Characters, Connections, Constructing an Action: Forty Years of Theatre of the Eighth Day

Abstract

Based in Poznań, Poland, Teatr Ósmego Dnia (Theatre of the Eighth Day) is now recognized not only as one of the most important companies in the history of Polish theatre, but as one of the leading avant-garde ensembles in the world. From its origins in a student theatre group of the late sixties, Theatre of the Eighth Day developed during the early seventies the artistically and socially radical methods of work and of living which have continued to be the hallmark of its work over four decades, but has remained in touch and in tune with the rapid changes in Polish life, first under martial law, and then in the new Poland of the ‘free market’ – towards which the company has sustained an attitude no less critical than to Communist authoritarianism. A number of its productions have accordingly left indelible marks on the sensitivities and even life choices made by two generations of Polish spectators. Juliusz Tyszka is Professor at the Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań. A contributing editor of NTQ, he has been a close witness of more than thirty years of the work of Theatre of the Eighth Day, and here sets the artistic development of the group in the changing context of Polish life and politics.