Subversive Stages. Theater in Pre- and Post-Communist Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria

Author(s): Ileana Alexandra Orlich / Language(s): English

Exploring theater practices in communist and post-communist Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria, this book analyzes intertextuality or “inter-theatricality” as a political strategy, designed to criticize contemporary political conditions while at the same time trying to circumvent censorship. In the Soviet bloc the theater of the absurd, experimentation, irony, and intertextual distancing (estrangement) were much more than mere aesthetic language games, but were planned political strategies that used indirection to say what could not be said directly.Plays by Romanian, Hungarian and Bulgarian dramatists are examined, who are “retrofitting” the past by adapting the political crimes and horrifying tactics of totalitarianism to the classical theatre (with Shakespeare a favorite) to reveal the region’s traumatic history. By the sustained analysis of the aesthetic devices used as political tools, Orlich makes a very strong case for the continued relevance of the theater as one of the subtlest media in the public sphere. She embeds her close readings in a thorough historical analysis and displays a profound knowledge of the political role of theater history.

Sześcian zaklęty w kuli

Author(s): Ewa Dąbek-Derda / Language(s): Polish

A Cube Spelled in a Sphere provides an analysis of the artistic output of Jerzy Juk Kowarski – one of the most eminent Polish stage designers – focused predominantly on the issues of understanding and creating theatrical space. A point of departure in the discussion and a characteristic leitmotif of the disquisition presented in the book is the idea put forth by Étienne Souriau. By the end of 1940s, this French philosopher referred to a cube and a sphereas two basic models of performing arts and saw the essence of the theater in a contradistinction of the cubic and spherical principles of space organization. Juk Kowarski’s theatre experience, who applied mathematical intuition in his oeuvre, has verified philosophical speculation of Souriau. Theatrical space, which he has shaped since 1973, subject to numbers and shapes of geometrical figures, that is, squares, circles, straight lines, points, triangles, rectangles, and especially two perfect solids – a cube and a sphere – has displayed both spherical potential set in the closure of a scenic cube, and cubic – in theopenness of theatre spheres. Aside from the tension between the spherical and the cubic space, Kowarski’s theatrical scenery also distinguishes itself by a consistent inscriptionof mysterious signs in the theatre reality that point to interdependence of micro‑and macrocosmos. That which made the author of the present book attempt at illustrating Kowarski’s oeuvre by juxtaposing the selected old and contemporary, physical, cosmological, and philosophical concepts that deal with the understanding of space, was Kowarski’s treatment of the theatre medium as a room for a cognitive‑artistic experiment, a laboratory, where one can freely, for seen as an experiment, confront the world, as well as fascinationwith scientific theories. In his quest for suitable forms of scenery design, as well as other objects, for example, the installations, discussed here, placed in public space, the artistconsistently aims to shape them in such a way that they can contain an unlimited number of places, themes, styles, solutions, epiphanies, expressions, and aesthetics. At the same time, it will allow for weaving the staged dramatic narrative between basic ambivalence of the world illustrated by means of abstract notions – between chaos and order, simplicity and complication, locality and globalism, constraints and infinity, necessity and probability, andfinally between the ultimate opposition between physics and metaphysics. Juk Kowarski creates spaces that can indicate focus within cubic point of cosmic‑theatrical sphere, both the familiar and those forces of the world that we only sense. Such a powerful spatial form can be called a machine of play – a mobile that grasping the ideas of a performance in a form that culminates all energy and staging senses – in spatial structure reveals a model of a worlddeciphered by the theater.

Tam i z powrotem. Rzecz o lalkarskich kontaktach polsko-czechosłowackich i polsko-czesko-słowackich na Śląsku. Wyd. 2. popr. i uzup.

Author(s): Ewa Tomaszewska / Language(s): Polish

The book is an attempt to document Polish-Czechoslovak, as well as Polish, Czech and Slovak puppetry collaboration. It also provides an analysis of the phenomenon of mutual influence between these theaters. The inspiration to write this book comes from a visit of the Czech and Slovak artists to the Polish puppetry theaters, which is particularly conspicuous in the Silesia region. Unlike the Polish theater, the Czech and Slovak puppetry tradition is long and rich, which resulted in the situation that Czechoslovak puppetry took root in the tradition that was enhanced by the imposed doctrines of social realism, whereas Polish puppet theater was shaping more freely with no encumbrance. Thus formed Polish style which made use of visual texture and various means of expression that transcended the traditional idea of a puppet, and experimenting with the power of expression by using a puppet along with a real human actor, proved inspiring to the neighboring country of Czechoslovakia. At the turn of the 1970s and 1980s Czech and Slovak artists commenced appearing on Polish puppet stages. With the advent of the 1980s these visits turned into a close international collaboration. Among the most active artists on the Silesian scene were: from Slovakia, Marián Pecko and his team (Eva Farkašová, Jan Zavarský, Pavol Andraško, Robert Mankovecký); from the Czech theater, Matěj Kopecký, Miroslav Vildman, Karel Brožek, Petr Nosálek, who brought their collaborators (Alois Tománek, Petr Litvík, Tomáš Volkmer, Pavel Hubička, Pavel Helebrand, Nikos Engonidis). In the 1990s Polish puppet theaters boasted guests from Zaolzie; among them were Rudolf Chowaniok, Paweł Żywczok, Halina Szkopkowa, and Janusz Klimsza. At the same time Czech artists, such as Karel Brožek, Petr Nosálek, Jakub Krofta, became artistic directors of the puppet theaters in Katowice and Wrocław, which was an unprecedented phenomenon. Apart from the above-mentioned artists, there are others working for puppet theatres in Silesia, as well as in other regions of Poland, namely, Norbert Bodnár, Simona Chalupová-Pěničková, Hana Cigánová, Karel Fiszer, Vacláv Kábrt, Pavel Kalfus, Josef Krofta, Lukáš Kuchinka, František Lipták, Zdeněk Miczko, Jan Polívka, Ondrej Spišák, Libor Štumpf, Povel Uher, Marek Zákostelecký. These artists represent older generation as well as younger ones, who completed their studies at the faculty of Alternative Art and Puppetry in Praha. This particular situation did not remain unnoticed as Hanna Baltyn claims that the Czech and the Slovak rule, and Henryk Jurkowski asks whether this means an invasion. Therefore, questions arise as to what extent the Czech and Slovak presence in the Polish puppetry is conditioned by the opening of borders, community of cultural references, and weakening position of the Polish theater, or whether it is the result of permanent cultural fluctuations. This publication seeks answers to these questions. In addition, it depicts most significant performances staged in Silesian theaters in 1980–2010 by artists from Czech and Slovakia.

Przypadek Wery V. i Elise V. – pisanie dla sceny w ramach Projektu V. Laury Leish

Author(s): Monika Błaszczak / Language(s): Polish Publication Year: 0

The art icicle constitutes a case study in the area of writing for the stage. Projekt V. is a theatrical enterprise created by Ewa Kaczmarek (alias: Laura Leish). It comprises spectacles Wera V. and Elise V.; which are inspired by the contents of three hundred and three postcards found in the collection of the University Library in Poznań. The artist’s project is an example of correlation of many materials in the newest performing arts; of writing for the stage in the aspect of the performative process of creating a spectacle. The “case” presented here belongs to various themes proposed for consideration: from the methods and conventions of writing for the stage in modern theatre; through adaptational strategies of theatre writers and the theatrical text as a tool for critical consideration of reality; to perfomative text construction or para-verbal narrations. In her project; Ewa Kaczmarek discourses with the tradition of writing for the stage; individual history and women’s narratives. Her actions are based on searches within the frameworks of the text; she deconstructs it; employs the principles of collage; palimpsest; compilation; the poetics of a remix and recycling. She is not averse to narrative experiments. Constructing of texts has a performative character here; a heteronomous composition of words; gestures; audiovisual images/projections is created.

Reportaż jako materiał sceniczny Teatralne świadectwo Cynkowych chłopców

Author(s): Justyna Kowalska / Language(s): Polish Publication Year: 0

The subject of the article is the evolution of a traumatic historical testimony into theatrical material. Its main purpose is an attempt at demonstrating the complex relations between three levels of narrative: a tale of the historical event (confessions of participants and the families of the deceased during the Afghanistan war of 1979–1989); a quasi-literary text of the reportage (Svetlana Alexievich’s Boys in Zinc) and a stage production (Boys in Zinc directed by Jakub Skrzywanek in Jerzy Szaniawski Theater in Wałbrzych). It is possible to visualize and interpret the meaning of an event only when it is rid of the amorphous element of “now” and becomes a finite “once.” The story of “boys in zinc;” the veterans of Soviet-Afghan war became a subject of literary and theatrical discourse; in both cases it acquired a different structure; was created according to different selection criteria. Attention should also be given to the construction of time in the production; which constitutes at attempt at reconciling several time registers with the theatrical convention of “here and now.” The awareness of historical truth and an immediate contact with the real physicality of the body of an actor turns the audience into a witness of terrible confessions in grotesque stylistics of Soldier’s Song Festival in Kołobrzeg.

Myśl słaba a praktyki narracyjne we współczesnym teatrze

Author(s): Kamila Paprocka-Jasińska / Language(s): Polish Publication Year: 0

Weak thought works very well in different areas of contemporary aesthetics, including Polish theater, which does not lack for elements of fragility and apparent deficiencies, as well as weak entities – on the level of both form and the selection of themes. The article is an attempt at applying tools created by weak thought to the theory and interpretation of contemporary Polish theatre and drama on the example of the production Holzwege by Marta Sokołowska, directed by Katarzyna Kalwat (premiered 15th of January 2016 at TR Warszawa). The biography of a composer Tomasz Sikorski becomes a pretext for philosophical reflections over the subject of death, and as such becomes a treaty on the ontology of weak subjectivity. As a metatheatrical narrative, Holzwege revises the basic theatrical categories. The author conducts her case study mainly on the basis of the figures of the trace and the weak subject, researching their influence on the construction of theatrical narrative and stage character. Creating a definition of a weak character, she reaches to the theories of Gianni Vattimo and Constantin Noica, popularized in Poland by a literary scholar Andrzej Zawadzki in, among other works, the book Literatura a myśl słaba [Literature and Weak Thought], as well as classical and contemporary reflections over dramatis personae.

Performans biografii

Author(s): Beata Popczyk-Szczęsna / Language(s): Polish Publication Year: 0

The article reflects over the newest Polish theatrical plays; whose authors have in different ways utilized biographies of famous people. The presence of numerous works of this kind suggests a biographical trend in contemporary Polish theatre. The plays which refer to life-stories of extraordinary heroes of history or culture were created with regard for different source data; including both earlier biographical publication and many common opinions circulating in our cultural context. Interesting and somewhat paradoxical is the fact that the work of their authors who employ biographical material in writing for the stage often combines archeological meticulousness in referring to sources with creativity in its processing/composing.Jan Czapliński’s text Zapolska Superstar serves as an example of dominant compositional strategies of biographical plays: self-referentiality of the message; the confrontation of different kinds of discourses as a distinguishing factor of the verbal material of a text; the manifestation of the authorial perspective and composing the plot as a process of recreating/happening of individual biography. Due to these qualities of works designed for the stage; it can be stated that already at the level of textual recording a “performance of biography” is created; which then develops independently on two planes: in the act of individual reading and in the actor’s performance of words/actions of a character during a stage production.

„Nieodzowność nieuchwytnego” w autorskiej twórczości grupy Med a prach – odejście od słowa i dialogu

Author(s): Elena Knopová / Language(s): Polish Publication Year: 0

Med a prach is a theater group which simply uses the term “stage works” to refer to its intermedial and intertextual productions. These are post-traditional theatrical forms; which combine traditional genres and theatrical elements with new perspectives (for instance; theateroratory; theatre-sound concert; performance as instrumental and vocal movement composition with an epic narrative ground). They employ means from a range of many arts (music; live painting; performance; literature); frequently tackling abstract subjects such as human and Christian values; beauty; monstrosity; faith. The scripts (librettos) take the form of varied collages. There; we find song lyrics; folk ballads; fragments of famous literary works; notes on musical motifs; dance or movement sequences; possible mise-en-scene and score solutions; employment of props; visual elements; comments on the effects of the role of the visual aspect on the audience; etc.The text of the librettos has a lose structure; and is; by assumption; an inspiration (an initiating interpretation of the subject) during the collective process of rehearsals. In case of words; it is not their univocal meaning which is of greatest importance; but their hidden melody; emotional colour and associations.

Poetyka i estetyka teatru autorskiego jednej z etnicznych scen teatralnych na Słowacji

Author(s): Miran Pukan / Language(s): Polish Publication Year: 0

In Slovakia; different political systems – communist and capitalist – shaped different approaches to theatrical work and made their mark on the aesthetics of the staged productions. An excellent way of demonstrating these changes are the works of Blah Uhlár i Miloš Karásek. Their authorial theatre is interesting as a “theatrical memory” of the times when the productions were staged. Interestingly; both artists met the fate of authors rebelling against the hegemony of a playwright. The time and the circumstances forced them to become authors of texts which were akin to conventional dramatic works contemporarily written for the theatre. Decompositions; written at the turn of the eighties and the nineties of the 20th century; were innovative and positively influenced not only ethnic theatre in Presov; but also national theatre in Slovakia. On the other hand; the last three recently staged theatrical projects are in this respect more impoverished. They are rather conventional productions. It turns out that when the divisions between western and eastern culture disappear; when almost anything is possible and allowed; these ex-“alternativists;” artists of peculiar authorial form of theater; fight for the audiences’ attention and must fulfill the same expectations as mainstream authors.

Pisanie dla sceny i „sceny pisma” Jana Dormana

Author(s): Marzenna Wiśniewska / Language(s): Polish Publication Year: 0

Jan Dorman; the creator of the Zagłębie Chidren’s Theater in Będzin; belongs to the Polish theatre avant-garde; which includes; among others; Jerzy Grotowski and Tadeusz Kantor. He left in his archive a rich depository of life and works; which most precious part are the manuscripts of screenplays allowing for the tracing of the process of performances’ creation – from the initial ideas to the holistic stage projects. The article analyses the performative quality of Dorman’s writing for the stage; which reveals itself in the employed dramatic and theatrical strategies (including improvisation; deconstruction of texts; techniques of collage and montage; rhythmicality; play of conventions) and in the very procedure of creating screenplays and their special material form. The reflection simultaneously focuses on the themes of “scenes of writing” (Jacques Derrida); which for Dorman were constituted by the work journals which accompanied the screenplays and interwove with his personal notes. The conclusion of the reflections turns attention to the very idea of theatrical archive as a depository of documents which constitute a performative challenge for the scholars and practitioners of theatre; and as such; invite an artistic treatment.

Tekst dramaturgiczny w polskim teatrze lalek

Author(s): Grzegorz Eckert / Language(s): Polish Publication Year: 0

The article focuses on the nature of the theatrical text and dramaturgy in puppet theatre in Poland and concentrates on stage work directed at an adult spectator. It shows the phenomenon’s historical context in relation to the works of Zofia and Władysław Jarema in Cracow’s Teatr Groteska; Janusz Ryl-Krystianowski’s work in Animation Theater in Poznań and Wiesław’s Hejno’s work in Puppet Theater in Wrocław. The attempt to characterize the presence of the theatrical text in the contemporary puppet theater is based on the example of Malabar Hotel Theater which derives from form theater; and an interview conducted with a playwright Marcin Bartnikowski. The staging strategies are shown; among others; on the example of the staging of Michail Bulhakov’s Master and Margarita and an authorial play Bacon. The article attempts to delineate and collect motives or literary signs most enthusiastically “rewritten” by form theater and puppet theatre in Poland.

Klasyka – interwencje Tekst, scena, społeczeństwo

Author(s): Piotr Morawski / Language(s): Polish Publication Year: 0

The text is devoted to different strategies of working with texts which belong to the historical and theatrical canon. The point of departure is constituted by the competition “Classics alive” and – in consequence – the understanding of the classics which the competition forced upon theatres and artists; and the attempt to break this traditional frame. Writing for the stage is understood here as a number of interventions – interfering with the text in case of an adaptation; breaking the frame of the production; and as such; entering into a relation with the social reality. The author attempted to demonstrate that an intervention at each of these stages serves; at the end of the day; to broaden the field of play and to break the theatricality; to reveal it as a certain convention. Thus; I write about Forefather’s Eve of Michał Zadara and Radosław Rychcik; Catherine the Great and Towiańczycy. Krolowie Chmur (The Towanians. Cloud Kings) of Jolanta Janiczak and Wiktor Rubin. The most spectacular example of such interventions in the recent times is; naturally; The Curse by Oliver Frljić; the repertoire of textual intervention strategies which resonate into the social reality is; of course; much broader. According to the author; this strategy has the greatest power; allows for responding to the extra-theatrical reality and infects the spectacle with it; but also vice versa – theatrical interventions become a virus released into the social order.

Narracje wektorowe. Konteksty ideowe w scenicznych adaptacjach tekstów literackich

Author(s): Piotr Dobrowolski / Language(s): Polish Publication Year: 0

The article; referring to the reception of The Curse directed by Oliver Frljić and The Painted Bird directed by Maja Kleczewska; constitutes a discussion of ideological debates conducted in the area of culture in Poland. The clash of the conservative and liberal visions of politics resulted here in the so-called “war for culture;” which is particularly apparent in context of institutionalized theatre. The author; relating to the programme declarations of artists; notices that the way in which they treat art is connected with their worldview. It influences not only the formal organization of stages or the content presented there; but also the poetics of spectacle; which results from a particular attitude of artists and organizers of the scenic art towards the theatrical text. In the conservative version; this means being faithful to the author; in the liberal – respecting the performative openness written into the practice of post-dramatic theatre. The author indicates; on the other hand; that the dramatic; colliding different visions; reveals itself at different levels of the spectacle. Realizing the main task of art; i.e. undermining the discourses dominant in the contemporary world; vector narrations collide together diametrically opposed view. Thus they contribute to revealing “the drama of our times” (Theodor Adorno) and dispose of the aesthetic formula of art in favour of engagement. Making use of the dramatic tensions within the portrayed world; as well as between the presented content and the audience’s expectations; they show the possible multiplicity of voices and activate the viewers – they force them to make individual interpretative choices.

Historia na (wspólnotowej) scenie – namysły i praktyki

Author(s): Łucja Iwanczewska / Language(s): Polish Publication Year: 0

The article constitutes a reflection over the roles and functions of history in the space of contemporary art and theatre. The author asks which strategies and artistic and political practices are involved in constituting history as knowledge and as material for staging (theatrical, social). On the example of the theatrical works of the duo Janiczak-Rubin, and in particular the spectacle Żony stanu, dziwki rewolucji, a może i uczone białogłowy [Stateswomen, Sluts of Revolution, or the Learned Ladies], the author analyses the mechanisms of community building among the audience through the history working on stage.Analyzing the artistic historical montages, found footage films and strategies of writing on theatre and theatrical spectacles, the author describes the models of assembling and deconstructing history in modern discourses and artistic practices. She reflects upon the issue of engaging the audience into public space, the participative role of art and theatre and the alliance of the public life with the theatrical medium. The article also considers the roles and functions of theatre in manipulating national and communal identity, its negotiative power over identity politics.

Dyskurs emancypacyjny w teatrze Wiktora Rubina i Jolanty Janiczak

Author(s): Aneta Głowacka / Language(s): Polish Publication Year: 0

The idea of the viewer’s emancipation in theatre is gaining on popularity. Artists make use of the audience’s presence; provoking it to various actions and interactions. In place of the spectacle understood as a text to be read; artists propose an event; characterized by unforeseeable meanings and behaviour; which result from the interaction between the artists and the audience. The viewer is also someone who produces meanings; though his/her level of engagement may differ. In consequence; the course of the spectacle is dependent both on the artists and on the audience’s readiness to engage. This mode of theatre is by Josette Féral named “performative theatre.” Hans-Thies Lehmann; on the other hand; relates the dominance of the performative level of the spectacle to the postdramatic theatre.Wiktor Rubin has for years been consistently including the viewer into the space of play: beginning with his first spectacles which brought him recognition; or at least interest of the critics; to the most recent productions; prepared in cooperation with Jolanta Janiczak. The purpose of the article is the demonstration of the evolution of the director’s strategy in emancipating the viewer; which in this case means provoking his activity; drawing into the plot; and thus assembling him in all manners into the world of the stage. Through the actors’ provocation; The Rubin−Janiczak duo does not only intend to cause consternation and curiosity; but also to invoke on the audience’s part a reflection over various social and political phenomena; to provoke actions which invite various forms of citizen activism.

Krytyka – jak działa(ć)?

Author(s): Stanisław Godlewski / Language(s): Polish Publication Year: 0

In his text, Stanisław Godlewski attempts to answer the two title questions: how theatrical criticism works and how can one make it work? He defines theatrical criticism as any judgment concerning theatre – not only the written one, and turns attention to the problematic nature of theatrical criticism as a source in theatre history. On the one hand, theatrical criticism is a reconstruction of a theatrical work (and thus a kind of performance), and on the other, a subjective recording of the reviewer’s reception. Godlewski analyses the way in which the position of “the review as a witness” can be dangerous in studies on theatre, as theatrical criticism has not only a reconstructive but also a preserving function and contributing to the discussion on theatre may become hermetic. Simultaneously, the author of the article notices that the unobvious narrative-making power of criticism reveals itself in the moment of historical studies, when theatrical criticism becomes a source – it is precisely then, that its use may lead to various, frequently surprising conclusions.

Tekst jako obiekt

Author(s): Julia Holewińska,Marzena Sadocha,Artur Pałyga,Ewa Wąchocka,Aneta Głowacka / Language(s): Polish Publication Year: 0

The playwright’s panel took place at the Faculty Council Hall of the Department of Philology of the University of Silesia in Katowice as an event accompanying the national academic conference Writing for the Stage – Narrations of Modern Theatre. Among the invited guests were Julia Holewińska, Marzena Sadocha i Artur Pałyga. The audience and the interlocutors were represented by the conference participants and the academic community. The discussion concentrated around the issues connected with contemporary writing for theatre, and it concerned, among different subjects, the role of the theatrical text in the process of creating a stage production, the ways of writing for the stage and the factors determining various authorial strategies. The playwrights attempted to reflect over their own roles as artists, to define their understanding of theatre, which influences the employed artistic strategies and the manner of working with the text. They shared their thoughts on the aesthetic changes in contemporary theatre, where an increasingly greater role is played by fine arts and media and the directors more and more often share the responsibility for the staging with their co-workers. The discussion also raised the motif of dramatic manifestos, which, once published by playwrights as separate texts, are now woven into the works written for the stage.

Teatrologia na rozdrożach

Author(s): / Language(s): Polish

Gatunki dramatyczne. Rekonfiguracje

Author(s): / Language(s): Polish

The book Gatunki dramatyczne. Rekonfiguracje [Dramatic Genres. Reconfigurations] is a collection of essays on genre and aesthetic transformations in recent stage, radio and television drama, considered in the context of changes in the model of contemporary theatre. The authors offer diverse reflections: both on traditional genres, such as comedy, and on genre varieties of relatively recent date. They present approaches that offer different than the traditional ones classification criteria and descriptive tools, such as the recognition of the political dimension of genology, memory and affect as genre categories, analysis of form from the perspective of intertextual references and re-combinations, genre transformations as a result of links between drama and music. A lot of space is devoted to multimedia genology in its various versions, i.e. a radio play revolutionised by modern sound broadcasting technology, a TV drama or Internet navigation, which modernise the construction of a dramatic text.

HAZAI ÉS KORTÁRS. EGY ÖNGYILKOS VILÁGA MAROSVÁSÁRHELYEN 1983-BAN

Author(s): Andrea György / Language(s): Hungarian Publication Year: 0

On Friday, 4 February 1983, spectators gathered for the premiere of Târgu-Mureş National Theatre’s Hungarian department. The performance entitled Egy öngyilkos világa was directed by Dan Alecsandrescu and is based on the drama signed by an autochthonous and even local author, Romulus Guga: Amurgul burghez (The Bourgeois Twilight). The analysis of this theatrical event shows the evolution of the interpretation of the contemporary local drama in the Ceauşescu period. I reviewed the semantic changes of the term, and I examined how they affected the repertoire of the theatre from Târgu-Mureş in that time.