Classical Antiquity on Communist Stage in Poland
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ANTIQUITY_OKLADKA:Layout 1 1/7/15 4:24 PM Page 1 “A truly reliable and full if inevitably as yet not quite comprehensive Classical Antiquity on Communist Stage In Poland account of the relationship between Classical antiquity and the Polish Classical stage during the communist epoch, which is in itself a huge achievement and an invaluable scholarly resource. (…) A more intensive analysis Antiquity (…) takes first steps in developing interpretive models for the understanding of the unique features of Polish performance on Communist reception of Classical antiquity, and will help future scholars, especially international ones who are not au fait with the specific Polish Stage experience, orient themselves and their understanding of this particular national-cultural history. (…) It is a huge asset for the Warsaw University endeavours in Classics and Liberal Arts and will provoke intense international interest.” In Poland “Precision, reliability, and clarity are trade-marks of this worthwhile publication. Each chapter is formulated in a competent manner and written in an attractive style. Bios of playwrights inspired by antiquity, information about each performance, bibliography relative to sources and themes combine to provide an example of scholarship of the highest quality.” ANTIQUY_OKL_VERSO:Layout 3 1/7/15 4:38 PM Page 1 Series OBTA STUDIES IN CLASSICAL RECEPTION Edited by Katarzyna Marciniak Other available volumes: Polish Literature for Children & Young Adults Inspired by Classical Antiquity. A Catalogue, eds. Katarzyna Marciniak, Elżbieta Olechowska, Joanna Kłos, Michał Kucharski. Warsaw: Faculty of “Artes Liberales” UW, 2013, online: http://www.al.uw.edu.pl/omc_catalogue Tadeusz Zielinski. Queen of the Wind Maidens. Prologue, Introduction Michał Mizera, translation from the Russian original Katarzyna Tomaszuk, English translation and textual notes Elżbieta Olechowska. Warsaw: University of Warsaw, Faculty of “Artes Liberales,” 2013. Online: http://www.al.uw.edu.pl/zielinski_queen Antiquity and We. Katarzyna Marciniak (ed.). Faculty of “Artes Liberales,” University of Warsaw. Warsaw: OBTA, 2013. Online: http://www.obta.uw.edu.pl/pliki/akt/Antiquity_and_We_eBook.pdf Antyk i my, koncepcja i redakcja naukowa Katarzyna Marciniak. Wydział „Artes Liberales” UW. Warszawa 2013, online: http://www.al.uw.edu.pl/antyk_i_my Classical Antiquity on Communist Stage in Poland. Ancient Theatre as an Ideological Medium: A Critical Review Classical Antiquity on Communist Stage in Poland. Ancient Theatre as an Ideological Medium: A Critical Review Academic Reviewers: Prof. Edith Hall, King’s College London Prof. dr hab. Krzysztof Rutkowski, Faculty of “Artes Liberales,” University of Warsaw Concept, Editing, Coordination, & Index: Elżbieta Olechowska Editorial Collaboration: Katarzyna Tomaszuk Michał Kucharski Research and Compilation of Register: Michał Mizera Cover Design: Zbigniew Karaszewski We would like to thank Marek Olechowski for the generous gift of his pen & ink portraits of Polish playwrights and his version of Bertolt Brecht’s Antigone. We also thank Prof. Jerzy Axer for kindly letting us use the text of his father’s column [Erwin Axer. „O polityce teatralnej. List ze sceny,” Teatr 16 (1960)]. ©2015 by the Faculty of “Artes Liberales,” University of Warsaw and the Authors The publication was financed from research funds (BST) for 2015 of the Faculty of “Artes Liberales,” University of Warsaw. ISBN: 978-83-63636-30-2 Printed and Bound by Zakład Graficzny Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego Ul. Krakowskie Przedmieście 26/28 00-927 Warszawa (zam. 1/2015) Classical Antiquity on Communist Stage in Poland. Ancient Theatre as an Ideological Medium: A Critical Review Edited by Elżbieta Olechowska Warsaw 2015 Introduction In parallel and in preparation for Classics & Communism in Theatre, a conference to be held at the University of Warsaw, January 15-17, 2015, organized jointly by the Faculty of “Artes Liberales,” University of Warsaw and by the Department of Classical Philology, Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana, we launched an intensive research-learning project involving several scholars and a group of students with the objective of providing the international academic community with data on ancient theatre and theatre inspired by classical antiquity staged in Poland during communism. The results of the project will eventually become a “live” presence on the website of the Faculty of “Artes Liberales” and the Centre for Studies on the Classical Tradition [OBTA]. We invite the public to comment and point out areas requiring additional research and attention. We are also printing a number of copies for the conference participants who will hopefully become the first beneficiaries of our endeavour designed to facilitate debates at the conference, and offer a model for other post-communist countries suggesting a way to make each of their particular situations better known in Europe and abroad. A chronological register of performances, against a background of political events and changing cultural policies, lists entries of all spectacles. While we tried to produce a complete register, it is more than likely, that some of the spectacles, especially those produced in the smaller theatres, eluded our attention. Each entry includes the date of the premiere, title and author of the play, name of the theatre and city, the name of the director, and names of other artists participating in the production, if available. The register, additionally to ancient theatre, includes Polish playwrights as well as foreign authors inspired by antiquity whose plays were staged in Poland during communism. The evidence provided by the register allows a better informed exploration of the reasons why this particular rooster of authors were welcome or at least tolerated on the Polish stage by the communist authorities. Of certain cognitive value to a non-Polish reader is the second part of the publication presenting biographies of the Polish authors inspired by classical antiquity, as well as précis of their plays and bibliographies in foreign languages, if such publications are available. A list of classical themes and values important for communist propaganda, or for its critics, completes the discussion of each Polish author. 1 The third part contains Selected Plays, a more in depth discussion of a dozen or so dramas selected as having played a more important role on the Polish stage during the period. One of the criteria for selection was the number of times the play was staged and the number of meaningful reviews it triggered. The analysis of a selected play includes a list and a discussion of the reviews illustrating political and social reactions to each spectacle. Among the selected plays, seven are classical, four are plays inspired by antiquity, of these one is by a foreign author very popular in Poland, and three by Polish playwrights, two are recognized as highly influential poets blessed with huge talents. The third one considered a minor author is currently being published again and her poetry receives a considerable scholarly (and public) attention. Most of our research was done in libraries and online – we used histories of various theatres in Poland of that era and the websites of those that still exist, as well as monographs of various kind, memoirs of eminent artists, and so on.1 A very valuable ressource for the compilation of the register was undoubtedly the website of Zbigniew Raszewski Theatre Institute, and in particular its e-teatr online collection (www.e-teatr.pl); it is regretfully not yet truly complete for the pre-digital period and not always easy to use for our specific purpose. Still, it has been enormously helpful in our research and we would like to acknowledge our debt to people who created the website and maintain it. We also used the Almanach Sceny Polskiej [Almanac of the Polish Stage] revived by Edward Csató in 1961 (covering Polish theatrical productions from the season of 1959/1960) and the results of the research project Almanach Sceny Polskiej 1944-1959 [Almanac of the Polish Stage 1944-1959] that fills the gap of the post-WW2 years; it is available electronically at the Institute of Art of the Polish Academy of Sciences. These two data bases compiled independently from primary theatrical sources claim to cover all spectacles staged in Poland since the end of WW2 and are of colossal importance for historians of theatre and culture. The website www.filmpolski.pl provides data specifically on plays produced by Teatr Telewizji [Television Theatre]. Naturally, many classicists studied performances of ancient theatre on Polish stage, often concentrating on specific authors, genres, or periods but rarely from the point of view of ideological reception and propagandist usage. 1 See the General Bibliography. 2 At least three previous projects, exploring the same or similar area and also involving students, took place at the University of Warsaw, in a non-too distant past. The first was conducted under the guidance of the Head of “Artes Liberales” Hellenic Studies, Małgorzata Borowska, who generously let us peruse the rich files of the project. The second, quite recent, still on-going (2010-2014) and of a more learning character, was Michał Mizera’s Antyk w teatrze PRL-u. [Classical Antiquity at the Theatre in People’s Republic of Poland.], a course, interdisciplinary in design and involving students in exploring half-a-century of classical performances. We became the beneficiaries of this program when Michał joined our team.