Polish Theatre Research Articles

Indocile Bodies: Beckett in the Polish Theatre of Learning Disability

The article examines two plays inspired by Samuel Beckett’s works and staged by two Polish companies of actors with intellectual disability: Bógot by Mimo To Pan Tego Nima and Bez słów by Teatr Trochę Inny. Examined through the lens of cultural disability studies, these performances offer new interpretations of Beckett’s texts which go beyond the metaphorical commentary on the human existential predicament. The article also argues that Bógot and Bez słów underscore the aesthetic value of disability, understood as a form of human variety, and the importance of questioning and challenging the imposed, normalized patterns of behaviour.

Schulz na scenie

The aim of this paper is to answer the question why theatrical performances based on the literary works of Bruno Schulz usually turn out disappointing. It was first posed by Jerzy Jarzębski 25 years ago. The author of the present paper discusses Jarzębski’s theses and proposes his own explanation. He disagrees with a claim that Schulz’s fiction is “unstageable” by nature. In the era of post-dramatic theatre, the idea of “unstageability” is evidently anachronistic. Therefore, the author demonstrates that there must be something wrong in the theater directors’ approaches to Schulz and his works. An analysis of several performances from the recent decade – directed by Petr Boháč, Robert Drobniuch, Konrad Dworakowski, Edyta Janusz-Ehrlich, Tomasz Kajdański, Jacek Krawczyk, Leszek Mądzik, Jan Szurmiej, Piotr Tomaszuk, Julia Wernio, Ingmar Villqist and Rudolf Zioło – leads to a conclusion that contemporary artists who deal with Schulz are unable to look at him from a distance and free themselves from his influence. They are simply too passive to create an autonomous theatrical vision in which Schulz’s literary world would be only a component and not the dominant substance. For this reason, their theatrical adaptations remain unsuccessful. In Polish theater there was only one artist who became a real partner for Schulz, strong enough to face his genius –Tadeusz Kantor. In his Dead Class (1975), Kantor managed to “utilize” the poetics of Schulz’s stories to create his own, original, and totally independent narrative. Since that time, each director who wants to stage Schulz’s literary works has had to struggle not only with the author of The Cinnamon Shops, but also with the leader of the Theater of Death. And this is, indeed, a very difficult task.

Bojownik czy błazen? Ibsenowski "Wróg ludu" w teatrze polskim

The article presents traditional and modern approaches to Ibsen’s An Enemy of the People in the Polish theatre. Banned in Poland for almost a decade (the country was a part of three different states until 1918), first staged in 1891, continuously censored, the play became a part of the national debate on freedom and rebellion, for a long time staged as a manifesto, even though Ibsen’s popularity lessened. The political approach was re-invented in the communist 1970s and 1980. After a thirty years’ gap, Ibsen’s masterpiece premiered recently in Cracow, directed by a famous and controversial artist of the younger generation.

Striving for Consensus: How Panels Evaluate Artistic Productions

Researchers have studied how artistic judgments are made in group interactions, but much remains to be known about artistic evaluations in decision-making settings where agreements need to be reached. This paper analyzes panel evaluations of artistic productions, drawing on interviews with panelists from a Polish theater competition. The article focuses on two aspects of panel decision-making: (1) concepts of artistic value that members of expert panels apply when evaluating art productions; and (2) interpersonal rules of deliberation, that is, norms and patterns of behavior that allow panelists to attach legitimacy to the decision-making process and its outcomes. The authors find that panel evaluations are based on a combination of two different logics (content and context logic) and develop a matrix of values the conceptualizes artistic standards and their applications. Furthermore, the authors find that panelists follow three types of interpersonal rules for decision-making: substantive, procedural, and contextual.

Between (in)Visible Influences and (Im)Pure Traditions: Hybrid Character of the Postdramatic in Lithuanian Theatre

Summary Lithuanian theatre has always been known for its visual metaphors and dramaturgy of directorial images, where the language of literary text is translated into visual metaphors created on stage by a director. Due to this quality, some critics have argued that Lithuanian theatre has been demonstrating postdramatic characteristics for a long time. However, one should note that visual metaphors of modern Lithuanian theatre have been based on and controlled by literary text and never quite established a more autonomous and self-contained visuality. Dramatic text remained the point of departure whether the director chose to illustrate or concretise it, to transform or deform it. However, in post-Soviet Lithuanian theatre, these relations have been gradually turning discontinuous, their intensity often varied within the framework of the same performance. Fragmentary cracks, when images, departed from the roles of commentators or illustrators of textual meanings, turned into flashes of independent visions that were seen by the critics as an obvious shift towards a radical image-centric position or, to use the term of Hans-Thies Lehmann, postdramatic theatre. However, the recent performance Lokis (2017, Lithuanian National Drama Theatre) by Polish theatre artist Lukasz Twarkowski, produced twenty years after the initial introduction of the term postdramatic into the Lithuanian context, has paradoxically started a storm of divisive opinions in the Lithuanian theatre milieu. It became the focal point of discussions about the intrinsic character of Lithuanian theatre, especially its embedded attitudes towards drama text and acting—notoriously challenging factors for many international collaborations. The article analyses the ongoing debates about the term postdramatic theatre and its interpretations in Lithuanian theatre criticism, taking the example of Lokis as a case study.

The Circus Art in Lviv in the 1880s (From August Krembser to Albert Schumann)

The purpose of the article is to explore the features of the development of Circus Art and to determine the place of Circus performances in the cultural space of Lviv in the 1880s.Research methodology. The historical, biographical and comparative methods have been applied to achieve the purpose.Results. The Circus performances at the ethnic territories of the Western Ukraine at the time that they were a part of the Habsburg Empire have never been a subject of the scientific research and analysis. The offered article, focused on the period of the 1880s in the city of Lemberg, is the following step in the author’s cycle of articles that are concerned with the representation of Circus Arts in Bukovyna and Eastern Galicia in the late 19th century — the early 20th century. In the article, the Circus performances and the performances of circus artists at the stages of the theaters and the variety venues in Lviv in the 1880s are described in the chronological sequence, based on the materials of the periodical press of the studied period. The author analyzes the repertoire of the Circuses, describes the performances of the most significant performers and determines the features of the development of the Circus Art presented in the Galician capital in the described period. Novelty. An attempt is made to determine the place of the Circus Art in the cultural space of Lviv and its perception by the public.The practical significance. The offered article contains unknown facts of the Circus History of Ukraine; and the results of the research would become a valuable contribution to both culturology and art studies.Conclusions. In spite of the fact that in the second half of the 19th century the Circus has been a threatening competitor for the Polish Theatre in Galicia, it has obtained a significant place in the cultural space of Lviv; and it has been the leading attraction in the Entertainment industry. The Circus genres and artists’ skills have been fast and successfully developing in the late 19th century. Some of the leading artists have performed at the Circus arenas and the theatrical stages in Lviv. Some of the leading European Circus troupes have been visiting Lviv during the 1880s.

From melancholic to happy immigrant: Staging simpleton in the comedies of migration

Abstract This article examines devices of comedy, laughter and dramatic humour as technologies of ethics when it comes to staging migration in contemporary theatre. Looking at a tragic farce Hunting Cockroaches (1985), written by the Polish theatre artist Janusz Głowacki during his American exile, and a domestic melodrama , written by a Korean Canadian Ins Choi, this article examines comedy as a particular dramatic model that can challenge staging migrants as agentless and voiceless victims. It asks, what happens when theatre artists begin to use stereotype to stage the trauma of displacement? To what extent is comedy truly capable of rendering the complexity of migration? And how ethical can the comedic representation of a migrant be?

ПОЛТАВСЬКА БИТВА В ПОЛЬСЬКІЙ ІСТОРІОГРАФІЇ ХХ СТОЛІТТЯ

In the present article on the basis of comparative chronological method and methods of quantitative analysis and content analysis a number of monographic studies carried out in the twentieth century, the most famous Polish historians of early modern times, which studied various aspects of the battle of Poltava. It is established that the Polish historiography of the twentieth century little studied this battle, because the Polish contingents participated in it in a very small number. They fought on the side of the Swedish king Charles XII. In a short period of real independence of Poland in 1918–1939, polish historical science studied the events in the Polish theater of operations of the Great Northern war, and the events of 1709 in the Cossack Ukraine was given little attention. The only author, who mentioned the battle of Poltava in his monographs, was Y. Feldman. In the second half of the XX century, the number of studies has increased significantly, but their quality, due to the political dependence of the Polish state from the USSR, has changed little. The author analyzed the works of P. Yasenitsa, Yu. Gerovsky, Vl. Sercik and V. Wimmer. The main trends in coverage of the events around the battle of Poltava by polish historians are revealed. Polish historians made little use of both Russian and Swedish sources regarding the battle of Poltava. Their assessments remained traditional and repeated the official conclusions of Soviet historiography.The conclusion is made about the great dependence of polish historians on Russian and soviet historiographies, mainly due to political circumstances. Positive trends in the study of this battle in Polish historiography emerged only in the early years of the XXI century in generalization works of Z. Anusik, P. Krokosh and A. Andrusevich. However, a special study of the battle of Poltava we identified yet one article by P. Kroll. It has already submitted quite realistic figures and estimates of the events near Poltava in the summer of 1709, although some facts about the Russian army left in the previous interpretation.

Aktor teatralny i filmowy w teatrze życia codziennego. Esej socjologiczny na podstawie badań własnych

The aim of the article is to show a theatre and film actor in the “theatre of everyday life”. The author, using sociological literature on social roles (e.g. E. Goffman, M. Łoś, W. J. Goode) discusses the problem of actors’ performing their professional roles. She is particularly interested in self-promotional strategies used by actors on a daily basis. As an exemplification of a “performance” outside the artistic context, (stage or film set), the author analyses the course of the Great Actor's meeting with the audience and defines it as a quasi-spectacle requiring the adoption of certain roles, both by the artist and the audience. A new concept of “celebrity illusion” appears in the text, which concerns the illusory conviction of many artists that everyone should know them. They take it for granted that as “inhabitants of the mass imagination” they should be noticed in public space and correctly identified. The article uses the following sources: (1) existing: journalistic interviews with theatre and film actors published in popular monthlies and on the Internet; (2) evoked: in-depth free interviews with theatre artists (mainly actors) representing six Polish theatre centres. In 2015-2017, the author conducted twenty interviews - the respondents were recruited using the “snowball” method. Younger and older generation artists, fourteen men and six women, participated in the study The research technique was supported by the observation of actors' behaviour in non-artistic contexts (e.g. during meetings with the audience).

Scena prawdy dyskursywnej i postprawdy. „Fakty autentyczne” i fakty medialne we współczesnym teatrze polskim

Theatre practitioners’ statements relating to the notion of truth lead to the category of post-truth. Stage of discursive truth and post-truth article discusses theatre practice of engaging feelings, impressions and emotions to take precedence over interpretations, assessments and descriptions of facts. The article critically approaches using of media discourses in theatre in order to produce the imitation of truth. The author refers to Agnieszka Jakimiak’s and Weronika Szczawińska’s play Wojny, których nie przeżyłam [Wars I have not experienced] and other selected recent Polish plays and performances. The thesis connects the media-shaped image of Polish theatre art institution seen as an area of provocation with an experience of a viewer and an ontological status of an actor. This allows drawing a conclusion that theatre uses the category of truth instrumentally, as one of its repertoire’s tools to provoke emotional reactions in the audience. Theatre performances allow one to explore the world, but also to co-create it. The theatre is a performative and cognitive sieve provoking and shaping experience that affects reality.

MITOLOGIE ARTYSTY ŚWIATA TEATRU. KAZIMIERZ DEJMEK I JERZY GROTOWSKI

Współczesna proza polska na nowo powraca do zagadnień artystowskich, próbując mitologizować obraz artysty świata teatru. W niniejszym artykule interesować mnie będzie grupa tekstów, które ujawniają szczególnego rodzaju zainteresowanie wybitnymi osobowościami polskiego teatru – Kazimierzem Dejmkiem i Jerzym Grotowskim. Wybrane utwory pierwowzór bohaterów powieściowych, a także schemat fabularny, zapożyczają z pogranicza biografii oraz wydarzeń teatralnych, a następnie transponują je w świat powieściowej fikcji. Zastosowana strategia kluczowa występuje w dwóch podstawowych wariantach – powieści pamfletu oraz powieści paraboli. Proces mitologizowania artysty teatru podporządkowany zostaje tworzeniu biografii fantazmatycznych, opartych na szczególnego rodzaju pakcie referencjalnym między nadawcą i odbiorcą tekstu.

Availability of public theaters for persons with disabilities

Accessibility is a prerequisite for participation in social life. The possibilities of a person with disability and environmental barriers determine the level of accessibility in various areas of cultural life. The degree of infrastructure adaptations and less visible symbolic interactions have a significant impact on the possibility of social participation and access to cultural artifacts by people from groups at risk of social exclusion. Theater is an area of art, an inseparable element of which is a meeting, and thus openness to what is different, conditions for establishing dialogue and performative interaction. In the Polish theater of recent years, the context of disability is more and more often perceived as a subject of artistic creation. The article discusses institutional theaters constituting significant culture-forming centers in individual regions and taking part in international festivals. The formal infrastructural availability of theatrical spaces to the needs of people with disabilities and the adaptation of the cultural offer to perceptive capabilities of people with different disabilities were analyzed. Other activities related to the social phenomenon of disability were also indicated, if it was possible.

Last Scene Underground: An Ethnographic Novel of Iran

Last Scene Underground: An Ethnographic Novel of Iran

Challenging hegemony. Theatre as an ideological space in Tadeusz Kantor’s Theatre of Death

Often the work of the Polish theatre maker Tadeusz Kantor is only read biographically, mystifying the avant-garde tradition in which he stood and placing him in a pantheon of individual geniuses. This tendency to elevate Kantor usually detaches his thought and his work from today’s thinking on political theatre. That makes his work remote remote, as highly idiosyncratic emanations from an ‘exception genius’, despite the fact that his late work, collectively known as his ‘Theatre of Death’, is profoundly political despite his claims to the contrary. In this article I would like to revisit the work of Tadeusz Kantor as a potential source for an alternative, less obvious form of political theatre. Through the evocation of personal memory, Kantor manages to establish an alternative ideological space beyond the Marxist-Leninst hegemony that dominated in his contemporary Communist Poland. As any art work constitutes a socially symbolic act, I will establish that in his ‘Theatre of Death’ the personal became a gateway to the political. That will be done in three steps: by establishing the mastercode through which ideological struggles were articulated in the period of the Theatre of Death, then by establishing how Kantor used certain artistic techniques and strategies to create a personal space, and then finally how this personal space became political.

Theatre on the Water. The Aquatic Element in Contemporary Polish Theatre

In view of theatrical performances, water is not only an important cultural trajectory, but also an attractive, though very particular, stage material. The author draws attention to the ambivalent character of water as an element of the spectacle. Water identifies the very essence of theatricality, which consists of the constant oscillation between illusion and reality. The effect of real water – limited by technical restrictions and in effect artificial to some extent – has an unquestionable value in the spectacle. The author recalls selected performances whose creators chose large-scale solutions and introduced a large amount of water to the stage. In this way, she shows how they create the symbolic value of aquatic motives, how they use their semantic and sensual potential in the process of translating the cultural connotations of water into signs and meanings of a particular show.

Rok 1918 na teatralnej prowincji. Kielce

The article describes cultural life in Kielce at the threshold of independence. The local theatre played a prominent role at that time, since it was the only professional scene on which the Regency Council’s manifest was read. After this event the institution had its name changed into the Polish Theatre. The directors in those days were struggling with financial and logistical problems, lack of permanent crew, and even the outbreak of typhus. The history of the theater is described in the context of provincial, poor and clerical town, in which the intelligentsia accounted for a small percentage of the population. The audience wanted some entertainment both from the theatre and the expanding world of the cinema. Therefore, the creators were trying to meet those expectations through productions based on comedy and operetta. The local amateur theatre was the only group involved in politics, staging several patriotic plays. The conclusions of the article are based on the materials published in ”Gazeta Kielecka”, a local newspaper of that time, and collections available in the branch of National Archive in Kielce (unfortunately, no documents have been preserved in Żeromski Theater), as well as the research done by regional historians. Year 1918 turned out to be just a glimpse in the long process of changing the mentality of local community. It was just the first step to rebuild its national identity.

The fate of directors of the Polish Theatre Ivan Lypynskyi and Oleksandr Hordiienko-Letuhin

The fate of directors of the Polish Theatre Ivan Lypynskyi and Oleksandr Hordiienko-Letuhin

Possiblities and Limitations of Translation of Slovak Drama Into Polish Culture

Abstract The Polish and Slovak languages, as well as Polish and Slovak cultures, are considered very similar, so it would initially appear that there would be no obstacles limiting the possibilities of translating Slovak drama into Polish. It turns out however, that Slovak drama is not often translated into Polish. Older translations that were presented in Polish theatres were rarely followed in the press, and today they have been forgotten. On the contrary, current translations are published far more often than staged. The presented study evaluates this situation as a result of several limiting factors. In addition to the political conditions of cultural exchange and the manner in which publishers and theatres operate in Poland, there is also a linguistic closeness that negatively impacts on the quality of translations, as well as the stereotype of Polish and Slovak cultural proximity, which limits the interest of Polish audiences in Slovak drama.

Ancient Plays on Stage in Communist Poland

A recently published analytical register of all ancient plays and plays inspired by antiquity staged in Poland during communism, provided factual material for this study of ancient drama in Polish theatre controlled by the state and of its evolution from the end of WW2 to the collapse of the Soviet regime. The quasi-total devastation of theatrical infrastructure and loss of talent caused by the war, combined with an immediate seizing of control over culture by Communist authorities, played a crucial role in the shaping of the reborn stage and its repertoire. All Aeschylus’ plays were performed at various points during the period, four out of seven Sophocles’ tragedies – with Antigone, a special case, by far the most popular – about half of the extant Euripides’ drama, some Aristophanes, very little of Roman tragedy (Seneca) and a bit more of Roman comedy (Plautus). The ancient plays were produced in big urban centres, as well as in the provinces, and nationally, by the state radio and later television. The various theatres and the most important directors involved in these productions are discussed and compared, with a chronological and geographical list of venues and plays provided.

Sławomir Mrożek at the Tatar stage: the metamorphoses of Polish stage

In this article we analyzed the stage interpretation of Sławomir Mrożek’s play on the scene of Tatar theatre. The performance of “Shashkan babay” (“The mad grandfather”) play was staged on the 10th of February, 2016 by Karim Tinchurin drama and comedy theatre in Kazan. It was the first staging of Sławomir Mrożek’s in Tatar language. In this article we generalize the history of Sławomir Mrożek’s plays production waves in Russia. The specifics of Polish text interpretation by producer Rashid Zagidullin was outlined. We proved that “Shashkan babay” play production continues the best tradition of Russian and Polish theatres.