Theatre as Test of Acting
Despite his undeniable successes on the big screen, theatre is still most important for Englert, whose theatrical roles, which are increasingly gaining critical acclaim, are the best proof of this.
Theatre is a place where I put my professional skills to the real test. It is also the only place where the viewer participates in the creative process. Contemporary theatre demands that an actor completely change his performance technique, that there be a change of convention. Then one cannot communicate with the viewer beyond the text or character. Brecht-like "standing aside" does not work anymore. I must be the one who takes the viewer away.
After working at the Polski Theatre from 1964 to 1969, he worked at the Współczesny Theatre from 1969 to 1981, then again at the Polski Theatre under the direction of Kazimierz Dejmek from 1981 to 1994, and, since 1997, at the National Theatre (Teatr Narodowy).
Theatre is still a place where one can be an artist. In film, it is the director who is the artist, and the actor is a more or less an object being photographed. This is the reason why the theatre gives me the most satisfaction.
According to critics, his greatest stage creations have been the character of Leon Węgorzewski in Witkacy's Mother (1970), Vatzlav in Sławomir Mrożek's Vatzlav (1982), Konrad in Stanisław Wyspiański's Liberation (1982), Gustaw in Aleksander Fredro's Śluby Panieńskie, czyli Magnetyzm Serca (Maidens' Vows, or The Magnetism of the Heart), Bartodziej in Slawomir Mrozek's Portrait (1987), and the title role in William Shakespeare's Richard III (1993). At the National Theatre, he has played in Shakespeare's King Lear (1998), Gajew in Chekhov's Cherry Orchard (2000) and Latka in Fredro's Dożywocie (The Annuity). Of his role as Bartodziej in Portrait, Krzysztof Kopka wrote in Teatr:
Bartodziej's face is as lifeless as a mask most of the time. Jan Englert uses very subtle yet varied means of artistic expression, with consequences rarely seen on our stages, to build a portrait of a man whose apathetic withdrawal from the world into himself borders on a psychological disorder.
Directing Career
Englert became involved in directing in the late 1970s. Fascinated with the classics, he is most eager to put on stage productions of the Polish Romantics, as well as plays by Witkacy and Anton Chekhov. He has produced several key Polish works of drama for the Theatre for Television, which have included Irydion, a rarely performed stage piece by Zygmunt Krasiński (1982), Kordian by Juliusz Słowacki (1994), and Forefathers' Eve by Adam Mickiewicz (1997). In the latter two, Englert cast Michal Żebrowski, his pupil and one of the most talented actors of the younger generation, in the leading roles. Forefathers' Eve, presented in two parts, launched a deep, widespread discussion on how to read, interpret and perform nineteenth century classics. The director asked himself rhetorically:
What could young people find interesting in Romanticism? I believe everyone can find the drama of a great figure interesting, an existential drama one about who we are and how we should live in the world around us. How can we overcome mediocrity? How can we create?
