The directors of whom I wrote then - Maja Kleczewska, Jan Klata, Przemysław Wojcieszek (who has debuted by now also as a playwright) - have not lost their leading position and have even been ennobled in a way, staging premieres at top Polish theatres. Kleczewska creatively compiled different texts about the ancient heroine, Phaedra, putting the show on at the Teatr Narodowy / National Theatre in Warsaw. The Stary Teatr in Kraków (which is a national stage by right as well) presented two spectacles directed by Jan Klata: Trzy stygmaty Palmera Eldritcha / The Three Stigmas of Palmer Eldritch after Philip Dick's novel and Aeschylus' Oresteia. Kleczewska had the opportunity to direct Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream and Sarah Kane's Zbombardowani / Blasted on the same stage. At TR Warszawa Klata worked on his own text Weź, przestań / Come On, Stop It!, and Przemysław Wojcieszek staged his own drama Cokolwiek się zdarzy, kocham cię / Whatever Happens, I Love You and the first play by a young and talented prose writer Dorota Masłowska: Dwoje biednych Rumunów mówiących po polsku / Two Poor Romanians Speaking in Polish. These premieres have raised controversy, even while confirming these young artists as "Young Power" in Polish theatre. They still have critical backing and their work has met with authentic interest on the part of theatre audiences.
But an even younger group is already close on their heels, boisterously announcing their coming. There is Michał Zadara, graduate of directing from the Kraków Theatre Academy, who debuted at the Stary Teatr and went on to prepare a number of express premieres (the most interesting of these being Tadeusz Różewicz's Kartoteka / The Card Index at Teatr Współczesny in Wrocław and Odprawa posłów greckich / Dismissal of the Greek Envoys, a Polish Renaissance play by Jan Kochanowski at the Stary Teatr). Yet another debutante, Artur Tyszkiewicz, succeeded with his staging of Witold Gombrowicz's Iwona, księżniczka Burgunda / Yvonne, Princess of Burgundy at the Teatr Dramatyczny in Wałbrzych. Of note among the youngest directors is Paweł Passini with his original Klątwa / Curse by Stanisław Wyspiański at the Teatr im. Kochanowskiego in Opole; Wiktor Rubin with Owen McCafferty's Mojo Mickybo at Teatr Krypta in Szczecin and Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire at the Teatr Polski in Bydgoszcz; and Monika Strzępka whose stagings of Był sobie Polak Polak Polak i diabeł / There was a Pole a Pole a Pole and the Devil in Wałbrzych and Dziady - ekshumacje / Forefathers' Eve - Exhumation at the Teatr Polski in Wrocław (both after texts by a young playwright Paweł Demirski) met with vivid reaction.
Interestingly, it is only their age that puts these young directors in a group together. Most of them have yet to find the language of theatre best suited to their character, but the inklings are already there to see. Some of them are more involved apparently with social and political matters, others delve into human psychology for their themes (issues of sexual identity having become particularly fashionable in recent times). Several objections can be made concerning the work of these young directors (and some critics exult in doing so), especially with regard to purely technical skills (like working with actors, for example) and a tendency to imitate foreign models (an infatuation with Rene Pollesch's theatre demonstrated by some), but one thing that cannot be refused them is a passion for making theatre. Moreover, heavy inspiration with popculture, film and music gives the young theatre leverage in attracting equally young audiences.
Yet Polish theatre in the past two seasons was made not just by the young generation. Quite the contrary. The contribution of the middleagers was important and interesting. These forty-year-olds, debuting in the early 1990s, have now achieved maturity.
Hanoch Levin's Krum, dir. Krzysztof Warlikowski, prod. design Małgorzata Szczęśniak, TR Warszawa 2006. Photo: Stefan Okołowicz
Krzysztof Warlikowski is perhaps the best example. At first, he had been disliked by critics and not understood by audiences, but his recent plays at TR Warszawa: Krum by Israeli writer Hanoch Levin and Angels in America by Tony Kushner, have put his opponents in the defensive. It is common opinion that Warlikowski has grown up, has become an artist with class, perhaps as important in Poland as Krystian Lupa. The premiere of Angels in America, Kushner's reckoning with the problems of America under Ronald Reagan, was awaited expectantly as a political and moral manifesto in Warlikowski's interpretation, aimed at Polish reality which has been so strongly dominated by rightist politicians in the past two years. Meanwhile Warlikowski, who had already touched on homosexual issues in earlier stagings, took up this theme in his Angels in America with even greater subtlety.
Tomasz Tyndyk and Maja Ostaszewska in Anioły w Ameryce / ANGELS IN AMERICA, dir. Krzysztof Warlikowski, prod. design Małgorzata Szczęśniak, TR Warszawa 2007. Photo: Stefan Okołowicz
He presented the personal tragedies of his heroes, thus sidestepping the frame of social and political journalism. The artistry of Warlikowski's theatre also derives from excellent acting. As a matter of fact, Warlikowski has become a flagship of Polish theatre abroad, TR Warszawa being constantly on tour around the world with his shows. The director has also started with greater frequency to direct operas (in Paris among others, and recently in Munich).
Other directors belonging to this group of "wise middleagers", as one critic put it, include Anna Augustynowicz, Piotr Cieplak, Marek Fiedor, Mariusz Grzegorzek, Paweł Miśkiewicz, Piotr Tomaszuk. All of them have done excellent work in the past and in the past two years they have confirmed their position as leading Polish theatre directors. Interestingly, a few of them responded to the pressure of the political climate in the country. Piotr Cieplak, who had so far refrained from direct political statements on stage, directed an author's show at Teatr Powszechny in Warsaw, turning Stanisław Wyspiański's Wesele / The Wedding, a classic turn-of-the-19th-century drama analyzing the Polish social mood before independence, into a pamphlet on Polish reality in the year 2007. Also Anna Augustynowicz (Measure for Measure at Teatr Powszechny in Warsaw) and Marek Fiedor (Wyszedł z domu / He Went Out by Tadeusz Różewicz at the Teatr Polski in Poznań, and a very well received show, Brecht's Baal, at the Teatr im. Kochanowskiego in Opole) can be understood as taking an active part in the public debate on issues important to today's Poland. What's more, the middleagers seem better aware, compared to the young directors, that it takes theatrical form and not just fair intentions to make good theatre.
One should also mention the masters of theatre direction. Krystian Lupa seems to have spent more time abroad recently (including an original staging of Chekhov's Sea Gull in Sankt Petersburg), but he took the time to direct at the Teatr Dramatyczny in Warsaw a play by his favorite writer, Bernhard, Na szczytach panuje cisza / Silence at the Top. "Good old Lupa" was what the critics had to say after the premiere.
Sławomir Mrożek's MIŁOŚĆ NA KRYMIE / Love on Crimea, dir. Jerzy Jarocki, prod. design Jerzy Juk Kowarski, Teatr Narodowy 2007. Photo: Stefan Okołowicz
Jerzy Jarocki has also remained faithful to his favorite writers, directing Sławomir Mrożek's Miłość na Krymie / Love in the Crimea right after an excellent adaptation of Witold Gombrowicz's Kosmos / Cosmos at the Teatr Narodowy / National Theatre.
The geography of Polish theatre life has also changed to some extent in the past two years. Indeed, there does not seem to be any specific theatre center today. Following Jerzy Grzegorzewski's passing, the Teatr Narodowy in Warsaw under the management of Jan Englert has adopted an eclectic formula that is broad enough to include Jerzy Jarocki, foreign directors (Jacques Lassalle directed Molier's Tartuffe), but also young stars like Maja Kleczewska, Michał Zadara, Agnieszka Olsten.
The Stary Teatr in Kraków under Mikołaj Grabowski has also set a mark for young directors, including Kleczewska, Klata, Zadara, who work there. Grabowski has instituted a program of workshops on choice repertoire subjects, the theme in the most recent season being inspiration drawn from Antiquity. The best work by young directors is subsequently included in the theatre's repertoire. While Grabowski has come under criticism from part of the press for opening the veteran stage to new propositions, he deserves credit for his efforts to revamp the Stary Theatre, now deep in crisis after years of excellence.
Karolina Kozak in TRANSFER!, dir. Jan Klata, prod. design Mirek Kaczmarek, Teatr Współczesny, Wrocław 2007. Photo: Bartłomiej Sowa
In 2006, the Teatr Wybrzeże from Gdańsk dropped from the critics' pedestal after its director Maciej Nowak moved to the Theatre Institute in Warsaw. Teatr Polski in Wrocław, now directed by theatre critic Krzysztof Mieszkowski, has been making an effort to take over as a center promoting young theatre talent. Krystyna Meissner from the Wrocław Teatr Współczesny remains tireless in supporting young directors, at the same time organizing one of the most prestigious international festivals DIALOG. Michał Zadara and Agnieszka Olsten have worked in Wrocław, and Jan Klata staged his theatre project entitled Transfer with the participation of authentic Poles and Germans, victims of forced resettlement during World War II.
Theatres in Legnica and Wałbrzych, provincial towns in the south of Poland, have lost nothing of their vitality, and at the same time the Teatr Polski in Bydgoszcz has ambitiously reached for modern theatre. The new season (2007/2008) has already brought important changes in Warsaw with four stages changing their directors. Paweł Miśkiewicz has taken over Teatr Dramatyczny, and Bartosz Zaczykiewicz, head of the highly regarded theatre in Opole, is now at the Teatr Studio. Also Krzysztof Warlikowski is to have his own theatre in Warsaw next year.
New theatres have successfully contributed to the theatre life of their towns and the country as a whole. Critics and audiences alike have been enthusiastic about Teatr Polonia, a theatre which actress Krystyna Janda has managed to create at enormous personal effort in a former movie house in the center of Warsaw. Polonia is not a commercial theatre and its repertoire includes courageous modern drama like Darkroom directed by Przemysław Wojcieszek next to classics like Beckett's {C}{C}{C}{C}Szczęśliwe dni / Happy days staged by Piotr Cieplak and with Janda in one of the roles. The independent Teatr Wytwórnia directed by playwright Małgorzata Owsiany, operating out of a closed vodka distillery in the former workers' district in Warsaw, has also achieved success, as has also Teatr Łaźnia Nowa managed by director Bartosz Szydłowski and located in the closed school workshops of the old Lenin ironworks in Nowa Huta-Kraków. More importantly, theatres like Wytwórnia and Łaźnia Nowa are more than just theatrical experiments, having taken on the role of veritable cultural centers operating in socially difficult environments.
The past two years have been special in Poland. A rightist government had imposed its vision of the state, which meant in practice a continuous run of political scandals. Polish theatre reacted to this atmosphere of neverending conflict, but paradoxically, the premieres announced for the new season - Miller's The Crucible, Kafka's The Process, Przybyszewska's Sprawa Dantona / The Danton Case and Witkacy's Szewcy / Cobblers - obviously a reaction to the political and social reality of the past two years, fall into a void after October's snap elections and the bitter defeat of the ruling party. But will life be better for theatre under the liberals who have now taken power?
Wojciech Majcherek, October 2007