Helena Modjeska in the role of Cleopatra , 1880 , photo by Polona
Beth Holmgren’s recent book, Starring Madame Modjeska: On Tour in Poland and America, looks at the career of the most prominent Polish actress of the nineteenth century. Helena Modrzejewska (Modjeska) played so well that no one dared to criticise her - says Holmgren. When Modjeska died in 1909, one critic wrote that the audience did not want to listen to other Shakespearean actresses without an accent.
Prof. of Slavic and Eurasian studies at Duke University of North Carolina, Holmgren is fascinated by Polish literature and language. For almost ten years, she has published papers dedicated to the life and career of Helena Modjeska, both in the United States and in Poland.
Released in October 2011 by Indiana University Press, Starring Madame Modjeska won the Washington Prize and was further awarded by the Polish - American Historical Society PAHA (Polish American Historical Association), which was established as an organization of several hundred historians in 1942 in the United States. Efforts are under way for the publication of a Polish translation later this year by the publishing house of the Jagiellonian University.
Even though Poles are not as familiar with Modjeska’s success in the U.S., it should be noted that her training and career actually began in Poland. Modjeska gained fame on stages in Warsaw and Kraków playing great classics by Shakespeare, Schiller and Słowacki. In 1876, she immigrated to California with her family and a group of friends, including writer and essayist Henryk Sienkiewicz. Modjeska continued to seduce audiences and critics across the ocean with her signature Polish accent and romantic style in performances of Shakespearean repertoire.
- Modjeska did not like New York City, because she found it dirty and filled with immigrants. She did not want to be a second stage actress. She chose San Francisco - says Holmgren .
After just a few months of intense English learning, Modjeska successfully had her debut at the California Theatre, performing in the French play, Adrienne Lecouvreur. Modjeska died on 8 April 1909 on Bay Island in California. Her funeral was held in Los Angeles, but in accordance with her will, her remains were later buried next her mother’s grave in Kraków‘s Rakowice cemetery.
Starring Madame Modjeska offers insight into not only the prodigious life of an internationally acclaimed actress who crafted her own unique acting style as well as her public persona; it also provides a broader look at nineteenth-century theatre.
Despite the influence Helena Modjeska had on nineteenth-century U.S. and Polish theatre, only a few studies of her oeuvre have been published in English. On this occasion, Holmgren’s Starring Madame Modjeska makes an important contribution to our understanding of Western theatrical history.
Source: CosmoPOlitan Review
Edited by E.M. 16.01.2014