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1

Fluctuat nec mergitur

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Ciechowicz J.

Pamiętnik Teatralny

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2013

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vol. 62

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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.

2

Brytyjczycy i Amerykanie o teatrze polskim lat zaborów

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Deles P., Żuchowski S.

Pamiętnik Teatralny

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2017

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vol. 66

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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.

3

Felicji Kruszewskiej przygoda z teatrem

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Piekut M.

Pamiętnik Teatralny

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2017

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vol. 66

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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

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

100%

Raszewska M.

Pamiętnik Teatralny

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2017

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vol. 66

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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.

5

Teatralne role Edith Piaf

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Gajos M.

Pamiętnik Teatralny

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2016

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vol. 65

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issue 1-2(257-258)

225-239

EN

Edith Piaf is one of the greatest icons of French culture in the 20th century. This exceptional singer was born in 1915 and died in 1963. Last year in December was the centennial of her birthday, an excellent occasion to take a closer look at the artist’s life and achievements. Today, the public remembers Edith Piaf mostly for her singing. She is still recognised as an unsurpassable master of vocal interpretation, endowed with an immediately recognisable, unique voice. But Edith Piaf was also a theatrical and film actress who had dramas and movie scenarios written specifically for her. Her acting accomplishments are impressive, even though in the minds of her fans she is still associated mostly with her singing career. The article aims at presenting Edith Piaf as a theatre actress. The productions in which Edit Piaf performed as an actress are presented from a diachronic and analytical perspective. Not only the plays written especially for Piaf by dramaturge Jean Cocteau and librettist Marcel Achard, in which she performed on stage, but also radio dramas in which she played have been taken into account. In addition, the study discusses the opinions about Piaf’s acting artistry, including those published in the French press.

6

Efekt zwierciadła. W poszukiwaniu widza Calderonowskiego theatrum mundi

80%

Baczńska B.

Pamiętnik Teatralny

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2016

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vol. 65

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issue 3(259)

81-102

EN

The article focuses on the theatrum mundi metaphor in Calderón, viewed in the context of the debate concerning the metatheatrical dimension of his plays. It discusses studies on the subject preceding the metatheatre theory by Lionel Abel (Ernst R. Curtius, Walter Benjamin, Jean Jacquot), as well as the ensuing debate on metatheatre among Spanish Golden Age scholars and its implications for the comedia research (Henryk Ziomek, Catherine Larson, Thomas A. O’Connor, F. P. Casa, Urszula Aszyk, Katarzyna Mroczkowska-Brand, Jonathan Thacker, Graciela Balestrino, Kasia Lech). Sławomir Świontek’s concept of metatheatre is applied to analyse La vida es sueño and El gran teatro del mundo, and both are shown to be paradigmatic and exemplary metatheatre plays. The author discusses the meta-enunciative properties of dramatic dialogue and its metatheatrical cues in Calderón and underscores the importance of the mise en abyme effect implied by the distinctly self-reflexive qualities of the plays. The use of metatheatrical devices is studied throughout the playwright’s work, in the comedia (La vida es sueño and Amor, honor y poder), auto sacramental (El gran teatro del mundo and La protestación de la fe), as well as entremés (El toreador), and mojiganga (Mundinovo, Las visiones de la muerte). The resulting metatheatrical quality, achieved through Calderón’s targeting on the spectator-actor and reality-fiction relations, lets the audience look into the mirror of theatre to see infinitely reproducing reflexions of themselves, viz. the theatre of the world.

7

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

80%

Chojnacka A.

Pamiętnik Teatralny

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2017

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vol. 66

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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.

8

Recenzja książki Andrieja Moskwina Teatr białoruski 1920–1930. Odrodzenie i zagłada (Warszawa 2013)

80%

Kuligowska-Korzeniewska A.

Pamiętnik Teatralny

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2014

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vol. 63

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issue 1-2(249-250)

306-311

EN

The book by Andriej Moskwin focuses on the Belarusian theatre of the inter-war period, at the time of awakening of the national culture and its later obliteration. Discussing the decade of 1920–1930, the author presents outstanding artists, the history of the Belarusian State Theatre, and development of Belarusian drama. Moskwin, not without reason, claims to have discovered and described the programme of the Belarusian national theatre. It is one of the book’s qualities. The author does not make any groundbreaking historical discoveries but argues that his description of them “is still thematically relevant”. As far as academic standards are concerned, the book is exemplary (the research carried out to date, biographies of the artists, reconstructions of shows, repertory, etc.), thus filling out a substantial gap in our knowledge of our close neighbours.

9

SPATIF Leona Schillera

80%

Chojnacka A.

Pamiętnik Teatralny

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2012

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vol. 61

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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.

10

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

80%

Kosiński D.

Pamiętnik Teatralny

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2016

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vol. 65

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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.”

11

„Takie samo miejsce” dla „orłów i komarów Parnasu”, czyli jaki dramat (i jaki teatr dla tego dramatu) zaprojektowali nasi oświeceni

80%

Ratajczak D.

Pamiętnik Teatralny

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2017

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vol. 66

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issue 3(263)

5-15

EN

The intent of the article has been to demonstrate how goals set by Polish Enlighteners for the theatre and the assumptions they shared, coupled with the circumstances and conditions of theatre entrepreneurship at the time, led willy-nilly to the formation of a popular theatre and the development of analogical popular drama. For it would be a gross misunderstanding to treat this theatre and drama as a highly artistic enterprise, even though the resultant institution was flexible enough to be able to put on other kinds of shows as well. Nonetheless, such attributes as the theatre’s educative and utilitarian qualities, i.e. that it was politically engaged, responsive to the current realities of life, programmatic, entertainment-oriented, and willing to perform for a broad spectrum of audiences, are indeed marks of its popular character. A pragmatic approach to the stage was reinforced by the royal subsidies as well. In this situation, a new profession of the repertory supplier emerged, represented not only by Jan Baudouin or Franciszek Zabłocki, but also by numerous other authors who tried their hand at playwriting, even though they had not been involved in writing literature before. And since the theatre audiences were quickly gaining autonomy and soon started making their own demands, it became clear that the neoclassical aesthetic was bound to give way to non-classical tendencies. What emerged was a generally popular form of theatre enterprise that became a major influence on the ensuing development and evolution of the 19th-century stage. The intent of the article has been to demonstrate how goals set by Polish Enlighteners for the theatre and the assumptions they shared, coupled with the circumstances and conditions of theatre entrepreneurship at the time, led willy-nilly to the formation of a popular theatre and the development of analogical popular drama. For it would be a gross misunderstanding to treat this theatre and drama as a highly artistic enterprise, even though the resultant institution was flexible enough to be able to put on other kinds of shows as well. Nonetheless, such attributes as the theatre’s educative and utilitarian qualities, i.e. that it was politically engaged, responsive to the current realities of life, programmatic, entertainment-oriented, and willing to perform for a broad spectrum of audiences, are indeed marks of its popular character. A pragmatic approach to the stage was reinforced by the royal subsidies as well. In this situation, a new profession of the repertory supplier emerged, represented not only by Jan Baudouin or Franciszek Zabłocki, but also by numerous other authors who tried their hand at playwriting, even though they had not been involved in writing literature before. And since the theatre audiences were quickly gaining autonomy and soon started making their own demands, it became clear that the neoclassical aesthetic was bound to give way to non-classical tendencies. What emerged was a generally popular form of theatre enterprise that became a major influence on the ensuing development and evolution of the 19th-century stage.

12

Listy Anieli Aszpergerowej do rodziny Młodnickich

80%

Kubik A.

Pamiętnik Teatralny

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2017

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vol. 66

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issue 1-2(261-262)

209-225

EN

This is an edition of previously unpublished letters written by actress Aniela Aszperger (1816–1904) to Wanda and Karol Młodnicki and to their daughter, Maryla Wolska. The letters, covering the years 1874–1901, come from the Home Archive of the Pawlikowskis, now in the collection of the Jagiellonian Library. The correspondence contains much information relating to the realities of Aniela Aszperger’s life, reveals her character traits and personality, which may come in handy in interpreting her acting. The letters are also a valuable document of an artistic friendship. The correspondence is prefaced with a biographical note on Aszperger, who debuted in 1835 in Warsaw, but for most of her professional life was associated with Lemberg (Lwów), for a number of years being the toast of the stage at the Skarbkowski Theatre. Being active in the social and political life of the city, she became a living legend. The biographical note brings a number of new findings and clarifies some details of fact.

13

Archipelag Marivaux. Wyspa niewolników – Wyspa Rozumu – Kolonia

80%

Olkusz P.

Pamiętnik Teatralny

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2017

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vol. 66

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issue 3(263)

84-104

EN

One of the important and widespread motifs in the French culture of the first half of the 18th century, from painting to literature, was that of imaginary voyages: voyages imaginaires. Marivaux makes frequent use of it in his work, most notably in his three comedies: L’île des Esclaves, L’île de la Raison, and La Nouvelle Colonie ou la Ligue des femmes (or Colonie, in its later version). All the three plays, set on islands, may be called comedies of manners, but we can find a conscious social reform proposal in them, too: Marivaux would thus be a proponent of abolishing slavery and of equal rights for women. And though such a reading should not dismissed, it seems more appropriate to analyse the works as exercises in imagination. They are utopias, from the point of view of Marivaux and his times, impossible to become a reality and thus belonging to a world of fantasy, which is not to say that they did not influence the consciousness of the 18th-century French. This “conceiving of the inconceivable” let the contemporaries go beyond their limits and break away from schematic thinking, perhaps contributing to political and social change more effectively than a rational critique would.

14

Słowacki na uniwersytecie

80%

Jędrychowski Z.

Pamiętnik Teatralny

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2016

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vol. 65

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issue 1-2(257-258)

114-138

EN

The article presents the time spanning 1825–1828, when Julisz Słowacki studied at Vilnius University; it specifies and describes the places where he lived for longer periods of time. The article also describes the location of Belweder, the summer residence and garden of August Bécu, to which Słowacki often went for a stroll. The article fills some gaps concerning the poet’s student life. Thanks to discovering a copy of the diploma, the mark transcript and some information concerning the completion of studies, the author has been able to determine which students of the Faculty of Moral and Political Sciences received a monetary prize, who was awarded an honourable mention, what the subject of Słowacki’s final paper was and when Słowacki left Vilnius for good.

15

Pamięć o dawnym teatrze

80%

Kencki P.

Pamiętnik Teatralny

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2013

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vol. 62

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issue 1(245)

69–76

EN

The text constitutes an attempt at summarising the presence of old-theatre, and especially old-Polish-theatre, related themes in Pamiętnik Teatralny. In particular, who among theatre scholars, literature historians, historians of art, musicologists or historians studying the older epochs collaborated with our quarterly? Then, what were the subjects addressed (old European theatre, old Polish spectacles, Oriental traditions) and what monographic issues were devoted to the stages of the First Polish Republic or the beginnings of the National Theatre. The last part of the article deals with the policy of successive editorial boards concerning the presence of old theatre history in Pamiętnik Teatralny.

16

Egzemplarz teatralny – między repertuarem a archiwum

80%

Poskuta-Włodek D.

Pamiętnik Teatralny

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2016

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vol. 65

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issue 1-2(257-258)

50-74

EN

For contemporary scholarship, the status of sources to theatre history is changing, and they are therefore subject to attempts at redefining them. On the one hand, development of new technologies enables us to gain almost limitless access to archival documents; on the other hand, however, some doubts are raised concerning the point of their use, since it is impossible to reconstruct or recount a theatre performance from the past based on them, anyway. Yet it is the essence of the theatre historian’s method to constantly experience the rudimentariness of artefacts and ephemerality of theatre. For Polish researchers of younger generations, studying sources does not preclude interest in performance. The issue of theatre memory and the writing or rewriting of history is prevalent in new theories and methods. Ever-newer propositions of tackling it are advanced, e.g. the archive versus repertoire concepts derived from Diane Taylor’s reflexion or ideas based on Rebecca Schneider’s reflexion about the body as archive versus the body as memory medium. Theoretical classification propositions stemming from the notion that some documents become petrified and others need to be made with an ideal recording of performance in mind, which were put forward by Stefania Skwarczyńska, need to be revised, whereas Zbigniew Raszewski’s take on the documentation problem, closer to that of performance studies, turns out to be still useful, which can be confirmed by the on-growing supply of hard-copy and digital documentation that forces us to look for a new classification of it and to acknowledge that all kinds of source documentation to the history of theatre, and theatrical copies in particular, have performative qualities. Their variety and transitional character of the latter makes it possible to acknowledge the performativity of theatre history sources, which could become a common ground for the classical history and new methodological inquiries.

17

Kantorowskie wynalazki. Między przedmiotem magicznym a maszyną

80%

Fazan K.

Pamiętnik Teatralny

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2015

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vol. 64

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issue 2(254)

67-96

EN

Objects of Kantor’s imagination filled his paintings, theatrical productions and writings. The article reflects upon their material existence in the performances and their subsequent “museum life”, freed from the context of theatrical performance. Objects of Kantor’s art are viewed here both as embodiments of an eternal dream of theatre involving a mechanical invention that would live in art and as consequences of the avant-garde search for form arising from critical reflexion on technological and cultural progress. Such an object is, thus, a magical form yielding circus-like and ludic effects within a theatrical performance and a machine, or apparatus, employing modern technology and entering into ambivalent relationships with human presence. Machine is a human invention (made by a miracle man, artist, engineer, researcher) and a projection of dreams and anxieties experienced by the individual subjected to pressures of technological progress. Tadeusz Kantor had a peculiar way of taking note of this function; during the Second World War he introduced Goplana not through a performing actress that would represent the fairy-tale character of Julisz Słowacki’s Romantic drama but through the “razor of history”, a formal construction threatening in its expressive qualities (Balladyna, 1943). He created intuitive spaces of exclusion in the form of the Aneantisation Machine for his production of The Madman and the Nun (1963) based on Stanisław I. Witkiewicz’s drama and the Final Judgment Trumpet in Gdzie są niegdysiejsze śniegi (“Where Are the Snows of Yesteryear”, 1973). He treated his inventions as discoveries of unbridled artistic imagination (emballages, cambriolages, ready-mades feeding off reality), as objects of prophecies, apocalyptic visions or historiosophical and metaphysical conclusions: Mr Daguerre’s Invention (Wielopole, Wielopole, 1980), Bodies of Power (“Organa władzy”) in Dziś są moje urodziny (“Today Is My Birthday”, 1990). To him, an object was an actor.

18

Dwa listy Zbigniewa Raszewskiego

80%

Osiński Z.

Pamiętnik Teatralny

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2013

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vol. 62

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issue 1(245)

62–68

EN

I encountered for the first time a cult-like reverence surrounding Zbigniew Raszewski while I studied Polish philology at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań. Such air was exuded especially by some of his colleagues, Jarosław Maciejewski in particular. Krystyna Skuszanka, also a graduate of the Polish philology in Poznań and a participant of the Master’s degree seminar taught by Professor Zygmunt Szweykowski, was part of that circle of followers as well. These people appeared among authors of articles in Pamiętnik Teatralny and contributed their papers to a 630-page-long jubilee book, Prace o literaturze i teatrze ofiarowane Zygmuntowi Szweykowskiemu (‘Papers on Literature and Theatre Offered Up to Zygmunt Szweykowski’, Wydawnictwo Zakładu Narodowego imienia Ossolińskich: Wrocław, 1966). The Table of Content starts with a portrait of the celebrated professor written by Raszewski and ends with my article Dramaty Jana Kasprowicza na scenach polskich (‘Jan Kasprowicz’s Dramas on Polish Stages’). I first met Doctor Raszewski personally in Opole on 15 March 1963. Right after a performance of Akropolis according to Wyspiański put on by Jerzy Grotowski and Józef Szajna at the house of the Laboratorium 13 Rzędów Theatre there was a meeting in a post-German flat, part of which was leased by Eugenio Barba, where an extended team of Pamiętnik Teatralny met. I am publishing here two letters Raszewski wrote to me. The first one is a reply I received after I submitted the manuscript of Kronika życia i twórczości Mieczysława Limanowskiego (‘A Chronicle of Mieczysław Limanowski’s Life and Creative Work’), and the other is Raszewski’s reply to an invitation to the newly-founded Centre for Study of Jerzy Grotowski’s Work and of Cultural and Theatrical Research in Wrocław where, on 14 July 1990, a public meeting with Irena Byrska was to be held, accompanied by a pre-premiere screening of the film Racja teatru. Spotkanie z Ireną Byrską (‘Theatre’s Rationale. A Meeting with Irena Byrska’) directed by Krzysztof Domagalik. Both these letters tell a lot about Raszewski as an editor, about his way of collaborating with authors (in this case, me), and about his expectations and requirements.

19

Komedie Goldoniego w polskim oświeceniu. Aspekty metateatralne

80%

Łukaszewicz J.

Pamiętnik Teatralny

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2016

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vol. 65

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issue 3(259)

103-116

EN

More than a few plays by Carlo Goldoni have metatheatrical qualities. The article probes the presence of play within a play and self-reflexivity in five surviving eighteenth-century Polish translations of Goldoni’s comedies and compares them with the Italian and French originals: La moglie saggia (1752; Żona poczciwa, 1766), La vedova scaltra (1748; Panna rozumna, 1774), L’avvocato veneziano (1749/1750; Mecenas poczciwy, 1779), L’amante militare (1751; Miłość żołnierska, 1781), and Le Bourru bienfaisant (1771; Dziwak dobroczynny, 1785). Close examination reveals that the Polish versions employ theatre-related vocabulary less frequently than it can be seen in the original plays; on the other hand, however, the Polish translators have a marked tendency to mention the title of the comedy in the concluding lines of the play, which is a basic form of jeu de miroirs. The translators of La moglie saggia and L’avvocato veneziano who, in keeping with the idea of domesticating adaptation advocated by the Enlightenment, stripped Goldoni’s plays of virtually all culturally foreign elements diminished the aspects related to the commedia dell’arte tradition as well. Only Marianna Maliszewska retained the names of stock characters associated with commedia dell’arte in her Miłość żołnierska, where she even laid stress on the metatheatrical qualities of the scenes with Trufaldyn (Arlecchino). The translators reduced the role of some metatheatrical motifs, but they kept intact all the scenes deploying the play-within-a-play device in Żona poczciwa, Miłość żołnierska, and Panna rozumna. The last of those, being the most metatheatrical of Goldoni’s plays rendered in Polish by the Enlighteners, bears evidence of some adaptive devices meant to compensate for the loss of a plausible context for the metatheatrical effects that had been provided in the original by the Venetian carnival and the tradition of dell’arte, inevitably lost as a consequence of replacing the original setting with a Polish one.

20

Reinhardt reżyseruje Shakespeare’a. Przestrzeń jako paradygmat inscenizacji

80%

Leyko M.

Pamiętnik Teatralny

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2014

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vol. 63

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issue 3(251)

66-85

EN

Plays by Shakespeare constituted an important and strong element of the repertories of Max Reinhardt’s theatres, perhaps the strongest apart from the Greek tragedies, German and European classics, and contemporary drama. Novelty of Reinhardt’s Shakespearean productions becomes apparent when juxtaposed with the German tradition of staging Shakespeare, i.e. with productions by Ludwig Schröder, Ludwig Tieck, Franz Dingelstedt, or Georg von Meiningen. In Reinhardt’s case, the reform in stage technique went hand in hand with a new definition of goals for theatre: it stopped being subservient to literature and came to be viewed as using literature only as a basis for its own works. The key innovation of this programme was to stage classical plays using modern aesthetics: ‘Thanks to the classics, new life flows onto the stage; its colours and music, its greatness and grandeur, its joy’, the German director proclaimed. Max Reinhardt staged fifteen plays by the English playwright, some of which he produced only once (e.g. The Tempest or Julius Caesar), twice or thrice (Macbeth, The Comedy of Errors, King Henry IV, Love’s Labour’s Lost, Much Ado about Nothing) whereas some he revisited numerous times, producing them on different stages that offered varied space conditions – these include As You Like It, The Merchant of Venice, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream especially. The 1913–14 Season at the Deutsches Theater saw the beginning of A Shakespearean Cycle [Shakespeare-Zyklus] that showed thirteen premiere and re-run productions in total. The article focuses on select productions of A Midsummer Night’s Dream: at the Neues Theater in Berlin on a box stage in 1905; at the Künstlertheater in Munich on a frieze stage in 1909; in the Nicolasee park in Murnau in 1910; at Klessheim in 1932, and at the Hollywood Bowl amphitheatre for the audience of 20,000 people in 1935. They show how, depending on what space conditions he had, Reinhardt changed his strategies of directing.

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Reinhardt reżyseruje Shakespeare’a. Przestrzeń jako paradygmat inscenizacji