In the 1970s Radziwiłowicz began a long and close collaboration with Andrzej Wajda, both in film and in theatre. He played, among others, Mishkin in Nastasia Filipovna based on Dostoyevsky’s Idiot. He played in the internationally awarded Man of Marble (1976) and Man of Iron (1981), films, which became symbols of the reckoning of the times of Stalinism and of a prediction of liberty changes. ‘The beauty of this exceptional film lies in the complexity of the director’s relations to Birkut, this perfectly humble representative of the whole unhappy and alienated epoch’, wrote in 1979 Alberto Moravia about Birkut, the role played by Radziwilowicz in Man of Marble.
Birkut, before becoming a Stakhanovite, had these qualities and flaws, which were always an invariable element of humanity, never mind place and time. Under the etiquette of a hero of socialism, the humility and the righteousness make him a real hero. What is the result of this delicate operation? Well, while Stalinism is finally condemned, the socialism as the idea and as utopia seems to be saved.
Four years later Radziwiłowicz plays in another of Wajda’s masterpieces, in theatre this time: Crime and Punishment basing of Fiodor Dostoyevsky.
‘A perfectionist actor, gifted with intelligence and deep sensitivity’: this is how Maciej Karpinski described Radziwilowicz in his book Andrzej Wajda’s Theatre. Truly, Radziwilowicz’s acting reveals an important influence of Jerzy Jarocki’s school, which he also uses in films: Kieślowski’s Endless / Bez Końca (1984), Stanisław Różewicz’s Door in the Wall / Drzwi w Murze (1973), Jean-Luc Godard’s Passion (1982), on the most important Polish stages: the Stary Theatre in Kraków, the National Theatre (Teatr Narodowy) in Warsaw as well as the French theatre Comédie de Saint-Etienne.
Radziwiłowicz created even more important roles in Jerzy Grzegorzewski’s plays. In Warsaw’s National Theatre he played Pankracy in Zygmunt Krasiński’s The Un-Divine Comedy (2002) and Kaliban in the great mise-en-scene of W.H. Auden’s poem The Sea and the Mirror (2003). Paweł Pokora wrote for polskieradio.pl:
Radziwiłowicz rules the whole stage He grasps the audience. His long monologue is proof of impeccable technique. He’s the public’s echo, he speaks with all seriousness and yet is able to create a malicious pastiche. He’s brutal at times but never shallow. He’s not showing off. His role is also a testament to intellectual discipline. In Kaliban’s monologue Auden encloses a disquisition of the nature of performance, presented by Radziwiłowicz very clearly, with no false notes. Great acting allows the core of the text to shine through.
For the role of Kaliban, he received the Aleksander Zelwerowicz Award. In Grzegorzewski’s last, moving play On: Drugi powrót Odysa / He: The Second Return of Odysseus (2005) Radziwiłowicz played the leading part. He precisely, profoundly, and yet ironically leads the audience through the path of this treaty about passing away.
In the National Theatre, he also played Pozzo in Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot directed by Antoni Libera (2006) and the title role in Shakespeare’s Othello, directed by Agnieszka Olsten (2008). Sprawa / The Case (2011), based on Słowacki’s Samuel Zborowski – the last play directed by Jerzy Jarocki – was also a big artistic event. Radziwiłowicz played also in stagings of Kordian (2015) and Witkiewicz’s The Anonymous Work (2013), both directed by Jan Englert. He often collaborates on stage with another star of the theatre, Mariusz Bonaszewski, with whom he created interesting duets in plays such as Ephraim Lessing’s Nathan the Wise directed by Natalia Korczakowska (2012) and Władimir Sorokin’s Ice directed by Bogołomow Konstantin (2013). Jacek Wakar wrote: