Lista sztuk wycofanych; Lista sztuk niezaleconych do wystawienia
List of Plays Banned, List of Plays Not Recommended for the Stage

Summary/Abstract: The sources presented in this issue of Pamiętnik Teatralny provide a look behind the scenes at the censoring of amateur theatre movement at the turn of the 1940s and 1950s. One of the most effective ways of curbing the spontaneous and vigorous phenomenon was to ban the plays that the state apparatus deemed politically dangerous. The “List of Plays Banned” and the “List of Plays Not Recommended for the Stage” are stark examples of how the procedure was implemented. The list of plays banned distinguishes between anonymous plays and plays by named authors and contains 711 and 135 items respectively. The list of plays not recommended for staging has 51 entries. This amounts to 897 titles in total. The source documents are undated and devoid of any descriptive notes. Based on other archival materials, however, it may be concluded that both lists were put together in the second half of the 1950s as a result of work of two state institutions tasked with censoring the theatre in the People’s Republic of Poland, namely the Główny Urząd Kontroli Prasy, Publikacji i Widowisk (Central Office for Control of the Press, Publications and Public Performances) and the Ministry of Culture and Art. The plays entered on the lists represent different genres, including operettas, vaudevilles, farces, vignettes, dramas of manners, historical dramas, folk dramas, etc. They are original pieces as well as adaptations, both Polish and foreign. Short forms prevail. Most of the texts banned by the censors are not highly artistic creations; they are popular pieces, published at the turn of the 20th century and in the inter-war period in such series as Teatr dla wszystkich or Naród sobie. They were also published in the first years following the Second World War as part of the Biblioteka Teatrów Amatorskich series.

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