Polish theater
Encyclopedia
In common with other Europe
an countries, the most frequent and most popular form of theatre
in Poland
is dramatic theatre
, based on the existence of relatively stable artistic companies
. It is above all a theatre of directors, who decide on the form of its productions and the appearance of individual scenes. There is no strict division in Poland between theatre and film directors and actor
s, therefore many stage artists are known to theatre goers from films of Andrzej Wajda
, for example: Wojciech Pszoniak
, Daniel Olbrychski
, Krystyna Janda, Jerzy Radziwiłowicz
, and from films of Krzysztof Kieślowski
, actors such as Jerzy Stuhr
, Janusz Gajos
and others.
Alongside the many types of dramatic theatre whose basis is literature
, there are in Poland historic forms of theatre in which spoken word is not the most important means of expression, e.g., visual theatre popular against state censorship
, musical theatre, theatre of movement, etc. An equal popularity is being gained by theatres employing puppets, figures, or shadows; there is even a theatre of drawing as well as a theatre of fire.
dramatic theatre
lays in the professionalism of its actors. The tradition of the great 19th century players, with Helena Modrzejewska – the "star of two continents" – at its forefront, has been continued by successive generations of university trained artists. This variety and authentic commitment by so many people provides the best evidence that theatre was and still is an inspirational experience in Poland. Further proof may be seen in the degree of audience interest toward the new, experimental theatre, creating a unique ambiance
around them. It may also be seen in the expansion of festival life
and respected theatre magazines, e.g., "Dialog", which has, for decades, presented the latest achievements in world dramaturgy. Alongside the established institutions with seasoned professionals and centuries-old traditions, there are amateur theatres and travelling groups as well.
Among the professional companies, the most representative is the National Theatre in Warsaw
. The core of its repertoire consists of the most cherished Polish and foreign dramas, with which directors conduct their individual dialogues, asking these classic pieces questions tormenting modern-day Poles. Within this exploration, the National Theatre frequently attempts very courageous experiments, which means that its stage, although a showcase, is not at all academic. Most characteristic are the productions of Jerzy Grzegorzewski (Theatre director between 1997–2002), who, employing complicated stage equipment (metaphoric scenographic elements such as pantographs, huge musical instruments, or symbolic props) and creating his own montage of classic texts, testing their value, searching for their relevance to the here and now.
Somewhat more conservative is the second Polish theatre with national status - the National Old Theatre in Kraków
, the only one in Poland belonging to the Union of European Theatres. This theatre, which shone in the seventies thanks to the well-regarded and world-famous productions of Konrad Swinarski, Jerzy Jarocki, and Andrzej Wajda, is attempting to continue these traditions, seeking worthy successors to these masters. The Old Theatre's most important current collaborator is Krystian Lupa. For years, he has been consistently producing the dramas and prose of German language writers (T. Bernhardt, R.M. Rilke, R. Musil), not even hesitating before transferring Broch's novel "The Sleepwalkers" to the stage. Russian literature also lies within his sphere of interest (productions of Dostoyevsky's "The Brothers Karamazov" and, recently, M. Bulgakov's "The Master and Margarita"). Lupa shatters the traditional action of the performances, stretching their tempos and concentrating on the poetic values of particular situations rather than the plot or conflict. This is a theatre of philosophical and existential reflection in whose centre is situated the modern human being, attempting to find a place in an ever more dehumanised world. For several seasons now, Lupa's productions have been regularly shown in Paris, where they have been received with great admiration by critics and audiences. Lupa is also one of the most important teachers of directing at the Ludwik Solski Academy for the Dramatic Arts
in Krakow, where his students have included the newest generation of Polish directors: Krzysztof Warlikowski, Grzegorz Jarzyna, Maja Kleczewska, Anna Augustynowicz, Michal Zadara
and Jan Klata.
, who in the years 1984–1988 was a member of the international group formed by Peter Brook
to work on the staging of the Mahabharata
, and since 1993 has been linked with the Comédie Française. The most revered actor of the second half of the twentieth century in Poland is generally considered to be Tadeusz Łomnicki, who died in 1992 of a heart attack while rehearsing King Lear.
During the second half of the nineties, there appeared in Polish dramatic theatre a new generation of young directors, who have attempted to create productions relevant to the experience and problems of a thirty-something generation brought up surrounded by mass culture, habituated to a fast-moving lifestyle, but at the same time ever more lost in the world of consumer capitalism. The leading theatre in this movement is Warsaw's TR, known as "the fastest theatre in town". Among its collaborating directors, Krzysztof Warlikowski and Grzegorz Jarzyna stand out. Warlikowski has gained international recognition with a series of innovative productions of Shakespeare, performed both at Polish theatres (The Taming of the Shrew, Hamlet) and abroad (Pericles at the Piccolo Teatro in Milan, Twelfth Night and The Tempest at the Stadt-Theater in Stuttgart). Looking for a way to present the complex existential situation of contemporary humanity, Jarzyna reaches both for contemporary drama (Witkiewicz's Tropical Madness, Gombrowicz
's Princess Ivona, or Frazer's Unidentified Human Remains...) and classic European novels (Dostoyevsky's The Idiot, Mann's Doktor Faustus, directed at the Hebbel Theater in Berlin). Recently, both directors have taken an interest in the work of Sarah Kane, mounting startling productions: Cleansed (Warlikowski) and 4.48 Psychosis (Jarzyna).
The true rebirth, following the collapse of the Soviet empire
, was experienced by the Ludowy Theatre
in Nowa Huta
district of Krakow taken over by an actor, director, and politician Jerzy Fedorowicz
(1989–2005). Under his management, the theatre won considerable recognition, and numerous awards. It was twice invited to the Edinburgh International Festival
: in 1996 with Macbeth directed by Jerzy Stuhr
, and in 1997 with Antigona
directed by Włodzimierz Nurkowski. Current director is Jacek Strama, an award winning theatre and film producer.
or Maja Kleczewska work in Warsaw, but also travel to other cities. While it is true to say that the capital's position is safe, there is strong competition for second place between Kraków and Wrocław. Recognised masters (Jerzy Jarocki, Krystian Lupa) and a group of younger directors, with Piotr Cieplak and Paweł Miśkiewicz at the head, collaborate with Wrocław's theatres. Poznań
, Gdańsk
, and Łódź have similar ambitions. One of the more unanticipated surprises of recent seasons has been the blossoming of theatre in Legnica
, a town which, until recent times, was the main Soviet military base in Poland, where the Artistic Director, Jacek Głomb, has been actively searching for new ways to reach the town's inhabitants. So he began putting on shows relating events in the lives of the local citizens, as well as siting classical dramas in surprising arenas (e.g., Shakespeare's Coriolanus in an old Prussian barracks). Since Pawel Lysak became the Artistic Director of the theatre in Bydgoszcz, this city in central Poland has been able to enjoy top-level theatre as well.
There is no doubt that the greatest achievements of the 20th century Polish theatre are thanks to those artists seeking new forms and functions for the theatrical arts. From the very beginning of the great European reform movement, Polish theatre people have undertaken courageous experiments in this area. The Polish stream of reform was characterised by the linking of theatre with metaphysics. The source of this type of search was the work and thinking of the Polish Romantics, with Adam Mickiewicz
at the forefront. In his Forefathers' Eve, the most important work in Polish literature
, there is a vision of theatre as phenomenon on the border between a show and a ceremony led by an actor. In succeeding years, the most important artists of the Polish stage referred to, and sometimes polemicized with, this vision, developing or modifying it.
It was from this root that Stanisław Wyspiański's art arose. Poet, painter, visionary, working at the beginning of the twentieth century he influenced the development of theatre over the course of the following century. His works, born of Romantic and symbolic inspiration, conjoining Catholic, pagan, and classic traditions with the existential and political problems of the new century, has not been completely discovered and understood to this day, forming a vivid and fascinating heritage. It was to this tradition that the originators of Polish monumental theatre, Leon Schiller
(Edward Gordon Craig's collaborator), Juliusz Osterwa, and Wilam Horzyca, harked back. Tadeusz Kantor
, the avant-garde visual artist who became interested in theatre while trying to find new forms of expression, also alluded to it in his theatrical searches. After years of investigation (attempts to adapt the rules of Tachism and performance art to the needs of the theatre), Kantor created his own model, called the Theatre of Death. In his most famous productions - The Dead Class, Wielopole, Wielopole or I Shall Never Return - the artist presented a kind of spiritualist séance, calling pictures, words and sounds deformed by the passing of time. Referring to his memories and experiences, he portrayed a collective memory of the end of the tragic twentieth century - the century of the Holocaust.
. Aiming for the creation of a performance as a selfless act of sacrifice, he carried out the second great reform, after Konstanty Stanisławski's, of the actor's art, and his book Towards a Poor Theatre is still one of the most important textbooks in drama schools the world over. The productions put on by Grotowski's Theatre Laboratory, such as Acropolis (Wyspiański's drama, re-set in a concentration camp), The Constant Prince (after Calderon-Słowacki) or Apocalypsis cum figuris, are among twentieth-century world theatre's most important achievements, still points of reference for many artists. Among others, Peter Brook
, Eugenio Barba
, Marketa Kimbrell
, Richard Schechner
and Andre Gregory
have derived inspiration from Grotowski's work. Over the last decade of his life, Grotowski had been investigating the possibility of creating a dramatic structure whose effect would be similar to that of a religious ceremony. After his death (1999), the work was continued by his students, Thomas Richards
and Mario Biagini, leading the Workcenter, founded by Grotowski in Pontedera in Italy
.
Grotowski's work has also influenced many Polish theatre artistes. Włodzimierz Staniewski, who, after some years of close collaboration with Grotowski, finally rebelled, founded the "Gardzienice" Centre for Theatrical Practice in 1977 in a small village near Lublin
. Today, 25 years later, this centre is world famous and Staniewski's method of acting, known as "theatre ecology," has been numbered among the most important of the twentieth century. The most characteristic aspect of "Gardzienice" is its treatment of theatre as one of many various cultural activities, including expeditions to areas inhabited by people holding onto folk traditions (e.g., the Eastern parts of Poland, Lemko villages or the Ukrainian Hucul region), and a strong link between art and the environment from which it arises. The productions themselves, unusually intense and filled with music, movement and dramatic singing - recall the fundamental myths of East and West.
For several years, Staniewski has been particularly interested in Ancient Greece
as a source of European culture
and spirituality. After Apuleius' Metamorphoses (performed in Germany
, the USA, the United Kingdom
and Spain
, among other countries) he brought into being, with "Gardzienice", a production of Eurypides' Elektra, blazing new trails in his theatrical search. From the ranks of Włodzimierz Staniewski's group have come the founders of many active and uncommonly interesting centres, and not just connected with theatre.
In Sejny
, there is the Borderland Foundation, created by Krzysztof Czyżewski, a one-time Gardzienice collaborator. One of "Borderland's" forms of work is theatre (e.g., a production of Szymon Anski's Dybbuk), and its aim is to raise the consciousness of the inhabitants of the borderlands regarding the unique richness of their cultural tradition, which has for centuries linked Polish, Jewish, Belarusian
, Lithuanian
, Ukrainian
, and even Tatar
influences. In common with Czyżewski, the founder of the "Music of the Eastern Lands" Foundation, Jan Bernad, also came from Gardzienice, and has devoted himself to gathering and reconstructing the rich multiethnic traditions of the ancient music from the Eastern Borders for years.
During the Sixties
and Seventies
, at the same time as Grotowski's work, the movement of social and politically engaged theatre was also developing in Poland. At first, it was, above all, a rebellious student theatre, later, during the period of martial law, the movement also accepted professionals, who organised productions for the underground Home Theatre. One specific form of political rebellion through theatre was promoted by Wrocław's Orange Alternative
, an informal group which organised mass events poking fun at the symbols and ceremonies of officialdom. After the regaining of sovereignty in 1989, this movement weakened, but recently it has been reborn as an anticapitalist and antiwar movement. The most important centre for this kind of activity is Poznań, where, alongside the once famous and still active Theatre of the Eighth Day (the antiglobalist production Summit), the Travel Agency Theatre
operates. One of its most important achievements is the open-air production Carmen Funebre, created under the influence of events in the former Yugoslavia and shown all over the world.
Another developing stream of theatre in Poland is so-called visual theatre, using pictures above all, and almost completely avoiding the spoken word. Its originator is considered to be Józef Szajna
(1922), an artist whose collaboration with theatre began with stage design, went on to direction, and, since the seventies, the creation of theatrical productions employing striking pictures referring to expressionist and surrealist aesthetics. The unique form of Szajna's theatre arose both from his artistic and personal experiences (during WWII
he was a concentration camp prisoner). They were based on a vision of a deformed world in which battles are fought over the basic human values, which are constantly under threat. Szajna's most famous productions, also performed abroad, are Dante, Cervantes, and Replica, which directly relate to his traumatic wartime experiences.
Currently, the leading representative of visual theatre is Leszek Mądzik, the founder of the Visual Stage at the Catholic University of Lublin. He has, for many years, put on productions that are a kind of theatrical meditation, touching on existential and religious topics.
Close to this stream are the strongly theatrical happenings of Jerzy Kalina as well as the theatrical activities of Warsaw's Academy of Movement. Speaking of the borderline between art and theatre, it is also worth recalling that there are still active performance artists in Poland. Polish experimental theatre has been counted among the most interesting in Europe, evidence of which are regular prestigious Fringe First awards from the Edinburgh Festival. In recent years, for example, the Travel Agency, Wierszalin, Kana, Song of the Goat, and Provisorium theatres have been recognised in this way.
During recent years in Poland, there has been a boom in musical theatre. Alongside the world-famous composers and singers, Polish directors of opera are rated ever more highly. The most important among this group has, for years, been Ryszard Peryt, collaborating with the Warsaw Chamber Opera (organising the annual Mozart Festival, among others) and the National Opera. His speciality is the production of oratorios, among which the theatrical version of Verdi's Requiem, which has been performed in Moscow's Red Square, stands out. Recent seasons have been a period of great operatic success for the film director Mariusz Treliński, who has aroused the interest of New York's Metropolitan Opera. Critical acclaim has also been enjoyed by the opera stage designs of Andrzej Majewski
.
Growing popularity is also enjoyed by dance theatre. In addition to classical ballet, whose best groups have for years been linked with opera halls, contemporary dance groups have been appearing since the Sixties and Seventies. Among the most important are Poznań's Polish Theatre of Dance, founded by Conrad Drzewiecki and currently led by Ewa Wycichowska, and Wrocław's "Pantomima", founded by Henryk Tomaszewski
(1919–2001). Since the nineties, both Bytom
(Silesian Dance Theatre) and Kraków have become important centres, hosting festivals which attract dancers from all over the world.
, and "Dialogue," organised biannually in autumn in Wrocław, in turn with Kraków's "Dedications" (October) and Warsaw's "Meetings" (November). Aside from these, the most interesting events are "Theatrical Confrontations" in Lublin
(October), the open-air "Malta" festival in Poznań (June), Kraków's "Ballet in Spring" and the Puppet Theatre Biennial in Bielsko-Biała
.
One world-famous person who had links with 20th century Polish theatre and was Pope John Paul II
. His interest in theatre dated back to his secondary school years in Wadowice
, where the teenage Karol Wojtyła worked in the school theatre. During the Second World War, he co-founded, with his old teacher Mieczysław Kotlarczyk, the underground Rhapsodic Theatre, a group cultivating the Romantic tradition of live poetry. After the war, as a priest, he supported the group and was also its critic, publishing reviews of its performances. Within his literary work, John Paul II also has written a number of dramas, the best-known of which are Our God's Brother and The Jeweller's Shop.
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
an countries, the most frequent and most popular form of theatre
Theatre
Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...
in Poland
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 dramatic theatre
Drama
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance. The term comes from a Greek word meaning "action" , which is derived from "to do","to act" . The enactment of drama in theatre, performed by actors on a stage before an audience, presupposes collaborative modes of production and a...
, based on the existence of relatively stable artistic companies
Stagecraft
Stagecraft is a generic term referring to the technical aspects of theatrical, film, and video production. It includes, but is not limited to, constructing and rigging scenery, hanging and focusing of lighting, design and procurement of costumes, makeup, procurement of props, stage management, and...
. It is above all a theatre of directors, who decide on the form of its productions and the appearance of individual scenes. There is no strict division in Poland between theatre and film directors and actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
s, therefore many stage artists are known to theatre goers from films of Andrzej Wajda
Andrzej Wajda
Andrzej Wajda is a Polish film director. Recipient of an honorary Oscar, he is possibly the most prominent member of the unofficial "Polish Film School"...
, for example: Wojciech Pszoniak
Wojciech Pszoniak
Wojciech Pszoniak , is a Polish film and theater actor.Pszoniak gained international visibility following Andrzej Wajda's 1975 film The Promised Land, in which he played Moritz, one of the three main characters....
, Daniel Olbrychski
Daniel Olbrychski
Daniel Olbrychski is a Polish actor best known for leading roles in several Andrzej Wajda movies and also known for playing the Russian defector and spymaster Vassily Orlov, alongside Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie in the movie Salt....
, Krystyna Janda, Jerzy Radziwiłowicz
Jerzy Radziwiłowicz
Jerzy Radziwiłowicz is a Polish film actor. He has appeared in 37 films since 1974.-Selected filmography:* Man of Marble * Man of Iron * Le Grand Paysage d'Alexis Droeven * Passion * Dies rigorose Leben...
, and from films of Krzysztof Kieślowski
Krzysztof Kieslowski
Krzysztof Kieślowski was an Academy Award nominated influential Polish film director and screenwriter, known internationally for The Double Life of Veronique and his film cycles The Decalogue and Three Colors.-Early life:...
, actors such as Jerzy Stuhr
Jerzy Stuhr
Jerzy Stuhr is one of the most popular, influential and versatile Polish actors. He also works as a screenwriter, film director and drama professor...
, Janusz Gajos
Janusz Gajos
Janusz Gajos is a Polish actor.He graduated in 1965 from the National Film School in Łódź as one of its best students despite having been rejected during entrance exams for three times. He debuted while he was still in film school in children's film Panienka z okienka in 1964...
and others.
Alongside the many types of dramatic theatre whose basis is literature
Literature
Literature is the art of written works, and is not bound to published sources...
, there are in Poland historic forms of theatre in which spoken word is not the most important means of expression, e.g., visual theatre popular against state censorship
Censorship
thumb|[[Book burning]] following the [[1973 Chilean coup d'état|1973 coup]] that installed the [[Military government of Chile |Pinochet regime]] in Chile...
, musical theatre, theatre of movement, etc. An equal popularity is being gained by theatres employing puppets, figures, or shadows; there is even a theatre of drawing as well as a theatre of fire.
Tradition
The strength of PolishPoland
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...
dramatic theatre
Theatre
Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...
lays in the professionalism of its actors. The tradition of the great 19th century players, with Helena Modrzejewska – the "star of two continents" – at its forefront, has been continued by successive generations of university trained artists. This variety and authentic commitment by so many people provides the best evidence that theatre was and still is an inspirational experience in Poland. Further proof may be seen in the degree of audience interest toward the new, experimental theatre, creating a unique ambiance
Mood (psychology)
A mood is a relatively long lasting emotional state. Moods differ from emotions in that they are less specific, less intense, and less likely to be triggered by a particular stimulus or event....
around them. It may also be seen in the expansion of festival life
Theatre festival
Theatre festivals amongst the earliest types of festival. Classical Greek theatre was associated with religious festivals dedicated to Dionysus. The medieval mystery plays were presented at the major Christian feasts...
and respected theatre magazines, e.g., "Dialog", which has, for decades, presented the latest achievements in world dramaturgy. Alongside the established institutions with seasoned professionals and centuries-old traditions, there are amateur theatres and travelling groups as well.
Among the professional companies, the most representative is the National Theatre in 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...
. The core of its repertoire consists of the most cherished Polish and foreign dramas, with which directors conduct their individual dialogues, asking these classic pieces questions tormenting modern-day Poles. Within this exploration, the National Theatre frequently attempts very courageous experiments, which means that its stage, although a showcase, is not at all academic. Most characteristic are the productions of Jerzy Grzegorzewski (Theatre director between 1997–2002), who, employing complicated stage equipment (metaphoric scenographic elements such as pantographs, huge musical instruments, or symbolic props) and creating his own montage of classic texts, testing their value, searching for their relevance to the here and now.
Somewhat more conservative is the second Polish theatre with national status - the National Old Theatre in Kraków
Kraków
Kraków also Krakow, or Cracow , is the second largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in the Lesser Poland region, the city dates back to the 7th century. Kraków has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Polish academic, cultural, and artistic life...
, the only one in Poland belonging to the Union of European Theatres. This theatre, which shone in the seventies thanks to the well-regarded and world-famous productions of Konrad Swinarski, Jerzy Jarocki, and Andrzej Wajda, is attempting to continue these traditions, seeking worthy successors to these masters. The Old Theatre's most important current collaborator is Krystian Lupa. For years, he has been consistently producing the dramas and prose of German language writers (T. Bernhardt, R.M. Rilke, R. Musil), not even hesitating before transferring Broch's novel "The Sleepwalkers" to the stage. Russian literature also lies within his sphere of interest (productions of Dostoyevsky's "The Brothers Karamazov" and, recently, M. Bulgakov's "The Master and Margarita"). Lupa shatters the traditional action of the performances, stretching their tempos and concentrating on the poetic values of particular situations rather than the plot or conflict. This is a theatre of philosophical and existential reflection in whose centre is situated the modern human being, attempting to find a place in an ever more dehumanised world. For several seasons now, Lupa's productions have been regularly shown in Paris, where they have been received with great admiration by critics and audiences. Lupa is also one of the most important teachers of directing at the Ludwik Solski Academy for the Dramatic Arts
Ludwik Solski Academy for the Dramatic Arts
Ludwik Solski Academy for the Dramatic Arts , located in Kraków, Poland, was founded in 1946 by a well-known Polish actor, Juliusz Osterwa, who took the initial steps leading to the establishment of the Academy through the amalgamation of three local studios, the Theatre Actors' Studio at...
in Krakow, where his students have included the newest generation of Polish directors: Krzysztof Warlikowski, Grzegorz Jarzyna, Maja Kleczewska, Anna Augustynowicz, Michal Zadara
Michal Zadara
Michal Zadara is a Polish theatre director and set designer. He has worked primarily in Warsaw and Krakow, but he also staged several plays abroad, in Germany, Israel and the United States...
and Jan Klata.
Actors and directors
At present, the Polish theatre actor possibly best-known outside the country is Andrzej SewerynAndrzej Seweryn
Andrzej Seweryn is a Polish and French actor and director. One of the most successful Polish theatre actors, he starred in over 50 films, mostly in Poland, France and Germany. He is also one of only three non-French actors to be hired by the Paris-based Comédie-Française.- Biography :Andrzej...
, who in the years 1984–1988 was a member of the international group formed by Peter Brook
Peter Brook
Peter Stephen Paul Brook CH, CBE is an English theatre and film director and innovator, who has been based in France since the early 1970s.-Life:...
to work on the staging of the Mahabharata
Mahabharata
The Mahabharata is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India and Nepal, the other being the Ramayana. The epic is part of itihasa....
, and since 1993 has been linked with the Comédie Française. The most revered actor of the second half of the twentieth century in Poland is generally considered to be Tadeusz Łomnicki, who died in 1992 of a heart attack while rehearsing King Lear.
During the second half of the nineties, there appeared in Polish dramatic theatre a new generation of young directors, who have attempted to create productions relevant to the experience and problems of a thirty-something generation brought up surrounded by mass culture, habituated to a fast-moving lifestyle, but at the same time ever more lost in the world of consumer capitalism. The leading theatre in this movement is Warsaw's TR, known as "the fastest theatre in town". Among its collaborating directors, Krzysztof Warlikowski and Grzegorz Jarzyna stand out. Warlikowski has gained international recognition with a series of innovative productions of Shakespeare, performed both at Polish theatres (The Taming of the Shrew, Hamlet) and abroad (Pericles at the Piccolo Teatro in Milan, Twelfth Night and The Tempest at the Stadt-Theater in Stuttgart). Looking for a way to present the complex existential situation of contemporary humanity, Jarzyna reaches both for contemporary drama (Witkiewicz's Tropical Madness, 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 Princess Ivona, or Frazer's Unidentified Human Remains...) and classic European novels (Dostoyevsky's The Idiot, Mann's Doktor Faustus, directed at the Hebbel Theater in Berlin). Recently, both directors have taken an interest in the work of Sarah Kane, mounting startling productions: Cleansed (Warlikowski) and 4.48 Psychosis (Jarzyna).
The true rebirth, following the collapse of the Soviet empire
Soviet Empire
During the Cold War, the informal term "Soviet Empire" referred to the Soviet Union's influence over a number of smaller nations who were nominally independent but subject to direct military force if they tried to leave the Soviet system; see Hungarian Revolution of 1956 and Prague Spring.Though...
, was experienced by the Ludowy Theatre
Ludowy Theatre
The Ludowy Theatre in Kraków, located at Osiedle Teatralne in District Nowa Huta, opened on December 3, 1955; at a time, when the official policy of Socialist realism came to an end; and, the 1956 de-stalinization of People's Republic of Poland was about to begin...
in Nowa Huta
Nowa Huta
Nowa Huta - is the easternmost district of Kraków, Poland, . With more than 200,000 inhabitants it is one of the most populous areas of the city.- History :...
district of Krakow taken over by an actor, director, and politician Jerzy Fedorowicz
Jerzy Fedorowicz
Jerzy Feliks Fedorowicz is a Polish actor, theatre director, poet, politician and member of Sejm ....
(1989–2005). Under his management, the theatre won considerable recognition, and numerous awards. It was twice invited to the Edinburgh International Festival
Edinburgh International Festival
The Edinburgh International Festival is a festival of performing arts that takes place in the city of Edinburgh, Scotland, over three weeks from around the middle of August. By invitation from the Festival Director, the International Festival brings top class performers of music , theatre, opera...
: in 1996 with Macbeth directed by Jerzy Stuhr
Jerzy Stuhr
Jerzy Stuhr is one of the most popular, influential and versatile Polish actors. He also works as a screenwriter, film director and drama professor...
, and in 1997 with Antigona
Antigona
Antigona is an opera in three acts in Italian by the composer Tommaso Traetta. The libretto, by Marco Coltellini, is based on the tragedy Antigone by Sophocles.-Performance history:...
directed by Włodzimierz Nurkowski. Current director is Jacek Strama, an award winning theatre and film producer.
Venues
The theatrical map of Poland, on which for many years the most important points were Warsaw and Kraków, has undergone numerous changes over the last decade. The most recognized directors in Poland, such as Krzysztof Warlikowski, Grzegorz Jarzyna, Jan Klata, Michal ZadaraMichal Zadara
Michal Zadara is a Polish theatre director and set designer. He has worked primarily in Warsaw and Krakow, but he also staged several plays abroad, in Germany, Israel and the United States...
or Maja Kleczewska work in Warsaw, but also travel to other cities. While it is true to say that the capital's position is safe, there is strong competition for second place between Kraków and Wrocław. Recognised masters (Jerzy Jarocki, Krystian Lupa) and a group of younger directors, with Piotr Cieplak and Paweł Miśkiewicz at the head, collaborate with Wrocław's theatres. Poznań
Poznan
Poznań is a city on the Warta river in west-central Poland, with a population of 556,022 in June 2009. It is among the oldest cities in Poland, and was one of the most important centres in the early Polish state, whose first rulers were buried at Poznań's cathedral. It is sometimes claimed to be...
, Gdańsk
Gdansk
Gdańsk is a Polish city on the Baltic coast, at the centre of the country's fourth-largest metropolitan area.The city lies on the southern edge of Gdańsk Bay , in a conurbation with the city of Gdynia, spa town of Sopot, and suburban communities, which together form a metropolitan area called the...
, and Łódź have similar ambitions. One of the more unanticipated surprises of recent seasons has been the blossoming of theatre in Legnica
Legnica
Legnica is a town in south-western Poland, in Silesia, in the central part of Lower Silesia, on the plain of Legnica, riverside: Kaczawa and Czarna Woda. Between 1 June 1975 and 31 December 1998 Legnica was the capital of the Legnica Voivodeship. It is currently the seat of the county...
, a town which, until recent times, was the main Soviet military base in Poland, where the Artistic Director, Jacek Głomb, has been actively searching for new ways to reach the town's inhabitants. So he began putting on shows relating events in the lives of the local citizens, as well as siting classical dramas in surprising arenas (e.g., Shakespeare's Coriolanus in an old Prussian barracks). Since Pawel Lysak became the Artistic Director of the theatre in Bydgoszcz, this city in central Poland has been able to enjoy top-level theatre as well.
There is no doubt that the greatest achievements of the 20th century Polish theatre are thanks to those artists seeking new forms and functions for the theatrical arts. From the very beginning of the great European reform movement, Polish theatre people have undertaken courageous experiments in this area. The Polish stream of reform was characterised by the linking of theatre with metaphysics. The source of this type of search was the work and thinking of the Polish Romantics, with 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...
at the forefront. In his Forefathers' Eve, the most important work in Polish literature
Polish literature
Polish literature is the literary tradition of Poland. Most Polish literature has been written in the Polish language, though other languages, used in Poland over the centuries, have also contributed to Polish literary traditions, including Yiddish, Lithuanian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, German and...
, there is a vision of theatre as phenomenon on the border between a show and a ceremony led by an actor. In succeeding years, the most important artists of the Polish stage referred to, and sometimes polemicized with, this vision, developing or modifying it.
It was from this root that Stanisław Wyspiański's art arose. Poet, painter, visionary, working at the beginning of the twentieth century he influenced the development of theatre over the course of the following century. His works, born of Romantic and symbolic inspiration, conjoining Catholic, pagan, and classic traditions with the existential and political problems of the new century, has not been completely discovered and understood to this day, forming a vivid and fascinating heritage. It was to this tradition that the originators of Polish monumental theatre, 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....
(Edward Gordon Craig's collaborator), Juliusz Osterwa, and Wilam Horzyca, harked back. Tadeusz Kantor
Tadeusz Kantor
Tadeusz Kantor was a Polish painter, assemblage artist, set designer and theatre director. Kantor is renowned for his revolutionary theatrical performances in Poland and abroad.- Life and career :...
, the avant-garde visual artist who became interested in theatre while trying to find new forms of expression, also alluded to it in his theatrical searches. After years of investigation (attempts to adapt the rules of Tachism and performance art to the needs of the theatre), Kantor created his own model, called the Theatre of Death. In his most famous productions - The Dead Class, Wielopole, Wielopole or I Shall Never Return - the artist presented a kind of spiritualist séance, calling pictures, words and sounds deformed by the passing of time. Referring to his memories and experiences, he portrayed a collective memory of the end of the tragic twentieth century - the century of the Holocaust.
Grotowski
Though arising from the same roots, a totally different attempt to renew theatre was undertaken by Jerzy GrotowskiJerzy Grotowski
Jerzy Grotowski was a Polish theatre director and innovator of experimental theatre, the "theatre laboratory" and "poor theatre" concepts....
. Aiming for the creation of a performance as a selfless act of sacrifice, he carried out the second great reform, after Konstanty Stanisławski's, of the actor's art, and his book Towards a Poor Theatre is still one of the most important textbooks in drama schools the world over. The productions put on by Grotowski's Theatre Laboratory, such as Acropolis (Wyspiański's drama, re-set in a concentration camp), The Constant Prince (after Calderon-Słowacki) or Apocalypsis cum figuris, are among twentieth-century world theatre's most important achievements, still points of reference for many artists. Among others, Peter Brook
Peter Brook
Peter Stephen Paul Brook CH, CBE is an English theatre and film director and innovator, who has been based in France since the early 1970s.-Life:...
, Eugenio Barba
Eugenio Barba
Eugenio Barba is an Italian author and theatre director based in Denmark. He is the founder of the Odin Theatre and the International School of Theatre Anthropology, both located in Holstebro, Denmark.-Biography:...
, Marketa Kimbrell
Marketa Kimbrell
Marketa Kimbrell was an Czechoslovakian-born American actress and professor of acting and film directing. In 1970, Kimbrell and actor Richard Levy founded the New York Street Theater Caravan, a theater company which brought stage productions to audiences who otherwise might not have access to...
, Richard Schechner
Richard Schechner
Richard Schechner is Professor of Performance Studies at the Tisch School of the Arts, New York University , editor of TDR: The Drama Review, and artistic director of East Coast Artists. His BA is from Cornell University , MA from the University of Iowa , and PhD from Tulane University...
and Andre Gregory
Andre Gregory
Andre William Gregory is an American theatre director, writer and actor.Gregory studied at Harvard University.During the 1960s and 1970s, Gregory directed a number of avant-garde productions developed through ensemble collaboration, the most famous of which was Alice In Wonderland , based on Lewis...
have derived inspiration from Grotowski's work. Over the last decade of his life, Grotowski had been investigating the possibility of creating a dramatic structure whose effect would be similar to that of a religious ceremony. After his death (1999), the work was continued by his students, Thomas Richards
Thomas Richards
Thomas Richards may refer to:* Thomas Richards , Welsh priest and writer* Thomas Richards , American film editor* Thomas Richards * Thomas Richards , mayor of Rochester, New York...
and Mario Biagini, leading the Workcenter, founded by Grotowski in Pontedera in Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
.
Grotowski's work has also influenced many Polish theatre artistes. Włodzimierz Staniewski, who, after some years of close collaboration with Grotowski, finally rebelled, founded the "Gardzienice" Centre for Theatrical Practice in 1977 in a small village near Lublin
Lublin
Lublin is the ninth largest city in Poland. It is the capital of Lublin Voivodeship with a population of 350,392 . Lublin is also the largest Polish city east of the Vistula river...
. Today, 25 years later, this centre is world famous and Staniewski's method of acting, known as "theatre ecology," has been numbered among the most important of the twentieth century. The most characteristic aspect of "Gardzienice" is its treatment of theatre as one of many various cultural activities, including expeditions to areas inhabited by people holding onto folk traditions (e.g., the Eastern parts of Poland, Lemko villages or the Ukrainian Hucul region), and a strong link between art and the environment from which it arises. The productions themselves, unusually intense and filled with music, movement and dramatic singing - recall the fundamental myths of East and West.
For several years, Staniewski has been particularly interested in Ancient Greece
Ancient Greece
Ancient Greece is a civilization belonging to a period of Greek history that lasted from the Archaic period of the 8th to 6th centuries BC to the end of antiquity. Immediately following this period was the beginning of the Early Middle Ages and the Byzantine era. Included in Ancient Greece is the...
as a source of European culture
Culture of Europe
The culture of Europe might better be described as a series of overlapping cultures. Whether it is a question of North as opposed to South; West as opposed to East; Orthodoxism as opposed to Protestantism as opposed to Catholicism as opposed to Secularism; many have claimed to identify cultural...
and spirituality. After Apuleius' Metamorphoses (performed in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, the USA, the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
and Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
, among other countries) he brought into being, with "Gardzienice", a production of Eurypides' Elektra, blazing new trails in his theatrical search. From the ranks of Włodzimierz Staniewski's group have come the founders of many active and uncommonly interesting centres, and not just connected with theatre.
In Sejny
Sejny
Sejny is a town in north-eastern Poland, in Podlaskie Voivodeship, close to the border with Lithuania and Belarus. It is located in the eastern part of the Suwałki Lake Area , on the Marycha river, being a tributary of Czarna Hańcza...
, there is the Borderland Foundation, created by Krzysztof Czyżewski, a one-time Gardzienice collaborator. One of "Borderland's" forms of work is theatre (e.g., a production of Szymon Anski's Dybbuk), and its aim is to raise the consciousness of the inhabitants of the borderlands regarding the unique richness of their cultural tradition, which has for centuries linked Polish, Jewish, Belarusian
Belarusians
Belarusians ; are an East Slavic ethnic group who populate the majority of the Republic of Belarus. Introduced to the world as a new state in the early 1990s, the Republic of Belarus brought with it the notion of a re-emerging Belarusian ethnicity, drawn upon the lines of the Old Belarusian...
, Lithuanian
Lithuanians
Lithuanians are the Baltic ethnic group native to Lithuania, where they number around 2,765,600 people. Another million or more make up the Lithuanian diaspora, largely found in countries such as the United States, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Russia, United Kingdom and Ireland. Their native language...
, Ukrainian
Ukrainians
Ukrainians are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine, which is the sixth-largest nation in Europe. The Constitution of Ukraine applies the term 'Ukrainians' to all its citizens...
, and even Tatar
Tatars
Tatars are a Turkic speaking ethnic group , numbering roughly 7 million.The majority of Tatars live in the Russian Federation, with a population of around 5.5 million, about 2 million of which in the republic of Tatarstan.Significant minority populations are found in Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan,...
influences. In common with Czyżewski, the founder of the "Music of the Eastern Lands" Foundation, Jan Bernad, also came from Gardzienice, and has devoted himself to gathering and reconstructing the rich multiethnic traditions of the ancient music from the Eastern Borders for years.
During the Sixties
1960s
The 1960s was the decade that started on January 1, 1960, and ended on December 31, 1969. It was the seventh decade of the 20th century.The 1960s term also refers to an era more often called The Sixties, denoting the complex of inter-related cultural and political trends across the globe...
and Seventies
1970s
File:1970s decade montage.png|From left, clockwise: US President Richard Nixon doing the V for Victory sign after his resignation from office after the Watergate scandal in 1974; Refugees aboard a US naval boat after the Fall of Saigon, leading to the end of the Vietnam War in 1975; The 1973 oil...
, at the same time as Grotowski's work, the movement of social and politically engaged theatre was also developing in Poland. At first, it was, above all, a rebellious student theatre, later, during the period of martial law, the movement also accepted professionals, who organised productions for the underground Home Theatre. One specific form of political rebellion through theatre was promoted by Wrocław's Orange Alternative
Orange Alternative
Orange Alternative is a name for an underground protest movement which was started in Wrocław, a town in south-west Poland and led by Waldemar Fydrych , commonly known as Major in the 1980s...
, an informal group which organised mass events poking fun at the symbols and ceremonies of officialdom. After the regaining of sovereignty in 1989, this movement weakened, but recently it has been reborn as an anticapitalist and antiwar movement. The most important centre for this kind of activity is Poznań, where, alongside the once famous and still active Theatre of the Eighth Day (the antiglobalist production Summit), the Travel Agency Theatre
Teatr Biuro Podrózy
Teatr Biuro Podróży is an award-winning alternative theatre company based in Poznan, Poland. Founded by Paweł Szkotak in 1988, this Polish theatre ensemble creates and performs large-scale, outdoor theatre on social and political themes, using gesture, physical action, visual spectacle, music, and...
operates. One of its most important achievements is the open-air production Carmen Funebre, created under the influence of events in the former Yugoslavia and shown all over the world.
Another developing stream of theatre in Poland is so-called visual theatre, using pictures above all, and almost completely avoiding the spoken word. Its originator is considered to be Józef Szajna
Józef Szajna
Józef Szajna was a Polish scenery designer, stage director, playwright, theoretician of the theatre, painter and graphic artist.During the Second World War and occupation of Poland, Szajna was a prisoner of the German concentration camps Auschwitz and Buchenwald.-Further reading:* Archives and art...
(1922), an artist whose collaboration with theatre began with stage design, went on to direction, and, since the seventies, the creation of theatrical productions employing striking pictures referring to expressionist and surrealist aesthetics. The unique form of Szajna's theatre arose both from his artistic and personal experiences (during WWII
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
he was a concentration camp prisoner). They were based on a vision of a deformed world in which battles are fought over the basic human values, which are constantly under threat. Szajna's most famous productions, also performed abroad, are Dante, Cervantes, and Replica, which directly relate to his traumatic wartime experiences.
Currently, the leading representative of visual theatre is Leszek Mądzik, the founder of the Visual Stage at the Catholic University of Lublin. He has, for many years, put on productions that are a kind of theatrical meditation, touching on existential and religious topics.
Close to this stream are the strongly theatrical happenings of Jerzy Kalina as well as the theatrical activities of Warsaw's Academy of Movement. Speaking of the borderline between art and theatre, it is also worth recalling that there are still active performance artists in Poland. Polish experimental theatre has been counted among the most interesting in Europe, evidence of which are regular prestigious Fringe First awards from the Edinburgh Festival. In recent years, for example, the Travel Agency, Wierszalin, Kana, Song of the Goat, and Provisorium theatres have been recognised in this way.
During recent years in Poland, there has been a boom in musical theatre. Alongside the world-famous composers and singers, Polish directors of opera are rated ever more highly. The most important among this group has, for years, been Ryszard Peryt, collaborating with the Warsaw Chamber Opera (organising the annual Mozart Festival, among others) and the National Opera. His speciality is the production of oratorios, among which the theatrical version of Verdi's Requiem, which has been performed in Moscow's Red Square, stands out. Recent seasons have been a period of great operatic success for the film director Mariusz Treliński, who has aroused the interest of New York's Metropolitan Opera. Critical acclaim has also been enjoyed by the opera stage designs of Andrzej Majewski
Andrzej Majewski
Andrzej Majewski, , is a Polish aphorist, writer, columnist and photographer. He graduated from The Economics Academy of Wrocław...
.
Growing popularity is also enjoyed by dance theatre. In addition to classical ballet, whose best groups have for years been linked with opera halls, contemporary dance groups have been appearing since the Sixties and Seventies. Among the most important are Poznań's Polish Theatre of Dance, founded by Conrad Drzewiecki and currently led by Ewa Wycichowska, and Wrocław's "Pantomima", founded by Henryk Tomaszewski
Henryk Tomaszewski (mime)
Henryk Tomaszewski aka Heinrich Karl Koenig was a mime artist and theatre director, born in Poznań, Poland. He settled in Cracow in 1945 to study theatre after the end of World War II during which he studied at Iwo Gall's Theatre Studio from 1945 to 1947 and ballet under Feliks Parnell...
(1919–2001). Since the nineties, both Bytom
Bytom
Bytom is a city in Silesia in southern Poland, near Katowice. The central-western district of the Upper Silesian Metropolitan Union - metropolis with the population of 2 millions. Bytom is located in the Silesian Highlands, on the Bytomka river .The city belongs to the Silesian Voivodeship since...
(Silesian Dance Theatre) and Kraków have become important centres, hosting festivals which attract dancers from all over the world.
Festivals
International festivals are a particular element of Polish theatre life, occasions to allow the artistic achievements of East and West to confront each other. To this end, there are such festivals as "Contact," taking place annually in ToruńTorun
Toruń is an ancient city in northern Poland, on the Vistula River. Its population is more than 205,934 as of June 2009. Toruń is one of the oldest cities in Poland. The medieval old town of Toruń is the birthplace of the astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus....
, and "Dialogue," organised biannually in autumn in Wrocław, in turn with Kraków's "Dedications" (October) and Warsaw's "Meetings" (November). Aside from these, the most interesting events are "Theatrical Confrontations" in Lublin
Lublin
Lublin is the ninth largest city in Poland. It is the capital of Lublin Voivodeship with a population of 350,392 . Lublin is also the largest Polish city east of the Vistula river...
(October), the open-air "Malta" festival in Poznań (June), Kraków's "Ballet in Spring" and the Puppet Theatre Biennial in Bielsko-Biała
Bielsko-Biała
-Economy and Industry:Nowadays Bielsko-Biała is one of the best-developed parts of Poland. It was ranked 2nd best city for business in that country by Forbes. About 5% of people are unemployed . Bielsko-Biała is famous for its textile, machine-building, and especially automotive industry...
.
One world-famous person who had links with 20th century Polish theatre and was Pope John Paul II
Pope John Paul II
Blessed Pope John Paul II , born Karol Józef Wojtyła , reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church and Sovereign of Vatican City from 16 October 1978 until his death on 2 April 2005, at of age. His was the second-longest documented pontificate, which lasted ; only Pope Pius IX ...
. His interest in theatre dated back to his secondary school years in Wadowice
Wadowice
Wadowice is a town in southern Poland, 50 km from Kraków with 19,200 inhabitants , situated on the Skawa river, confluence of Vistula, in the eastern part of Silesian Plateau...
, where the teenage Karol Wojtyła worked in the school theatre. During the Second World War, he co-founded, with his old teacher Mieczysław Kotlarczyk, the underground Rhapsodic Theatre, a group cultivating the Romantic tradition of live poetry. After the war, as a priest, he supported the group and was also its critic, publishing reviews of its performances. Within his literary work, John Paul II also has written a number of dramas, the best-known of which are Our God's Brother and The Jeweller's Shop.
See also
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Leon Kruczkowski Leon Kruczkowski was a Polish writer and publicist, and a prominent figure of the Polish theatre in the post-WWII period. He wrote books and dramas. His best known work is the drama "Niemcy" written in 1949.... Helena Modjeska Helena Modjeska Helena Modjeska Helena Modjeska (October 12, 1840 – April 8, 1909, whose actual Polish surname was Modrzejewska , was a renowned actress who specialized in Shakespearean and tragic roles.Modjeska was the mother of Polish-American bridge engineer Ralph Modjeski.... ) Ludwik Solski Ludwik Solski , born Ludwik Napoleon Karol Sosnowski,was a Polish stage actor and theatre director. From his stage debut in 1876 until his death he played in nearly a thousand roles.Between 1905 and 1913 he was the director-general of the municipal theatre in Cracow... Józef Szajna Józef Szajna was a Polish scenery designer, stage director, playwright, theoretician of the theatre, painter and graphic artist.During the Second World War and occupation of Poland, Szajna was a prisoner of the German concentration camps Auschwitz and Buchenwald.-Further reading:* Archives and art... Agnieszka Truskolaska Agnieszka Marianna Truskolaska , was a Polish actress, opera singer and theatre director. She was one of the most admired female artists of her time in Poland.... (1755–1831) Michal Zadara Michal Zadara is a Polish theatre director and set designer. He has worked primarily in Warsaw and Krakow, but he also staged several plays abroad, in Germany, Israel and the United States... Culture in Białystok Białystok is one of the largest cultural centers in the Podlaskie Voivodeship. The attractions include performing arts groups, art museums, historical museums, walking tours of architectural / cultural aspects and a wide variety of parks and green spaces... |