Stefan Jaracz Theatre
Encyclopedia
The Stefan Jaracz Theatre in Łódź, Poland
is the oldest theatre in the region. It is a repertory theatre
subordinate to the Marshall Office of the Łódź Voivodeship. During the years 1888-1949 (when the theatre chose Stefan Jaracz
as its patron) it was known as the Polish Theatre and the City Theatre.
was a staging of Kazimierz Zalewski's Apfels' Matrimony. The building situated at Piotrkowska Street
served as the theatre's base till May 5, 1909 - when it completely burned down in a fire. The theatre's director - Aleksander Zelwerowicz
(who ran the theatre between 1909–1911) - moved the company and crew to a structure
at Jaracza Street (then named Cegielniana Street) where it resides to this day.
During Zelwerowicz's directorship Łódź as the first city of Congress Poland
watched the now classic works of Stanisław Wyspiański - The Curse and The Wedding
. The theatre continued to perform national drama, including Adam Mickiewicz
's The Forefather's Eve, Juliusz Słowacki's Fantazy, The Silver Dream of Salome and Samuel Zborowski and Zygmunt Krasiński
's Irydion.
, Karol Borowski, Stanisława Wysocka and Kazimierz Wroczyński. But it was thanks to the works of Leon Schiller
, who was persistent in forming his political theatre manifesto
s, that Łódź continued to be noticed on Poland's
theatrical map. His most prominent performances of the period were Jaroslav Hašek
ś The Good Soldier Švejk
, Friedrich Wolf's Cyankali, Sergei Tretyakov
's Roar China, Zygmunt Krasiński The Un-Divine Comedy and Juliusz Słowacki's Kordian
.
Theater zum Litzmannstadt. It was closed down in 1944 when the German army
began their retreat from Poland.
Theatre under the command of Władysław Krasnowiecki came to Łódź. They chose the building at Cegielniana Street as their seat
. The theatre opened on March 22 with a staging of Stanisław Wyspiański's The Wedding. It assembled acclaimed actors, directors and stage designers
, to name Aleksander Zelwerowicz
, Jan Kreczmar
, Juliusz Osterwa, Henryk Szletyński, Edmund Wierciński
, Józef Węgrzyn, Jacek Woszczerowicz, Jadwiga Chojnacka, Jan Świderski and Czesław Wołłejko.
In the years 1946-1949 the stage
was managed by Leon Schiller
, who's output was of great significance. He personally prepared ten performances during three theatrical seasons. The most distinguished ones were Wojciech Bogusławski's Krakovians and Highlanders, Fernando de Rojas
' La Celestina
, William Shakespeare
's The Tempest
, Jan Drda
's Playing with the Devil
and the Song Stall. These works continued Schiller's line of political theatre
while allowing the director to experiment with the form of folklore
theatre at the same time. They merged local tradition with contemporary themes.
In 1949 the company of the Polish Army Theatre together with Schiller moved to Warsaw
and Iwo Gall became the stage's new leading director. The theatre took the name of Stefan Jaracz
as its patron
.
followed in Schiller's steps and was greatly influenced by his predecessors understanding of theatre. The most memorable performance made in the early 50's was Friedrich Schiller
's The Robbers directed by Czesław Staszewski.
Żukowski left the office in 1956 and he was followed by Emil Chaberski (1956–57), Aleksander Bardini
and Konrad Laszewski (1957–58), then Karol Borowski (1958–60). In 1961 returned to his former position and remained the theatre's director till 1971, favoring political plays in his repertoire: Nikolai Pogodin
's The third: Pathetic, Bertolt Brecht
's Fear and Misery of the Third Reich
, Albert Camus
' Caligula
. Alongside this line Żukowski commenced a cycle entitled Contemporary Classics inaugurated with Jean Giraudoux
's Ondine
and Luigi Pirandello
's Six Characters in Search of an Author
. In November 1965 the theatre opened a second stage - the 7.15 Theatre. The stage was used to present comedies, farce
, music-based entertainment and crime fiction.
in terms of existentialism
. The most interesting performances of his period included William Shakespeare's Hamlet
and Henry IV, Part 1
and Part 2
, Fritz Hochwälder
's The Public Prosecutor, Zygmunt Krasiński's The Un-Divine Comedy, Stanisław Wyspiański's Varsovian Anthem, Mikhail Schatrov's The Bolsheviks, Mikhail Bulgakov
's The Days of the Turbins, Jerzy Andrzejewski
's Ashes and Diamonds
. In the midst of the 60's Jerzy Grzegorzewski began cooperating with the theatre and directed Bertolt Brecht's The Caucasian Chalk Circle
, Stanisław Wyspiański The Wedding
, Sophocles
' Antigone
, Jean Genet
's The Balcony
and Witkacy's The Shoemakers.
1971 is also the time when the theatre opened its Small Stage. More intimate, chamber performances were held there in order to create a new quality of reaching the audience. The first performances included Eric Westphal's Those Clouds of Yours, Ted Whitehead's Alpha Beta, Tom Stoppard
's Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead and David Storey
's Home
. In 1988 however the theatre lost the 7.15 Stage to the Philharmonic Orchestra of Łódź.
Between 1979 and 1992 the Stefan Jaracz Theatre was governed by Bogdan Hussakowski, who favoured a repertoire that would mix the aesthetics
of high and low drama. Amongst the notable premieres of his directorship are to be named Witold Gombrowicz
's Trans-Atlantic
, Henryk Rzewuski
's The Memoirs of Soplica, Tadeusz Słobodzianek's Citizen Pekosiewicz (all directed by Mikolaj Grabowski), Aleksander Fredro
's Mr. Jovial (dir. by Tadeusz Bradecki), Adam Mickiewicz's The Forefather's Eve (dir. by Maciej Prus) alongside of Hussakowski's own works - Bolesław Leśmian's Savagery of Posthumous Habits, August Strindberg's
Easter
and Eugène Scribe
's and Ernest Legouvé
's Adrienne Lecouvreur.
and is handling its stages to this day. His works include Fernando de Rojas
' La Celestina
, Georg Büchner
's, Woyzeck
, William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream
, Christopher Marlowe
's The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus, Friedrich Schiller's Intrigue and Love
, Nijinsky (a solo play
based on the life of danseur
and choreographer Vaslav Nijinsky
) and Witold Gombrowicz The Marriage
.
In 1995 a third stage was added to the theatre, the Chamber Stage. Sabina Nowacka, who had been a general director
of the theatre for quite a number of years, was the initiator of the project. The stage was dedicated to the memory of Leon Schiller and it opened with a staging of Stanisław Wyspiański's The Curse to commemorate the title Aleksander Zelwerowicz
chose when commencing his directorship of the theatre.
The theatre's current aim is to discuss topics that concern the modern world. It is doing so through stagings of both Polish and international classics, but the theatre is also eager to explore contemporary drama.
In the year 2008 the theatre added four more stages. Through a EU-funded project infrastructure
s were restored in Sieradz
, Skierniewice
, Piotrków Trybunalski
and Radomsko
. The project, ment to make theatre more accessible to milieus
that are located away from major cultural and entertainment centers, thus allows the theatre to operate not only within city limits, but also on its four regional stages.
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
is the oldest theatre in the region. It is a repertory theatre
Repertory
Repertory or rep, also called stock in the United States, is a term used in Western theatre and opera.A repertory theatre can be a theatre in which a resident company presents works from a specified repertoire, usually in alternation or rotation...
subordinate to the Marshall Office of the Łódź Voivodeship. During the years 1888-1949 (when the theatre chose Stefan Jaracz
Stefan Jaracz
Stefan Jaracz was a Polish actor and theater director. The Stefan Jaracz Theatre in Łódź, Poland is named after him.-Life:He was born in Stare Żukowice, near Tarnów, and died in Otwock, near Warsaw....
as its patron) it was known as the Polish Theatre and the City Theatre.
Beginnings (1888–1918)
The theatre opened on November 6, 1888 in the "Victoria" Building (currently a cinema). One Lucjan Kościelecki made notable efforts to bring the theatre to life. The first premierePremiere
A premiere is generally "a first performance". This can refer to plays, films, television programs, operas, symphonies, ballets and so on. Premieres for theatrical, musical and other cultural presentations can become extravagant affairs, attracting large numbers of socialites and much media...
was a staging of Kazimierz Zalewski's Apfels' Matrimony. The building situated at Piotrkowska Street
Piotrkowska Street
Piotrkowska Street , the main artery of Łódź, Poland, is one of the longest commercial thoroughfares in Europe, with a length of 4.9 km. It is one of the major tourist attractions of the city...
served as the theatre's base till May 5, 1909 - when it completely burned down in a fire. The theatre's director - Aleksander Zelwerowicz
Aleksander Zelwerowicz
Aleksander Zelwerowicz was a Polish actor, director, theatre president and a teacher. He received the Order of Polonia Restituta and is one of the Polish Righteous among the Nations....
(who ran the theatre between 1909–1911) - moved the company and crew to a structure
Architectural structure
An architectural structure is a free-standing, immobile outdoor constructed element. The structure may be temporary or permanent.Structures include buildings and nonbuilding structures . Examples of building structures include houses, town halls, libraries, and skyscrapers...
at Jaracza Street (then named Cegielniana Street) where it resides to this day.
During Zelwerowicz's directorship Łódź as the first city of Congress Poland
Congress Poland
The Kingdom of Poland , informally known as Congress Poland , created in 1815 by the Congress of Vienna, was a personal union of the Russian parcel of Poland with the Russian Empire...
watched the now classic works of Stanisław Wyspiański - The Curse and The Wedding
The Wedding (1901 play)
The Wedding is a defining work of Polish drama written at the turn of the 20th century by Stanisław Wyspiański. It describes the perils of the national drive toward self-determination following the two unsuccessful uprisings against the Partitions of Poland, in November 1830 and January 1863...
. The theatre continued to perform national drama, including Adam Mickiewicz
Adam Mickiewicz
Adam Bernard Mickiewicz ) was a Polish poet, publisher and political writer of the Romantic period. One of the primary representatives of the Polish Romanticism era, a national poet of Poland, he is seen as one of Poland's Three Bards and the greatest poet in all of Polish literature...
's The Forefather's Eve, Juliusz Słowacki's Fantazy, The Silver Dream of Salome and Samuel Zborowski and Zygmunt Krasiński
Zygmunt Krasinski
Count Napoleon Stanisław Adam Ludwig Zygmunt Krasiński , a Polish count, is traditionally ranked with Mickiewicz and Słowacki as one of Poland's Three National Bards — the trio of great Romantic poets who influenced national consciousness during the period of Poland's political bondage.-Life and...
's Irydion.
The interwar period (1918–1939)
Amongst the directors who managed the theatre in the interwar period were Bolesław Gorczyński, Karol AdwentowiczKarol Adwentowicz
Karol Adwentowicz was a Polish actor and theater director.Adwentowicz fought in the Polish Legions in World War I...
, Karol Borowski, Stanisława Wysocka and Kazimierz Wroczyński. But it was thanks to the works of Leon Schiller
Leon Schiller
Leon Schiller de Schildenfeld was a Polish theater and film director, critic and theoretician. He was also a composer and wrote theater and radio screenplays....
, who was persistent in forming his political theatre manifesto
Manifesto
A manifesto is a public declaration of principles and intentions, often political in nature. Manifestos relating to religious belief are generally referred to as creeds. Manifestos may also be life stance-related.-Etymology:...
s, that Łódź continued to be noticed on Poland's
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
theatrical map. His most prominent performances of the period were Jaroslav Hašek
Jaroslav Hašek
Jaroslav Hašek was a Czech humorist, satirist, writer and socialist anarchist best known for his novel The Good Soldier Švejk, an unfinished collection of farcical incidents about a soldier in World War I and a satire on the ineptitude of authority figures, which has been translated into sixty...
ś The Good Soldier Švejk
The Good Soldier Švejk
The Good Soldier Švejk , also spelled Schweik or Schwejk, is the abbreviated title of a unfinished satirical/dark comedy novel by Jaroslav Hašek. It was illustrated by Josef Lada and George Grosz after Hašek's death...
, Friedrich Wolf's Cyankali, Sergei Tretyakov
Sergei Tretyakov
Sergei Mikhailovich Tretyakov was a Russian constructivist writer, playwright and special correspondent for Pravda. He graduated 1916 from the department of law at Moscow University...
's Roar China, Zygmunt Krasiński The Un-Divine Comedy and Juliusz Słowacki's Kordian
Kordian
Kordian is a drama written in 1833, and published in 1834, by Juliusz Słowacki, one of the "Three Bards" of Polish literature. Kordian is one of the most notable works of Polish Romanticism and drama, , PWN Encyklopedia and is considered one of Słowacki's best works.-History:Słowacki began work on...
.
The war period (1939–1945)
During the Nazi occupation the theatre (then by the name of City Theatre) was converted into the GermanNazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
Theater zum Litzmannstadt. It was closed down in 1944 when the German army
Wehrmacht
The Wehrmacht – from , to defend and , the might/power) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer , the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe .-Origin and use of the term:...
began their retreat from Poland.
The post-war years (1945–1949)
In January 1945 the company of the Polish ArmyPolish Armed Forces
Siły Zbrojne Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej are the national defense forces of Poland...
Theatre under the command of Władysław Krasnowiecki came to Łódź. They chose the building at Cegielniana Street as their seat
Seat (legal entity)
In strict legal language, the term seat defines the seat of a corporation or organisation as a legal entity, indicating where the headquarters of this entity are located...
. The theatre opened on March 22 with a staging of Stanisław Wyspiański's The Wedding. It assembled acclaimed actors, directors and stage designers
Scenic design
Scenic design is the creation of theatrical, as well as film or television scenery. Scenic designers have traditionally come from a variety of artistic backgrounds, but nowadays, generally speaking, they are trained professionals, often with M.F.A...
, to name Aleksander Zelwerowicz
Aleksander Zelwerowicz
Aleksander Zelwerowicz was a Polish actor, director, theatre president and a teacher. He received the Order of Polonia Restituta and is one of the Polish Righteous among the Nations....
, Jan Kreczmar
Jan Kreczmar
Jan Kreczmar was a Polish theatre and film actor.Brother of actor and director Jerzy Kreczmar, he was married to actress Justyna Kreczmarowa.-Selected filmography:* Family Life...
, Juliusz Osterwa, Henryk Szletyński, Edmund Wierciński
Edmund Wierciński
Edmund Wierciński was a Polish stage director, actor and educator.Married to actress Maria Wiercińska.-References:*...
, Józef Węgrzyn, Jacek Woszczerowicz, Jadwiga Chojnacka, Jan Świderski and Czesław Wołłejko.
In the years 1946-1949 the stage
Stage (theatre)
In theatre or performance arts, the stage is a designated space for the performance productions. The stage serves as a space for actors or performers and a focal point for the members of the audience...
was managed by Leon Schiller
Leon Schiller
Leon Schiller de Schildenfeld was a Polish theater and film director, critic and theoretician. He was also a composer and wrote theater and radio screenplays....
, who's output was of great significance. He personally prepared ten performances during three theatrical seasons. The most distinguished ones were Wojciech Bogusławski's Krakovians and Highlanders, Fernando de Rojas
Fernando de Rojas
Fernando de Rojas was a Spanish author about whom little information is known. He possibly attended the University of Salamanca. Although his family was of Jewish ancestry, they were conversos, or Jews who had converted to Christianity under pressure from the Spanish crown...
' La Celestina
La Celestina
La Celestina , actually called Tragicomedia de Calisto y Melibea or Comedia de Calisto y Melibea, in English Tragicomedy of Calisto and Melibea), is a work composed entirely in dialogue published by Fernando de Rojas in 1499...
, William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
's The Tempest
The Tempest
The Tempest is a play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in 1610–11, and thought by many critics to be the last play that Shakespeare wrote alone. It is set on a remote island, where Prospero, the exiled Duke of Milan, plots to restore his daughter Miranda to her rightful place,...
, Jan Drda
Jan Drda
Jan Drda was a Czech prose writer and playwright.He was a member of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia since 1945...
's Playing with the Devil
Playing with the Devil
Playing with the Devil is a 1945 Czech fairy-tale comedy play by playwright Jan Drda. It was adapted into a 1956 film directed by Josef Mach, with animated decorations by Josef Lada, and starring popular actor Josef Bek. In 1979, another film adaptation was made in Poland which is the one more...
and the Song Stall. These works continued Schiller's line of political theatre
Political theatre
In the history of theatre, there is long tradition of performances addressing issues of current events and central to society itself, encouraging consciousness and social change. The political satire performed by the comic poets at the theatres, had considerable influence on public opinion in the...
while allowing the director to experiment with the form of folklore
Folklore
Folklore consists of legends, music, oral history, proverbs, jokes, popular beliefs, fairy tales and customs that are the traditions of a culture, subculture, or group. It is also the set of practices through which those expressive genres are shared. The study of folklore is sometimes called...
theatre at the same time. They merged local tradition with contemporary themes.
In 1949 the company of the Polish Army Theatre together with Schiller moved to Warsaw
Warsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
and Iwo Gall became the stage's new leading director. The theatre took the name of Stefan Jaracz
Stefan Jaracz
Stefan Jaracz was a Polish actor and theater director. The Stefan Jaracz Theatre in Łódź, Poland is named after him.-Life:He was born in Stare Żukowice, near Tarnów, and died in Otwock, near Warsaw....
as its patron
Patrón
Patrón is a luxury brand of tequila produced in Mexico and sold in hand-blown, individually numbered bottles.Made entirely from Blue Agave "piñas" , Patrón comes in five varieties: Silver, Añejo, Reposado, Gran Patrón Platinum and Gran Patrón Burdeos. Patrón also sells a tequila-coffee blend known...
.
From Gall to Zukowski (1950–1971)
Iwo Gall successor, Feliks ŻukowskiFeliks Zukowski
Feliks Żukowski was a Polish actor and theatre director. He worked in theatres in Warsaw, Vilnius, Lublin, Częstochowa and Łódź. Feliks was a manager of Stefan Jaracz Teatr in Olsztyn...
followed in Schiller's steps and was greatly influenced by his predecessors understanding of theatre. The most memorable performance made in the early 50's was Friedrich Schiller
Friedrich Schiller
Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller was a German poet, philosopher, historian, and playwright. During the last seventeen years of his life , Schiller struck up a productive, if complicated, friendship with already famous and influential Johann Wolfgang von Goethe...
's The Robbers directed by Czesław Staszewski.
Żukowski left the office in 1956 and he was followed by Emil Chaberski (1956–57), Aleksander Bardini
Aleksander Bardini
Aleksander Bardini was a Polish theatre and opera director, actor, notable professor at the State Theatre School in Warsaw...
and Konrad Laszewski (1957–58), then Karol Borowski (1958–60). In 1961 returned to his former position and remained the theatre's director till 1971, favoring political plays in his repertoire: Nikolai Pogodin
Nikolai Pogodin
Nikolai Fyodorovich Pogodin was a Soviet playwright.Born into a peasant family at Gundorovskaya Stantsiya in the Don Province, young Nikolai Stukalov "spent a wandering childhood with his mother, who travelled from one Cossack village to another taking in sewing"; he worked as a bookbinder and...
's The third: Pathetic, Bertolt Brecht
Bertolt Brecht
Bertolt Brecht was a German poet, playwright, and theatre director.An influential theatre practitioner of the 20th century, Brecht made equally significant contributions to dramaturgy and theatrical production, the latter particularly through the seismic impact of the tours undertaken by the...
's Fear and Misery of the Third Reich
Fear and Misery of the Third Reich
Fear and Misery of the Third Reich, , also known as The Private Life of the Master Race, is one of Bertolt Brecht's most famous plays and the first of his openly anti-Nazi works. It was first performed in 1938...
, Albert Camus
Albert Camus
Albert Camus was a French author, journalist, and key philosopher of the 20th century. In 1949, Camus founded the Group for International Liaisons within the Revolutionary Union Movement, which was opposed to some tendencies of the Surrealist movement of André Breton.Camus was awarded the 1957...
' Caligula
Caligula (play)
Caligula is a play written by Albert Camus, begun in 1938 and published for the first time in May 1944 by Éditions Gallimard. The play was later the subject of numerous revisions. It was part of what the author called the "Cycle of the Absurd", with the novel The Outsider and the essay The Myth...
. Alongside this line Żukowski commenced a cycle entitled Contemporary Classics inaugurated with Jean Giraudoux
Jean Giraudoux
Hippolyte Jean Giraudoux was a French novelist, essayist, diplomat and playwright. He is considered among the most important French dramatists of the period between World War I and World War II. His work is noted for its stylistic elegance and poetic fantasy...
's Ondine
Ondine (play)
Ondine is a play written in 1938 by French dramatist Jean Giraudoux that tells the story of Hans and Ondine. Hans is a knight-errant who has been sent off on a quest by his betrothed. In the forest he meets and falls in love with Ondine, a water-sprite who is attracted to the world of mortal man....
and Luigi Pirandello
Luigi Pirandello
Luigi Pirandello was an Italian dramatist, novelist, and short story writer awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1934, for his "bold and brilliant renovation of the drama and the stage." Pirandello's works include novels, hundreds of short stories, and about 40 plays, some of which are written...
's Six Characters in Search of an Author
Six Characters in Search of an Author
Six Characters in Search of an Author is a play by the Italian writer Luigi Pirandello.The play is a satirical tragicomedy. It was first performed in 1921 at the Teatro Valle in Rome, to a very mixed reception, with shouts from the audience of "Manicomio!" .Subsequently the play enjoyed a much...
. In November 1965 the theatre opened a second stage - the 7.15 Theatre. The stage was used to present comedies, farce
Farce
In theatre, a farce is a comedy which aims at entertaining the audience by means of unlikely, extravagant, and improbable situations, disguise and mistaken identity, verbal humour of varying degrees of sophistication, which may include word play, and a fast-paced plot whose speed usually increases,...
, music-based entertainment and crime fiction.
Maciejowski and Hussakowski (1971–1992)
In 1971 Żukowski was succeeded by Jan Maciejowski (1971–78), whose main interest was in reflecting upon contemporary reality as well as understanding the classicsClassic
The word classic means something that is a perfect example of a particular style, something of lasting worth or with a timeless quality. The word can be an adjective or a noun . It denotes a particular quality in art, architecture, literature and other cultural artifacts...
in terms of existentialism
Existentialism
Existentialism is a term applied to a school of 19th- and 20th-century philosophers who, despite profound doctrinal differences, shared the belief that philosophical thinking begins with the human subject—not merely the thinking subject, but the acting, feeling, living human individual...
. The most interesting performances of his period included William Shakespeare's Hamlet
Hamlet
The Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601...
and Henry IV, Part 1
Henry IV, Part 1
Henry IV, Part 1 is a history play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written no later than 1597. It is the second play in Shakespeare's tetralogy dealing with the successive reigns of Richard II, Henry IV , and Henry V...
and Part 2
Henry IV, Part 2
Henry IV, Part 2 is a history play by William Shakespeare, believed written between 1596 and 1599. It is the third part of a tetralogy, preceded by Richard II and Henry IV, Part 1 and succeeded by Henry V.-Sources:...
, Fritz Hochwälder
Fritz Hochwälder
Fritz Hochwälder also known as Fritz Hochwaelder, was an Austrian playwright. Known for his spare prose and strong moralist themes, Hochwälder won several literary awards, including the Austrian State Prize for Literature in 1966...
's The Public Prosecutor, Zygmunt Krasiński's The Un-Divine Comedy, Stanisław Wyspiański's Varsovian Anthem, Mikhail Schatrov's The Bolsheviks, Mikhail Bulgakov
Mikhail Bulgakov
Mikhaíl Afanásyevich Bulgákov was a Soviet Russian writer and playwright active in the first half of the 20th century. He is best known for his novel The Master and Margarita, which The Times of London has called one of the masterpieces of the 20th century.-Biography:Mikhail Bulgakov was born on...
's The Days of the Turbins, Jerzy Andrzejewski
Jerzy Andrzejewski
Jerzy Andrzejewski was a prolific Polish author. His novels, Ashes and Diamonds , and Holy Week , have been made into film adaptations by the Oscar-winning Polish director Andrzej Wajda...
's Ashes and Diamonds
Ashes and Diamonds
Ashes and Diamonds is a 1948 novel by the Polish writer Jerzy Andrzejewski. It was adapted into a film by the same title in 1958 by the Polish film director Andrzej Wajda. English translation, entitled Ashes and Diamonds, appeared in 1962...
. In the midst of the 60's Jerzy Grzegorzewski began cooperating with the theatre and directed Bertolt Brecht's The Caucasian Chalk Circle
The Caucasian Chalk Circle
The Caucasian Chalk Circle is a play by the German modernist playwright Bertolt Brecht. An example of Brecht's epic theatre, the play is a parable about a peasant girl who rescues a baby and becomes a better mother than its natural parents....
, Stanisław Wyspiański The Wedding
The Wedding (1901 play)
The Wedding is a defining work of Polish drama written at the turn of the 20th century by Stanisław Wyspiański. It describes the perils of the national drive toward self-determination following the two unsuccessful uprisings against the Partitions of Poland, in November 1830 and January 1863...
, Sophocles
Sophocles
Sophocles is one of three ancient Greek tragedians whose plays have survived. His first plays were written later than those of Aeschylus, and earlier than or contemporary with those of Euripides...
' Antigone
Antigone (Sophocles)
Antigone is a tragedy by Sophocles written in or before 442 BC. Chronologically, it is the third of the three Theban plays but was written first...
, Jean Genet
Jean Genet
Jean Genet was a prominent and controversial French novelist, playwright, poet, essayist, and political activist. Early in his life he was a vagabond and petty criminal, but later took to writing...
's The Balcony
The Balcony
The Balcony is a play by the French dramatist Jean Genet. Since Peter Zadek directed its first production at the Arts Theatre Club in London in 1957, the play has attracted many of the greatest directors of the 20th century, including Peter Brook, Erwin Piscator, Roger Blin, Giorgio Strehler, and...
and Witkacy's The Shoemakers.
1971 is also the time when the theatre opened its Small Stage. More intimate, chamber performances were held there in order to create a new quality of reaching the audience. The first performances included Eric Westphal's Those Clouds of Yours, Ted Whitehead's Alpha Beta, Tom Stoppard
Tom Stoppard
Sir Tom Stoppard OM, CBE, FRSL is a British playwright, knighted in 1997. He has written prolifically for TV, radio, film and stage, finding prominence with plays such as Arcadia, The Coast of Utopia, Every Good Boy Deserves Favour, Professional Foul, The Real Thing, and Rosencrantz and...
's Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead and David Storey
David Storey
David Rhames Storey is an English playwright, screenwriter, award-winning novelist and a former professional rugby league player....
's Home
Home (play)
Home is a play by David Storey. It is set in a mental asylum, although this fact is only revealed gradually as the story progresses.The five characters include seemingly benign Harry, highly opinionated Jack, cynical Marjorie, and flirtatious Kathleen...
. In 1988 however the theatre lost the 7.15 Stage to the Philharmonic Orchestra of Łódź.
Between 1979 and 1992 the Stefan Jaracz Theatre was governed by Bogdan Hussakowski, who favoured a repertoire that would mix the aesthetics
Aesthetics
Aesthetics is a branch of philosophy dealing with the nature of beauty, art, and taste, and with the creation and appreciation of beauty. It is more scientifically defined as the study of sensory or sensori-emotional values, sometimes called judgments of sentiment and taste...
of high and low drama. Amongst the notable premieres of his directorship are to be named Witold Gombrowicz
Witold Gombrowicz
Witold Marian Gombrowicz was a Polish novelist and dramatist. His works are characterized by deep psychological analysis, a certain sense of paradox and an absurd, anti-nationalist flavor...
's Trans-Atlantic
Trans-Atlantyk
Trans-Atlantyk is a novel by the Polish author Witold Gombrowicz, originally published in 1953. The semi-autobiographical plot of the novel closely tracks Gombrowicz's own experience in the years during and just after the outbreak of World War II....
, Henryk Rzewuski
Henryk Rzewuski
Henryk Rzewuski was a Polish Romantic-era journalist and novelist.-Life:Count Henryk Rzewuski was a scion of a Polish magnate family in Ukraine. He was the son of Adam Wawrzyniec Rzewuski, a Russian senator who resided in St...
's The Memoirs of Soplica, Tadeusz Słobodzianek's Citizen Pekosiewicz (all directed by Mikolaj Grabowski), Aleksander Fredro
Aleksander Fredro
Aleksander Fredro was a Polish poet, playwright and author.-Life:Count Aleksander Fredro, of the Bończa coat of arms, was born in the village of Surochów near Jarosław, then a crown territory of Austria. A landowner's son, he was educated at home. He entered the Polish army at age 16 and saw...
's Mr. Jovial (dir. by Tadeusz Bradecki), Adam Mickiewicz's The Forefather's Eve (dir. by Maciej Prus) alongside of Hussakowski's own works - Bolesław Leśmian's Savagery of Posthumous Habits, August Strindberg's
August Strindberg
Johan August Strindberg was a Swedish playwright, novelist, poet, essayist and painter. A prolific writer who often drew directly on his personal experience, Strindberg's career spanned four decades, during which time he wrote over 60 plays and more than 30 works of fiction, autobiography,...
Easter
Easter (play)
Easter is a symbolic religious drama from 1901 by Swedish playwright August Strindberg.The play was produced by the Stockholm ensemble Intima Teatern, which also toured other Scandinavian countries, including performances of Påsk in Kristiania. It was the first of Strindberg's plays that was...
and Eugène Scribe
Eugène Scribe
Augustin Eugène Scribe , was a French dramatist and librettist. He is best known for the perfection of the so-called "well-made play" . This dramatic formula was a mainstay of popular theater for over 100 years.-Biography:...
's and Ernest Legouvé
Ernest Legouvé
Gabriel Jean Baptiste Ernest Wilfrid Legouvé was a French dramatist.-Biography:Son of the poet Gabriel-Marie Legouvé , he was born in Paris. His mother died in 1810, and almost immediately afterwards his father was removed to a lunatic asylum. The child, however, inherited a considerable fortune,...
's Adrienne Lecouvreur.
Recent history (1992–present)
In 1992 Waldemar Zawodziński, both a director and a stage designer, became the theare's artistic directorArtistic director
An artistic director is the executive of an arts organization, particularly in a theatre company, that handles the organization's artistic direction. He or she is generally a producer and director, but not in the sense of a mogul, since the organization is generally a non-profit organization...
and is handling its stages to this day. His works include Fernando de Rojas
Fernando de Rojas
Fernando de Rojas was a Spanish author about whom little information is known. He possibly attended the University of Salamanca. Although his family was of Jewish ancestry, they were conversos, or Jews who had converted to Christianity under pressure from the Spanish crown...
' La Celestina
La Celestina
La Celestina , actually called Tragicomedia de Calisto y Melibea or Comedia de Calisto y Melibea, in English Tragicomedy of Calisto and Melibea), is a work composed entirely in dialogue published by Fernando de Rojas in 1499...
, Georg Büchner
Georg Büchner
Karl Georg Büchner was a German dramatist and writer of poetry and prose. He was the brother of physician and philosopher Ludwig Büchner. Büchner's talent is generally held in great esteem in Germany...
's, Woyzeck
Woyzeck
Woyzeck is a stage play written by Georg Büchner. He left the work incomplete at his death, but it has been variously and posthumously "finished" by a variety of authors, editors and translators. Woyzeck has become one of the most performed and influential plays in the German theatre...
, William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream
A Midsummer Night's Dream
A Midsummer Night's Dream is a play that was written by William Shakespeare. It is believed to have been written between 1590 and 1596. It portrays the events surrounding the marriage of the Duke of Athens, Theseus, and the Queen of the Amazons, Hippolyta...
, Christopher Marlowe
Christopher Marlowe
Christopher Marlowe was an English dramatist, poet and translator of the Elizabethan era. As the foremost Elizabethan tragedian, next to William Shakespeare, he is known for his blank verse, his overreaching protagonists, and his mysterious death.A warrant was issued for Marlowe's arrest on 18 May...
's The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus, Friedrich Schiller's Intrigue and Love
Intrigue and Love
Intrigue and Love , , is a five-act play, written by the German dramatist and writer Friedrich Schiller...
, Nijinsky (a solo play
Monodrama
A monodrama is a theatrical or operatic piece played by a single actor or singer, usually portraying one character.- Monodrama in opera :...
based on the life of danseur
Ballerina
A ballerina is a title used to describe a principal female professional ballet dancer in a large company; the male equivalent to this title is danseur or ballerino...
and choreographer Vaslav Nijinsky
Vaslav Nijinsky
Vaslav Nijinsky was a Russian ballet dancer and choreographer of Polish descent, cited as the greatest male dancer of the 20th century. He grew to be celebrated for his virtuosity and for the depth and intensity of his characterizations...
) and Witold Gombrowicz The Marriage
The Marriage (Gombrowicz play)
The Marriage is a play by the Polish writer Witold Gombrowicz, written in Argentina after World War II. The narrative takes place in a dream, where the dreamer transforms into a king and plans to marry his fiancée in a royal wedding, only as a means to save their integrity. A Spanish translation...
.
In 1995 a third stage was added to the theatre, the Chamber Stage. Sabina Nowacka, who had been a general director
General manager
General manager is a descriptive term for certain executives in a business operation. It is also a formal title held by some business executives, most commonly in the hospitality industry.-Generic usage:...
of the theatre for quite a number of years, was the initiator of the project. The stage was dedicated to the memory of Leon Schiller and it opened with a staging of Stanisław Wyspiański's The Curse to commemorate the title Aleksander Zelwerowicz
Aleksander Zelwerowicz
Aleksander Zelwerowicz was a Polish actor, director, theatre president and a teacher. He received the Order of Polonia Restituta and is one of the Polish Righteous among the Nations....
chose when commencing his directorship of the theatre.
The theatre's current aim is to discuss topics that concern the modern world. It is doing so through stagings of both Polish and international classics, but the theatre is also eager to explore contemporary drama.
In the year 2008 the theatre added four more stages. Through a EU-funded project infrastructure
Infrastructure
Infrastructure is basic physical and organizational structures needed for the operation of a society or enterprise, or the services and facilities necessary for an economy to function...
s were restored in Sieradz
Sieradz
Sieradz is a town on the Warta river in central Poland with 44,326 inhabitants . It is situated in the Łódź Voivodship , but was previously the eponymous capital of the Sieradz Voivodship , and historically one of the minor duchies in Greater Poland.It is one of the oldest towns in Poland,...
, Skierniewice
Skierniewice
Skierniewice is a town in central Poland with 49,132 inhabitants , situated in the Łódź Voivodship , previously capital of Skierniewice Voivodship . It is the capital of Skierniewice County. The town is situated almost exactly half-way between Łódź and Warsaw.Skierniewice gained municipal rights...
, Piotrków Trybunalski
Piotrków Trybunalski
Piotrków Trybunalski is a city in central Poland with 80,738 inhabitants . It is situated in the Łódź Voivodeship , and previously was the capital of Piotrków Voivodeship...
and Radomsko
Radomsko
Radomsko is a town in central Poland with 50,618 inhabitants . It is situated on the Radomka river in the Łódź Voivodeship , having previously been in Piotrków Trybunalski Voivodeship . It is the capital of Radomsko County....
. The project, ment to make theatre more accessible to milieus
Social environment
The social environment of an individual, also called social context or milieu, is the culture that s/he was educated or lives in, and the people and institutions with whom the person interacts....
that are located away from major cultural and entertainment centers, thus allows the theatre to operate not only within city limits, but also on its four regional stages.