„Takie samo miejsce” dla „orłów i komarów Parnasu”, czyli jaki dramat (i jaki teatr dla tego dramatu) zaprojektowali nasi oświeceni
“The Same Place” for “Eagles and Mosquitos of the Parnassus,” or What Drama (and What Theatre for That Drama) Our Enlighteners Envisioned

Summary/Abstract: The intent of the article has been to demonstrate how goals set by Polish Enlighteners for the theatre and the assumptions they shared, coupled with the circumstances and conditions of theatre entrepreneurship at the time, led willy-nilly to the formation of a popular theatre and the development of analogical popular drama. For it would be a gross misunderstanding to treat this theatre and drama as a highly artistic enterprise, even though the resultant institution was flexible enough to be able to put on other kinds of shows as well. Nonetheless, such attributes as the theatre’s educative and utilitarian qualities, i.e. that it was politically engaged, responsive to the current realities of life, programmatic, entertainment-oriented, and willing to perform for a broad spectrum of audiences, are indeed marks of its popular character. A pragmatic approach to the stage was reinforced by the royal subsidies as well. In this situation, a new profession of the repertory supplier emerged, represented not only by Jan Baudouin or Franciszek Zabłocki, but also by numerous other authors who tried their hand at playwriting, even though they had not been involved in writing literature before. And since the theatre audiences were quickly gaining autonomy and soon started making their own demands, it became clear that the neoclassical aesthetic was bound to give way to non-classical tendencies. What emerged was a generally popular form of theatre enterprise that became a major influence on the ensuing development and evolution of the 19th-century stage.

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