism at the School of Political Sciences (Szkoła Nauk Politycznych). She was a humanist by education and an active patriot who served as a medical technician near the end of the First World War and was part of the Home Army underground during the Second World War. She died in unknown circumstances in 1943. She debuted in the press as a poet in 1921 and soon afterwards published two volumes of poetry, Przedwiośnie [“First Spring”] (1923) and Stąd – dotąd [“From There to Here”] (1925). She wrote Sen in 1925 (it appeared in print in 1927). In the following years, she published subsequent books of her poetry as well as autobiographical short stories. Her novel for young adults, Bolesław Chrobry, and drama Pożar teatru [“Theatre on Fire”] burned during the Warsaw Uprising in 1944. The Vilnius opening night caught attention of the public and received numerous reviews. Reviewers, including a well-known Vilnius critic, Czesław Jankowski, indicated some flaws in the literary text, which spurred students from the Polish Philology Circle at the Batory University to defend the drama’s merit. Having left the Reduta, Wierciński wanted to find a place that would allow him and other secessionists to carry on their artistic experiments. Wierciński’s letters to his wife document his search and the final agreement he reached with the manager of the Nowy Theatre in Poznań, where the group of former Reduta actors eventually found work. In Poznań, Wierciński put on Sen as well. And here too, the show caught interest of the audience and critics, which was reported regularly by the local press. The public wanted to watch Sen so much that the theatre postponed the premiere of Gwałtu, co się dzieje [“What the Devil Is Going On?”], a popular comedy by Fredro. In May 1928 when it was performed in Warsaw, Sen attracted large audiences and received numerous reviews in the press, including positive ones by Irzykowski and Horzyca, and a crushing one by Słonimski. It enjoyed similar success in Łódź in 1929, where the play sparked the interest of both the audience and the critics. The last part of the publication contains letters written by the playwright to the director in 1927–1928. Seven of them have survived, and they are currently held in the Special Collections of the Institute of Art of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw (Archiwum Wiercińskich, 1209/5, ff. 37–48). In a February 1927 letter, Kruszewska discusses what she would want to see on the stage, but her remarks do not go beyond her stage directions in the play. In the first letters, she is both bashful and overjoyed; she is first happy that the theatre has taken interest in her play and then satisfied with the effect achieved on stage. In her latest letters she writes about the scene where the Black Army enters the town to take hold of it. She stresses that the crowd should be enthusiastic and not desolate. At the same time, she makes it clear that her comment is limited to interpretation, and where the form is concerned the director is free to do as he pleases.

4

Powojenny teatr w Polsce

100%

Barba E., Partyga E.

Pamiętnik Teatralny

|

2017

|

vol. 66

|

issue 1-2(261-262)

11-19

EN

The essay published in Vinduet in 1963 characterises what the author takes to be the most notable features of the phenomenon of Polish theatre life. By way of introduction, Barba outlines some historical background and then goes on to recount the work of selected theatre directors (Axer, Dejmek, Skuszanka, Swinarski, and most of all, Grotowski) and stage designers (paying most of his attention to Szajna). He is also interested in the teaching of acting and directing at Polish theatre schools, in how the companies are organised, in the amateur and student theatre life, and the development of Polish drama (Broszkiewicz, Mrożek, and Gombrowicz). The portrayal of a blooming theatre life and its multifarious development in Poland was meant to be a challenge and inspiration for the Norwegian artists and intellectuals.

5

Recenzja książki Doroty Jarząbek-Wasyl, Za kulisami. Narodziny przedstawienia w teatrze polskim w XIX wieku

100%

Raszewska M.

Pamiętnik Teatralny

|

2017

|

vol. 66

|

issue 1-2(261-262)

308-316

EN

Za kulisami. Narodziny przedstawienia w teatrze polskim w XIX wieku [Backstage. The Birth of Performance in the Polish Theatre of the 19th Century] by Dorota Jarząbek-Wasyl is the author’s habilitation thesis (Jagiellonian University, 2016). The author, based on impressive library research, presents all aspects of the theatre’s workings, all that happens behind the curtain. She studies official documents (announcements, books of ordinances and orders, work logs) as well as memoirs, letters, and press reports (from an era when “behind-the-scenes” and “inside-the-artist’s-studio” reportages just started becoming popular). Jarząbek-Wasyl uses materials known to theatre historians in a new way: they are not employed for analysing a performance but for describing the process of its production. The author presents a world of personages that no longer exist (such as the theatre copyist, or woźny [assistant house manager]) and notions unknown for today’s theatre-goers (rola [role, part] understood as the actor’s part of the script). The readers get to know the backstage area, its topography and architecture (so much less interesting for the audience than the stage), theatre customs, and finally, problems with costumes, grease paints, fellow actresses, and prejudices. We get a chance to see the process of creating a role and how it changes over the years. This is a book about a veritable maze of the theatre, a maze inaccessible to most viewers.

6

Recenzja książki Magdalen Hasiuk, „Okrutnie dziwna strona” świata. Wokół teatru więziennego (Oficyna Wydawnicza Errata, Warszawa 2015)

100%

Chojnacka A., Hasiuk M.

Pamiętnik Teatralny

|

2016

|

vol. 65

|

issue 3(259)

208-217

EN

The book by Magdalena Hasiuk is the first monograph of Polish prison theatre. The author presents the theatrical work carried on in Polish prisons today against a broad historical background (starting with the gladiator fights, through acts of public executions and punishments, up to the 20th-century penitentiary system reform) and within a rich geographical context (the United States, Great Britain, France, and Italy). By describing and analysing the phenomenon, Hasiuk presents the world of isolation, the problems and emotions of inmates. She pays much attention to women leaders of prison theatre. She believes that the penal institutions have been changing thanks to their presence. Hasiuk distinguishes seven types of prison theatre that differ with respect to what goals the leaders intend to accomplish and what methods they use to get there. Despite this variety, all theatrical activity in prisons is therapeutic. The theatre of the essence, which not only teaches social skills but also aims at transforming the inmates, offers the highest grade of therapy. This is how artist and therapist Krzysztof Papis works. The author deems the therapeutic role of prison theatre to be its most essential aspect, but her research goes further than that. She refers not only to psychological and sociological theories, but also to the work of cultural scholars, theatre theoreticians, and artists. She compares the experience of incarceration and later release from prison to a ritual. She finds traces of the theories and theatre practice of Brook and Grotowski. She shows how the new media are utilised in prison theatre performances. She finds common features of three different social institutions: the convent, the theatre, and the prison. She describes the stage and the prison alike as a space full of locked doors, restrictions that need to be overcome. The motif of crossing the boundaries permeates the whole book. The inmates, leaders, and viewers are all the ones crossing such physical and internal boundaries. Prison theatre requires further research with a necessary participation of psychologists and sociologists. It can change not only prisoners, but also the leaders and the whole penal institution. This monograph, apart from its scholarly merit, carries a profoundly humanist message that we refrain from judgment and try to meet with the other—the excluded. Such description of the prison theatre in Poland would not have been possible if it was not for the author’s personal experience which involved interviews with theatre leaders, inmates, and spectators and watching the rehearsals and performances.

7

Fluctuat nec mergitur

100%

Ciechowicz J.

Pamiętnik Teatralny

|

2013

|

vol. 62

|

issue 1(245)

48–61

EN

Pamiętnik Teatralny, the best Polish (quarterly) academic journal devoted to “history and critique of theatre”, was established in 1952, that is, half a century after Pamiętnik Literacki, the best Polish literary criticism journal. After the death of Leon Schiller, an outstanding man of theatre and the journal’s founder, Pamiętnik Teatralny gained its subheading: “A Quarterly Journal of Theatre History and Criticism, Established by Leon Schiller”. Since its first issues, the cover of the journal has featured a Latin sentence: fluctuat nec mergitur, which is incidentally also the motto of the city of Paris and can be translated as: “it is tossed by the waves, but does not sink.” The motto is accompanied by a picture by unknown author, depicting a “pile” with a theatre mask, a mirror and a harp in the foreground, which is a metaphor of theatre as such. Almost right after Schiller’s death, from 1956 up to 1992, the helm was taken over by the excellent tandem of editors-andprofessors, Zbigniew Raszewski and Bohdan Korzeniewski. From 1952 to 1992, 164 issues of the journal were published, including 37 monographic volumes that had been building the exceptionally high academic prestige of the periodical from its very beginnings.

8

Matka Witkacego. Tragedia rodzinna – zagłada człowieczeństwa w człowieku

80%

Sokół L.

Pamiętnik Teatralny

|

2016

|

vol. 65

|

issue 4(260)

15-32

EN

The Mother (1924), one of the most highly valued plays by Witkacy, is sometimes considered to be a family drama, or a family tragedy or grotesque. It has been widely praised for its brilliant inventiveness and shocking avant-gardism. In 2016 it is worthwhile to refocus on its grim prophetism, which has been forgotten. Witkacy’s catastrophism has not become trivial or out-dated, quite the contrary. Witkacy himself confirms the adequacy of classifying The Mother as a family drama by openly using other family dramas in his play: Ghosts by Ibsen, and—which may be less obvious—The Ghost Sonata by Strindberg. What sets these family dramas apart is their eeriness; they feature vampiric motifs; they expose the secrets and putrid decay hidden behind the façade of a happy bourgeois home that has lost all flavour of tragedy and thus belongs to the category of grotesque. In all of the dramas, what is real turns out to be often a false appearance hiding motivations which can be summed up as metaphysical. The analysis of the Eely family in Witkacy goes further than to show a crisis, or downfall, of the bourgeois world; it aims at showing the downfall of man, and of humanity in a human being. The downfall is gradual. At first, the world starts fading away, and all that has been stable and solid is disintegrating. A rejection of the values and principles of the world as we know it becomes something done easily and unabashedly, and the humanity of man degenerates and withers away. To put it in Witkacy’s own terms, religion, art, and philosophy will die away one by one, and what comes next could be called dehumanisation. The Mother brings a concrete vision of the downfall. Leon proclaims that a prophet of today may be a scumbag. What he means is that the link between moral virtues, represented in the past by the prophet whose dignity and authority were conferred by God, and the merits of his prophesy or mission has been severed. A today’s prophet can be a despicable and contemptible person, and yet his prophesy may still be valid and true. Leon Eely, despite his fiendishness, is still aware of the sheer scope of the imminent doom, and he wants to prevent it. His chances of success are miniscule. People who are de facto human, i.e. Individual Beings sensitive to metaphysics, will perish forever, replaced by people only nominally human whose whole existence is reduced to the processes of production, consumption and reproduction, people who hate metaphysics of any kind and are just post-human, “mechanised” individuals. Leon Eely will pass away into nothingness. After a squad of “ex-people” executes him in an act of revolutionary justice, even his corpse will disappear. Nothing will remain.

9

Pourceaugnac – Dreynar – Niedole przybysza

80%

Kencki P.

Pamiętnik Teatralny

|

2017

|

vol. 66

|

issue 3(263)

43-52

EN

Franciszek Bohomolec wrote his comedies first for theatre shows put on by Jesuit schools and then for the national stage founded by King Stanislaw August Poniatowski. In the first of these phases, the Jesuit poet often adapted works by playwrights who are now classics. One of the authors particularly favoured by him was Molière. Since the Society of Jesus did not allow female characters on stage (the actors performing in the shows were the boys studying in the Jesuit schools), Bohomolec was forced to remodel some motifs, characters and their motivations. Taking Molière’s Monsieur de Pourceaugnac for adaptation, he decided to replace the reason why the title character arrived in the capital. Pourceaugnac travelled from Limoges to Paris to marry a woman who was in love with another man, whereas his Polish counterpart, Dreynar, comes from Wrocław to Warsaw to accept an inheritance from his uncle. In Molière’s play, the misfortunes that befell the good-natured newcomer were concocted by the couple rightfully defending their love. In Bohomolec’s case, the culprit is a relative who is anxious not to lose claim to the inheritance. Dziedzic chytry [A Wily Heir], because this is the title of the Polish adaptation, is thus provided with a message quite different from Molière’s original. The Polish version conveys avarice, hostility towards the stranger, and not a small dose of cynicism. The undeserved indignities and grievances visited upon the newcomer situate the play among the literary works which present an overabundance of human misery, the most emblematic of them being Justine by Marquis de Sade. Since the comedy by Bohomolec is an interesting one, it seems justified to make it available to the readers. With that aim in mind, the present edition and an introduction to it have been prepared.

10

Cztery noty o Witkacym

80%

Degler J.

Pamiętnik Teatralny

|

2016

|

vol. 65

|

issue 4(260)

113-139

EN

The monographic issue of Pamiętnik Teatralny (1985, vols 1–4) devoted to S. I. Witkiewicz on the centennial of his birth, an occasion noted in the UNESCO Calendar of Anniversaries of Great Personalities and Events, featured a text by Jan Kott which comprised six Notes. Each of them had a title and indicated possible sources of inspiration of some works, i.a. The Water Hen, which is ridden with motifs characteristic for modernist dramaturgy, e.g. Lulu by Frank Wedekind. Kott concluded his notes by asserting: “Witkacy the modernist, the historical, anachronistic and decadent one, is still waiting for his director and for his appearance on stage.” It has been fifteen years since Jan Kott passed away on 23 December 2001. These four notes have been written in his memory. 1. Did Witkacy Intend to Return to the Tropics? On 9 April 1918, Maria Witkiewiczowa, Witkacy’s mother, sent a postcard to her friend, Leon Chwistek’s sister, reporting that she had received a letter from her son in Petrograd with the news that he was planning “to return to Poland or to travel to Sumatra.” Enclosed with the letter was the now famous “Multiple Portrait” photograph. Witkacy’s travel with Bronisław Malinowski to the tropics, which began in June 1914 and ended in October of the same year when Witkacy arrived in Petrograd, was an important experience for Witkacy and influenced his painting and other creative work (stories of several of his plays were set in the tropics). Though fascinated with tropical wildlife and nature, like Gauguin and several other artists, he decided not to go to Sumatra; instead, he returned to Poland in July 1918 and described his Ceylon experiences in the reportage “Podróż do Tropików” (‘A Voyage to the Tropics’) that appeared in Echo Tatrzańskie (1919). 2. The Puzzle of Prologue to Pentemychos i Jej Niedoszły Wychowanek The Jadwiga Witkiewiczowa archive contains a single page with a German-language piece of verse which is a fragment of the prologue of the now lost play Pentemychos i Jej niedoszły wychowanek (‘Pentemychos and Her Would-be Pupil’). Witkacy wrote it at the beginning of 1920 and sent its copy to Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz in September 1921 suggesting that it be put on for the opening of the Elsynor Theatre founded by members of the Skamander group. There was, however, no actress to perform the “wonderful female part,” and only the premiere of The Pragmatists took place (29 Dec. 1921). In 1922, while in Zakopane, Witkacy met Ms. Eckert of Hamburg; he gave her a copy of The Water Hen, and she promised to recommend it to a theatre producer in Hamburg. Probably the hope for success of her mission spurred Witkacy to entrust one of his friends with translating Pentemychos i Jej niedoszły kochanek into German. The anticipated Hamburg premiere never panned out. The surviving fragment of the Prologue is probably a part of the aforementioned translation. 3. Witkacy “Honeycombed with Childishness,” or a DIY Way of Improving One’s Kaleidoscope Witkacy had a great sense of humour and exceptional acting talents; he liked putting on a show to spice things up for himself and his friends; he had been known to surprise those around him by making “monstrous faces” and acting in an unconventional way. He had been a passionate collector since childhood. He collected walking sticks and various curios, which he put in his “albums of curiosities.” He was always on the lookout for fun. His favourite toy was a kaleidoscope. He wrote a detailed manual on how to improve it so that anyone could change the images it produced whenever they liked. 4. Grotowski and Witkacy As a student of the Cracow theatre school, Jerzy Grotowski planned to put on The Shoemakers at Wawel in the school year of 1958-59. The school authorities did not approve, and as a result, Grotowski dropped out of school and went to Opole where he became the artistic manager of the 13 Rzędów Theatre. In his first productions, he harked back to the tradition of the Romantics and to Witkacy (i.a. in Kain). When the editorial board of Teatr asked him whose portrait he would hang up in his directorial office, Grotowski replied that it would be of four “martyrs” of the theatre: Artaud, Witkacy, Meyerhold, and Stanislavsky. He was also interested in Witkacy’s theatrical experiences during his stay in Russia in 1914–1918. This issue is, however, still open, requiring archival research.

11

Sukces czy niepowodzenie? O francuskiej realizacji Szewców Tadeusza Kantora

80%

Czerska K.

Pamiętnik Teatralny

|

2015

|

vol. 64

|

issue 2(254)

37-51

EN

The production based on The Shoemakers by Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz realised by Tadeusz Kantor at Malakoff near Paris in 1972 was not a success he had expected. This is probably the reason why we know little about it, as it was not received favourably by Parisian theatre critics. Yet it marked a very important phase in the development of Kantor’s theatre, and it had a remarkable influence on his subsequent productions. Both the dramaturgical and visual aspects of The Shoemakers production may serve as a starting point for broader research on Kantor’s theatre oeuvre. It is possible to reconstruct the spectacle based on the surviving photographs, stage designs, notes and reminiscences. Emballages played an important role in the performance as kind of “wrappings” that restricted the actors’ movements. The props, costumes and bio-objects constituted a very interesting visual side of the production, further enhanced by references to the art of painters whom Kantor admired. Visually, then, the production was well thought out, even though Kantor did not manage to realise all of the things he had planned; among other things, he failed to create “folk atmosphere”, to some extent related to his plans for staging The Wedding by Wyspiański.

12

Śmietnisko kultury i wieczna kobiecość

80%

Koecher-Hensel A.

Pamiętnik Teatralny

|

2013

|

vol. 62

|

issue 3-4(247-248)

119-164

EN

The article traces out the origins of The Old Woman Broods, emphasising the significance of the visual dimension of the text – “a tachist drama”,to use Szajna’s expression – where an important role is played by the opposition between open and closed space. Major productions of the drama are then examined, starting with the acclaimed premiere of the play directed by Jerzy Jarocki at the Współczesny Theatre in Wrocław in 1969, followed by other notable attempts to translate the intricate structure of the drama into the language of the stage: at the Schauspielhaus in Cologne in 1971, directed by Aleksander Bardini; at the Jaracz Theatre in Łódź in 1974, staged by Ewa Bułhak and Jerzy Grzegorzewski; at the Narodowy Theatre in Warsaw in 1978, directed by Helmut Kajzar; and at the Studio Stage of the Norwid Theatre in Jelenia Górain 1995, directed by Andrzej Bubień. Additionally, the overview includes two productions where fragments of the drama and its title character constitute an essential part of the performances: the monodrama Stara kobieta ("The Old Woman") featuring Irena Jun at the Studio Theatre in Warsaw in 1988, and Jaim jeszcze pokażę. Hommage à Różewicz ("I’m Gonna Show Them Yet. Hommage à Różewicz") put on by Piotr Lachmann at the Poza Video-theatre in Warsaw in 2012.

13

Molière w teatrach warszawskich (1870–1919). Rekonesans

80%

Bieńka M. O.

Pamiętnik Teatralny

|

2015

|

vol. 64

|

issue 3-4(255-256)

180-219

EN

Molière in Warsaw Theatres (1870–1919). A Reconnaissance

14

„Burzliwy i krańcowy protest przeciwko naturalizmowi Reduty”. Debiut reżyserski Edmunda Wiercińskiego

80%

Chojnacka A.

Pamiętnik Teatralny

|

2017

|

vol. 66

|

issue 4(264)

43-61

EN

The premiere of Sen [“A Dream”] by Felicja Kruszewska put on by the Reduta took place on 27 March 1927 in the Na Pohulance Theatre with stage setting designed by Iwo Gall and music composed by Edward Dziewulski. It was Edmund Wierciński’s directorial debut. The artist had been a member of the Reduta company, ran by Osterwa and Limanowski, since 1921. It was where he studied acting and directing. He gained some valuable experience in directing and staging when the Reduta toured the Eastern Borderlands in 1924. The company performed in halls unfit for the purpose and showed Schiller’s Wielkanoc [“The Easter”] outdoor more than a dozen times, which required numerous staging alterations. Wierciński was the one to make them, since he was the artistic director of the whole enterprise. In 1925 the Reduta moved to Vilnius. The company ceased to be a laboratory theatre it had been; as the only theatre in town it had to attract audiences; the methods of work changed, the number of premiere shows increased while the number of rehearsals and the amounts of time spent on thorough analysis of the dramas decreased; and the repertory now included best selling shows. The level of artistic quality lowered; and the search for novel means of artistic expression was replaced with naturalism. Wierciński would not accept it. His production of Sen was, as he put it, “a tempestuous and radical protest against the naturalism of the Reduta.” Girl, the protagonist of the play, has a dream that she has been entrusted with a mission to rescue her town from the Black Army. No one except for her sees the danger; no one understands her, and everybody is trying to set her back. The drama can be interpreted in various ways. In reference to the interwar period, the most viable reading is that it portrays Poland that has regained independence but is not able to really put it to her advantage, accepting the societal mediocrity and low morality. Wierciński wrung out the whole emotionally charged meaning of the text, thus putting on an expressionist show that relied heavily on deformation, caricature, mechanic movements, and repetitive gestures and sounds. Nothing looked onstage as it did in reality. Wierciński himself took on the part of Green Clown [Zielony Pajac], the most grotesque character of all. Most of the theatre reviewers criticised the drama, but they all agreed in their high appraisal of the theatrical production. Osterwa, however, deemed the show to be contrary to the Reduta values, which led to a split within the company. Wierciński with a group of other artists left the Reduta. The secessionists were then hired for a short period of time by the Nowy Theatre in Poznań, where Wierciński put on Sen again in September 1927. For the third time, he directed the play by Kruszewska at the Miejskie Theatres in Łódź in 1929. Wierciński was known to analyse his works thoroughly and eagerly. He considered Sen to be a necessary step for the development of theatre, yet he saw the pitfalls of venturing further in this direction, which might lead to the primacy of director and form over the creative potential of actors that would then be lost and unappreciated. All in all, Wierciński believed that the theatre should give precedence to the drama and playwright in determining the form of the play and that actors ought to be fully appreciated for their participation and involvement in the creative process. He followed these principles in his theatrical work more and more noticeably. His directorial debut was a spectacular protest that marked the beginning of an artistic journey from expressionism and dominance of form, through naturalism and socially engaged theatre, to the great poetic drama, from the primacy of form to a synthesis.

15

Polskie teatry w Moskwie (1915–1918)

80%

Osińska K.

Pamiętnik Teatralny

|

2017

|

vol. 66

|

issue 1-2(261-262)

67-121

EN

The article and the annex it is supplied with presents a little-known episode in the history of Polish theatre during the First World War. In July 1915, when the German army was drawing close to Warsaw, a part of the population was evacuated to Russia. The refugees included a number of people of the theatre, with such outstanding individuals as Stefan Jaracz, Juliusz Osterwa, Mieczysław Limanowski, Wojciech Brydziński, Wincenty Drabik, Arnold Szyfman, and others. The first Polish theatre was launched in Moscow in September 1915. The present reconstruction of this and other Polish theatre endeavours in Moscow is based on the body of known and published Polish sources as well as on previously unknown and unpublished in Poland Russian press reviews. The annex comprises reviews of Polish theatre premieres and reports about Polish-Russian cultural undertakings that appeared in the following Russian weeklies and dailies: Russkiye vedomosti, Rampa i zhizn, Teatr, Teatralnaya gazeta, and Kievskaya mysl. The last of these, a Russian-language daily published in Kiev, featured a large article about Polish drama, with a special emphasis on Stanisław Wyspiański, written by Yakov Tugenhold. All the texts have been found as a result of on-site library searches of Russian press archives; except for the article by Tugenhold, they have not been reprinted in Russia.

16

Korespondencja Janusza Warmińskiego i Kazimierza Dejmka

80%

Kielak-Dudzik A.

Pamiętnik Teatralny

|

2017

|

vol. 66

|

issue 1-2(261-262)

263-291

EN

Janusz Warmiński and Kazimierz Dejmek belonged to the generation of Polish theatre directors who started out their careers after the Second World War had ended. They first met in Łódź, where, along with the Grupa Młodych Aktorów [the Group of Young Actors], they founded the Nowy State Theatre, a paragon of the stage meeting the requirements of the doctrine of Socialist Realism. One would expect that Janusz Warmiński and Kazimierz Dejmek went their separate ways in 1952, when the former became head of the Ateneum Theatre in Warsaw whereas Dejmek stayed in Łódź. It would, however, be an overstatement because, as the correspondence published here testifies, they stayed friends and kept in touch for all the years when each worked toward their own vision of theatre, and they could count on each other’s help even at the most critical junctures of their careers. The correspondence presented here is a selection of letters exchanged between Warmiński and Dejmek in 1959–1976. The letters, especially the ones from 1964 and from the turn of the 1960s and 1970s, bring many revelations. Warmiński wrote to Dejmek from the USA, where he lectured at the University of Kansas, Kansas City, and Dejmek wrote to Warmiński when he travelled around Europe after he left Poland at the end of the 1960s. The correspondence focuses mostly on artistic matters. It documents creative puzzles and doubts that both of these great directors faced on a day-to-day basis. It is also very informative when it comes to the social and political circumstances of the theatre life in Poland after the Second World War. The letters published in this issue of Pamiętnik Teatralny are an important and very much needed source of biographical information about both artists. The letters by Warmiński to Dejmek are from the collection of the Zbigniew Raszewski Theatre Institute in Warsaw; the letters by Dejmek to Warmiński come from the archive of the Stefan Jaracz Ateneum Theatre in Warsaw.

17

O dramatach Różewicza i metafizyce bycia

80%

Ratajczakowa D.

Pamiętnik Teatralny

|

2013

|

vol. 62

|

issue 3-4(247-248)

7-36

EN

The text brings an attempt to grasp a basic set of conditions determining the dramatic work by Tadeusz Różewicz, the greatest Polish playwright of the second half of the 20th century. I set aside postmodernism as being insignificant as far as Różewicz’s plays and the proposed interpretation are concerned; I also leave off the viewpoint of avant-gardes because Różewicz has never been anavant-garde poet, even though it is obvious that avant-gardes are partly responsible for the condition of contemporary art. There are three basic contexts that I bring up in my reading: the first is the act of overcoming and discarding the traditional metaphysics of substantive being, concurrent with the emergence of new metaphysics of existence which has made it possible to grasp the hitherto overlooked truth of ordinary being and to ask about its sense; secondly, there is the situation of an author and his or her work after the end of the arts and letters when the old frameworks of poetry and theatre are in ruins; and thirdly, there is the total deficit of meaning, aggravated additionally by the totalitarian regime. In his search for the meaning of life – a meaning of small proportions, ordinary and absolutely conditional – Różewicz must concentrate on an individual being that exists in this regime, with the influence it exerts on how the meaning is sensed, whether it is lacking or misapprehended. He does so using forms that are for various reasons crippled, negated, or amalgamated, because the only forms that he has at his disposal are burdened with tradition and he tries to scrape off their veneer. He does not care about their canonicity and aesthetic categories, but it is obvious that for Różewicz the question about the meaning of life includes the question about the sense of creating. Faced with the ruin of meanings and values, he has found his chance to restore meaning by turning to the human body, to what has been inscribed in it by both nature and culture, which is to say that it is a turn towards both physiology and writing. Generally speaking, Różewicz’s (not only dramatic) work is the furthest reaching consequence of the process overriding various traditions in life and art and the process of looking for substitutes for the things that have been lost beyond saving.

18

„Do nieba? Bluźnisz daremnie”. Faust – Marlowe – Grotowski

80%

Kosiński D.

Pamiętnik Teatralny

|

2016

|

vol. 65

|

issue 1-2(257-258)

5-49

EN

The article deals with the production of Tragiczne dzieje doktora Fausta (The Tragical History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus) after Christopher Marlowe directed by Jerzy Grotowski and put on by the Laboratorium 13 Rzędów Theatre in Opole (premiered on 23 April 1963). The show became famous mostly for Zbigniew Cynkutis’ outstanding performance in the title role and Jerzy Gurawski’s stage set. It was also the first of Grotowski’s productions that garnered international acclaim. Until now, however, not enough attention has been paid to its dramaturgy and overall significance as an autonomous piece of artistic expression; instead, it has been viewed mostly as a step on the way to Grotowski’s more mature theatre. By reconstructing and recounting the particular scenes in chronological order the author presents his own interpretation of each of them and of the performance as a whole. Through this process, almost scandalous associations of great historical and ethical themes (e.g. theology after the Holocaust) with personal struggles with private inhibitions and intimate experiences can be found. It is through such associations that Tragiczne dzieje doktora Fausta was named “a mystery of awe and wonder.”

19

Metateatralne elementy dramatów Witkacego

80%

Pawlak P.

Pamiętnik Teatralny

|

2016

|

vol. 65

|

issue 3(259)

169-178

EN

Following in the footsteps of Alf Sjöberg and Krystyna Ruta-Rutkowska, the author of the article finds metatheatrical elements in the plays by Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz and by doing so casts doubt on the assertion made by Jan Błoński that it is inherent for characters of the Pure Form plays to be aware of their role playing. The article examines auto-commentaries and musings of the characters in Oni (‘They’) and Matka (The Mother) on the existential status of themselves and the world they inhabit. It seems that the attempts to escape their non-Euclidean spacetimes by the characters of Kurka wodna (The Water Hen) and Mątwa (The Cuttlefish) are a metatheatrical device, whereas the co-existence of the living and the dead and of reality and dream are not. Introduction of off-stage personages, spoken stage directions, or the use of tables or banners bringing to mind medieval mansion banners as parts of stage setting can be considered metatheatrical elements. Witkacy uses the motifs of theatrum mundi and a play within a play on numerous occasions, and he bravely applies the old-fashioned partes minores in the construction of his plays. The following may serve as good examples: Maciej Korbowa i Bellatrix (Maciej Korbowa and Bellatrix), Nowe Wyzwolenie (The New Deliverance), Tumor Mózgowicz (Tumor Brainiowicz). The Second Apprentice in Szewcy (‘The Cobblers’) turns out to be an intertextual medium, and Bezimienne dzieło (The Anonymous Work) is a warning against bioengineering, being a central motif of Gyubal Wahazar as well. When Witkacy’s characters usurp the power of the author of the text whose part they are, the readers and audiences are faced with a serious hermeneutic dilemma.

20

SPATIF Leona Schillera

80%

Chojnacka A.

Pamiętnik Teatralny

|

2012

|

vol. 61

|

issue 1-2(241-242)

143-210

EN

The Society of Polish Theatre and Film Artists (Stowarzyszenie Polskich Artystów Teatru i Filmu: SPATiF) was a continuation of the Polish Stage Artists Union (Związek Artystów Scen Polskich; ZASP) established by and for actors and directors in 1918. Leon Schiller had been its active member since the beginning. ZASP had made it its goal to evaluate and improve its members’ professional qualifications, and took care of various organisational and artistic matters. During the Second World War, the union organised help for actors in need and took part in some activities of the Polish underground. In 1945, as more and more of Poland’s territory was being freed from the Nazi oppression, new theatre companies and local trade union organisations were being formed. The Communist government, however, aimed at bringing all trade unions into submission. Thus, in 1949, a decision to dissolve six trade unions of artists, including ZASP, was made. Soon afterwards, they were all replaced by a single Trade Union of Arts and Culture Workers (Związek Zawodowy Pracowników Sztuki i Kultury) which was controlled by the Central Council of Trade Unions (Centralna Rada Związków Zawodowych), with party dignitaries holding the reins. Actors and directors were right to conclude that the new union would not represent their interests properly and decided to establish their own organisation. The process of its formation was controlled by the party. SPATiF was established at the Formation Conference held on 11 and 12 of July 1950. Schiller became its first president and right at the start presented an extensive programme. He proposed repertories with Romantic drama, professional and ideological training courses, organisation of a central library, publishing of theatrological literature and the society’s own periodical, and organisation of artistic councils in theatres. The assumption was that the society would have real influence on decisions concerning theatre. Yet SPATiF was not a trade union, and it was ignored by the government. The Managerial Board of SPATiF organised local branches of the Society but focused its activity on Warsaw. The organisation managed to collect a substantial number of books for its library; it organised numerous lectures, discussions, courses, meetings with artists from abroad, and actors’ jubilees. The Society engaged in important cultural and political events, i.e. general election to Sejm in 1952 or the Tenth Anniversary of the People’s Republic of Poland celebrations. It provided social help for its members and their families, and funded the Shelter for Veteran Artists in Skolimów. Despite numerous efforts of the President and the whole SPATiF, it had been impossible to establish any satisfactory principles of cooperation between the Society and the Central Management of Theatres Office, the Ministry of Culture and the Trade Union of Arts and Culture Workers. Schiller died on 25 March 1954. His duties were taken over by Vice-President Marian Wyrzykowski. The first General Meeting of the Society Members took place in 1955. Neither then nor later did the relations between SPATiF and the government improve.

Refine search results

Brytyjczycy i Amerykanie o teatrze polskim lat zaborów

Recenzja książki Małgorzat Bruder, Janusza Deglera, Budynki i wnętrza teatrów w Europie na dawnej pocztówce z kolekcji Janusza Deglera

Felicji Kruszewskiej przygoda z teatrem

Powojenny teatr w Polsce

Recenzja książki Doroty Jarząbek-Wasyl, Za kulisami. Narodziny przedstawienia w teatrze polskim w XIX wieku

Recenzja książki Magdalen Hasiuk, „Okrutnie dziwna strona” świata. Wokół teatru więziennego (Oficyna Wydawnicza Errata, Warszawa 2015)

Fluctuat nec mergitur

Matka Witkacego. Tragedia rodzinna – zagłada człowieczeństwa w człowieku

Pourceaugnac – Dreynar – Niedole przybysza

Cztery noty o Witkacym

Sukces czy niepowodzenie? O francuskiej realizacji Szewców Tadeusza Kantora

Śmietnisko kultury i wieczna kobiecość

Molière w teatrach warszawskich (1870–1919). Rekonesans

„Burzliwy i krańcowy protest przeciwko naturalizmowi Reduty”. Debiut reżyserski Edmunda Wiercińskiego

Polskie teatry w Moskwie (1915–1918)

Korespondencja Janusza Warmińskiego i Kazimierza Dejmka

O dramatach Różewicza i metafizyce bycia

„Do nieba? Bluźnisz daremnie”. Faust – Marlowe – Grotowski

Metateatralne elementy dramatów Witkacego

SPATIF Leona Schillera