- Polska, Mazowieckie, Poland
Agata Łuksza
University of Warsaw, Institute of Polish Culture, Faculty Member
- Anthropology, Cultural Studies, Theatre Studies, Theatre History, Gothic Studies, Women's Studies, and 12 moreGender Studies, Feminism, Fan Studies, Polish Studies, American Studies, Nineteenth Century British History and Culture, Constructions of femininity, Vampire Studies, Women and Gender Studies, Gender and Media, Gender and Sexuality, and Girlhood Studiesedit
Artykuł dostępny w wersji angielskiej i polskiej (Aszanci w Warszawie. Wyobrażenia „czarności” w społeczeństwie polskim przełomu XIX i XX wieku – przyczynek do polskiej historii kolonialnej) The author recognizes Włodzimierz... more
Artykuł dostępny w wersji angielskiej i polskiej (Aszanci w Warszawie. Wyobrażenia „czarności” w społeczeństwie polskim przełomu XIX i XX wieku – przyczynek do polskiej historii kolonialnej)
The author recognizes Włodzimierz Perzyński’s comedy Aszantka as a meaningful remnant of „blackness” in the history of Polish theatre, and therefore she uses it as a point of entrance into a broader inquiry about the entanglement of Polish society into European colonial project, and the ideas, values, and cultural practices it entailed. That is why in the article the author attempts to reconstruct possible concepts and images of “blackness” which Warsaw dwellers might have shared at the end of the 19th century by analysing the reception of the performances of alleged representatives of Ashanti people in the Warsaw circus in 1888. From “Ashanti” performances on, the popularity of this type of entertainment – so called ethnographic shows or human zoos – grew in the colonized capital of the Kingdom of Poland. The author points to “savageness” and “nakedness” as constitutive traits of “blackness” which she understands as a specific human condition, experienced both by overseas colonized societies as well as subaltern social groups (to which “Aszantka” from Perzyński’s comedy belonged) in European societies.
Komedia Włodzimierza Perzyńskiego Aszantka stanowi dla autorki znaczącą resztkę „czarności” w historii polskiego teatru, dlatego traktuje ją jako punkt wyjścia do szerszej refleksji nad uwikłaniem polskiego społeczeństwa w europejski projekt kolonialny, związane z nim idee, wartości i praktyki kulturowe. W artykule próbuje zatem zrekonstruować możliwe wyobrażenia „czarności” mieszkańców Warszawy końca XIX wieku na przykładzie recepcji występów domniemanych przedstawicieli ludu Aszanti w cyrku na Okólniku w 1888 roku, od których zaczęła się popularność tego typu widowisk – nazywanych pokazami etnograficznymi lub ludzkimi zoo – w stolicy skolonizowanego Królestwa Polskiego. Autorka wskazuje na „dzikość” i „nagość” jako konstytutywne cechy „czarności”, którą rozumie jako określoną kondycję ludzką, podzielaną przez zamorskie społeczności skolonizowane i grupy podporządkowane – do których należała Władka/Aszantka Perzyńskiego – w społeczeństwach europejskich.
The author recognizes Włodzimierz Perzyński’s comedy Aszantka as a meaningful remnant of „blackness” in the history of Polish theatre, and therefore she uses it as a point of entrance into a broader inquiry about the entanglement of Polish society into European colonial project, and the ideas, values, and cultural practices it entailed. That is why in the article the author attempts to reconstruct possible concepts and images of “blackness” which Warsaw dwellers might have shared at the end of the 19th century by analysing the reception of the performances of alleged representatives of Ashanti people in the Warsaw circus in 1888. From “Ashanti” performances on, the popularity of this type of entertainment – so called ethnographic shows or human zoos – grew in the colonized capital of the Kingdom of Poland. The author points to “savageness” and “nakedness” as constitutive traits of “blackness” which she understands as a specific human condition, experienced both by overseas colonized societies as well as subaltern social groups (to which “Aszantka” from Perzyński’s comedy belonged) in European societies.
Komedia Włodzimierza Perzyńskiego Aszantka stanowi dla autorki znaczącą resztkę „czarności” w historii polskiego teatru, dlatego traktuje ją jako punkt wyjścia do szerszej refleksji nad uwikłaniem polskiego społeczeństwa w europejski projekt kolonialny, związane z nim idee, wartości i praktyki kulturowe. W artykule próbuje zatem zrekonstruować możliwe wyobrażenia „czarności” mieszkańców Warszawy końca XIX wieku na przykładzie recepcji występów domniemanych przedstawicieli ludu Aszanti w cyrku na Okólniku w 1888 roku, od których zaczęła się popularność tego typu widowisk – nazywanych pokazami etnograficznymi lub ludzkimi zoo – w stolicy skolonizowanego Królestwa Polskiego. Autorka wskazuje na „dzikość” i „nagość” jako konstytutywne cechy „czarności”, którą rozumie jako określoną kondycję ludzką, podzielaną przez zamorskie społeczności skolonizowane i grupy podporządkowane – do których należała Władka/Aszantka Perzyńskiego – w społeczeństwach europejskich.
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Komedia Włodzimierza Perzyńskiego "Aszantka" stanowi dla autorki znaczącą resztkę „czarności” w historii polskiego teatru, dlatego traktuje ją jako punkt wyjścia do szerszej refleksji nad uwikłaniem polskiego społeczeństwa w... more
Komedia Włodzimierza Perzyńskiego "Aszantka" stanowi dla autorki znaczącą resztkę „czarności” w historii polskiego teatru, dlatego traktuje ją jako punkt wyjścia do szerszej refleksji nad uwikłaniem polskiego społeczeństwa w europejski projekt kolonialny, związane z nim idee, wartości i praktyki kulturowe. W artykule próbuje zatem zrekonstruować możliwe wyobrażenia „czarności” mieszkańców Warszawy końca XIX wieku na przykładzie recepcji występów domniemanych przedstawicieli ludu Aszanti w cyrku na Okólniku w 1888 roku, od których zaczęła się popularność tego typu widowisk – nazywanych pokazami etnograficznymi lub ludzkimi zoo – w stolicy skolonizowanego Królestwa Polskiego. Autorka wskazuje na „dzikość” i „nagość” jako konstytutywne cechy „czarności”, którą rozumie jako określoną kondycję ludzką, podzielaną przez zamorskie społeczności skolonizowane i grupy podporządkowane – do których należała Władka/Aszantka Perzyńskiego – w społeczeństwach europejskich.
This essay brings together the perspective of theatre history studies and fan studies in order to ask what it meant to be a celebrity fangirl in the late nineteenth century and thus to historicize fandom and recover forsaken aspects of... more
This essay brings together the perspective of theatre history studies and fan studies in order to ask what it meant to be a celebrity fangirl in the late nineteenth century and thus to historicize fandom and recover forsaken aspects of nineteenth-century theatre culture. By invoking the unique traces of fan experience and fan practices such as recollections left by a self-declared "theatre maniac" or fan letters written to Helena Modrzejewska, this essay investigates Polish female, middle-class fandom of this theatre superstar. Despite emigrating to the United States in the mid-1870s, during the following decades Modrzejewska, known to American audience as Modjeska, guest-performed in Polish lands on a regular basis to great enthusiasm of local audiences. Even though no organizations like the US Modjeska Club ever emerged among Polish spectators, there were equally devoted circles of Modrzejewska's fangirls. They can be compared to other female theatre fans at the turn of the twentieth century, such as the matinée girl in the United States and the psikhopatka in Tsarist Russia. Fangirls shared hierarchies of values, which often collided with social expectations, and together they tended to explore and test alternatives to roles prescribed to them by society. The essay proposes to imagine these women as social and theatre "pirates" who both challenged accepted gender norms of behavior and questioned their own alleged female limitations, as well as advanced forms of reception that were abolished in the process of the "embourgeoisement of theatre."
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W artykule omawiam zjawisko „sarabernardyzacji”, które wystąpiło w Warszawie zimą 1882 roku w efekcie gościnnych występów Sary Bernhardt na warszawskiej scenie. Polegało ono na naśladowaniu francuskiej gwiazdy w sposobie wyglądu i bycia.... more
W artykule omawiam zjawisko „sarabernardyzacji”, które wystąpiło w Warszawie zimą 1882 roku w efekcie gościnnych występów Sary Bernhardt na warszawskiej scenie. Polegało ono na naśladowaniu francuskiej gwiazdy w sposobie wyglądu i bycia. Proponuję, by spojrzeć na sarabernardyzację jako na przykład wczesnej praktyki fanowskiej, w której fascynacja idolką splatała się z potrzebą przełamania hegemonicznego modelu kobiecości. Dowodzę również, że dla społecznej recepcji Bernhardt i zainspirowanej przez nią fali fanowskiej mimikry, kluczowe znaczenie miały antyżydowskie rozruchy, które poprzedziły przyjazd francuskiej aktorki do Warszawy.
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W drugiej połowie XIX wieku brytyjska kultura, historia i życie polityczne regularnie gościły na łamach polskich gazet, a od angażu Heleny Modrzejewskiej w Teatrach Warszawskich dramat szekspirowski stał się najczęściej wystawianą klasyką... more
W drugiej połowie XIX wieku brytyjska kultura, historia i życie polityczne regularnie gościły na łamach polskich gazet, a od angażu Heleny Modrzejewskiej w Teatrach Warszawskich dramat szekspirowski stał się najczęściej wystawianą klasyką na scenie warszawskiej. O ile jednak znaczenie twórczości Shakespeare’a dla polskiego (w tym warszawskiego) teatru dziewiętnastowiecznego i szerzej – kultury polskiej zostało dogłębnie przebadane (podobnie jak wpływ brytyjskich romantyków na polską literaturę), o tyle dotychczas nie pytano o potencjalne inspiracje brytyjskim, a w szczególności londyńskim repertuarem popularnym.
W artykule przyglądam się pod tym kątem warszawskim sezonom w okresie 1814/15 – 1900/1901, badając nie tylko repertuar Teatru Narodowego i późniejszych Teatrów Warszawskich, ale także ofertę teatrzyków ogródkowych, które od 1868 roku radykalnie zmieniają warszawski pejzaż teatralny. Integralną częścią tekstu są autorskie statystyki oparte na PAN-owskich repertuarach i jagiellońskim informatorze na temat dramatów obcych w Polsce, a także – w odniesieniu do ogródków – na prasie z epoki. Analiza repertuarów, pamiętników z podróży do Wielkiej Brytanii i materiałów prasowych ujawnia, że pomimo warszawskiej (a nawet szerzej: polskiej) fascynacji imperium brytyjskim, jego instytucjami i osiągnięciami cywilizacyjnymi, polscy artyści teatralni (również antrepryza ogródkowa) konsekwentnie odrzucali brytyjski teatr.
W artykule przyglądam się pod tym kątem warszawskim sezonom w okresie 1814/15 – 1900/1901, badając nie tylko repertuar Teatru Narodowego i późniejszych Teatrów Warszawskich, ale także ofertę teatrzyków ogródkowych, które od 1868 roku radykalnie zmieniają warszawski pejzaż teatralny. Integralną częścią tekstu są autorskie statystyki oparte na PAN-owskich repertuarach i jagiellońskim informatorze na temat dramatów obcych w Polsce, a także – w odniesieniu do ogródków – na prasie z epoki. Analiza repertuarów, pamiętników z podróży do Wielkiej Brytanii i materiałów prasowych ujawnia, że pomimo warszawskiej (a nawet szerzej: polskiej) fascynacji imperium brytyjskim, jego instytucjami i osiągnięciami cywilizacyjnymi, polscy artyści teatralni (również antrepryza ogródkowa) konsekwentnie odrzucali brytyjski teatr.
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In the late nineteenth century British culture, politics and history were customary topics in Polish newspapers, and Shakespeare's dramas were the most often performed classic texts on the Warsaw theatre stage. However, in this paper... more
In the late nineteenth century British culture, politics and history were customary topics in Polish newspapers, and Shakespeare's dramas were the most often performed classic texts on the Warsaw theatre stage. However, in this paper focusing on Warsaw seasons 1814/1815–1900/1901 I demonstrate that surprisingly one can hardly talk about any form of cultural transfer between the British and Polish popular theatre and drama in that period. The analysis of the Warsaw repertoire, travel recollections to the United Kingdom and press articles, reveal that even though the Polish nation treated the UK as a point of reference, it consistently rejected the British theatre at large and theatre entertainment in particular, and considered it ‘crude’ and in bad taste. I claim that the geopolitical situation of Poland cannot alone account for this puzzle.
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Since the very beginning, fan studies have challenged common assumptions about media fans, gradually opening the research field onto different aspects and dimensions of fan culture. So far, however, little has been done regarding both... more
Since the very beginning, fan studies have challenged common assumptions about media fans, gradually opening the research field onto different aspects and dimensions of fan culture. So far, however, little has been done regarding both fandom history and theatre fandoms, which would significantly enrich the landscape of fan studies. This article assesses the current state of research on historical audiences, and how historical knowledge on theatre audiences and methodologies, developed within these studies, can be further explored from a fan studies perspective. It is an attempt to look at nineteenth-century theatre through the lenses of the most engaged spectators, whom I call simply ‘theatre fans’, and recover their experiences, behaviours and practices. Broadly speaking, this article seeks to discuss the challenges and opportunities of fan history research by investigating some examples of historical fan practices in Warsaw Theatres and focusing on the early case of ‘fandom war’ between the czakiści and wisnowczycy, as the groups of fans of two actresses – Jadwiga Czaki and Maria Wisnowska – identified themselves. The aim is to re-evaluate fan practices and media engagements in the nineteenth century to recover the then emerging matrix of meanings essential to the understanding of fandom.
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W badaniu kultur pirackich, będącym de facto genealogiczną krytyką kultur hegemonicznych, leży obietnica wyswobodzenia się z pęt pozornej konieczności – ku innym światom.
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'Did you ever see anything like her?', Cleveland Amory asked Hedda Hopper while they were both watching the making of the famous 'bathtub scene' in The Seven Year Itch (Wilder, 1955). How can one explain the phenomenon of Marilyn Monroe –... more
'Did you ever see anything like her?', Cleveland Amory asked Hedda Hopper while they were both watching the making of the famous 'bathtub scene' in The Seven Year Itch (Wilder, 1955). How can one explain the phenomenon of Marilyn Monroe – the 'queen of glamour', as her contemporaries called her? This research examines the case of Marilyn Monroe with reference to the model of glamorous femininity which has emerged in modern consumer societies. Monroe is understood as a 'representa-tive character', not a real person, and the study aims at reconstructing and decon-structing her public image, not at establishing the 'truth' about her personal life. The most influential components of Monroe's persona are indicated and analysed based on press material from her lifetime and her repertoire, i.e. the pinup context, the association with nature and the 'goddess' aspect. It is maintained that these components accounted for Monroe's lasting status as an icon of glamour but also best corresponded to the changes in morality and sexuality that American society experienced in the 1950s.
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For years Supernatural (CW, 2005–) has gained the status of a cult series as well as one of the most passionate and devoted fandoms that has ever emerged. Even though the main concept of the series indicates that Supernatural should... more
For years Supernatural (CW, 2005–) has gained the status of a cult series as well as one of the most passionate and devoted fandoms that has ever emerged. Even though the main concept of the series indicates that Supernatural should appeal predominantly to young male viewers, in fact, the fandom is dominated by young women who are the target audience of the CW network. My research is couched in fan studies and audience studies methodological perspectives as it is impossible to understand the phenomenon of Supernatural without referring to its fandom and fan practices. However, it focuses on the series' structure in order to explain how this structure enables Supernatural's viewers to challenge and revise prevailing gender roles. Supernatural combines elements of divergent TV genres, traditionally associated with either male or female audiences. It opens up to gender hybridity through genre hybridity: by interweaving melodrama with horror and other " masculine " genres the show provides a fascinating example of Gothic television which questions any simplistic gender identifications.
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The article analyses the work of Marta Górnicka, a young Polish director and creator of so-called choral theatre, and in particular her two productions performed only by women: This Is the Chorus Speaking and Magnificat. This reflection... more
The article analyses the work of Marta Górnicka, a young Polish director and creator of so-called choral theatre, and in particular her two productions performed only by women: This Is the Chorus Speaking and Magnificat. This reflection takes place in the context of research on the antique chorus, feminist theatre and the musical turn in contemporary theatre. The analysis concentrates on selected problems and aspects of Górnicka’s work, such as language/body/voice, the choral form, community/exclusion, political intervention, and power. Choral theatre is recognized as a fundamentally anti-systemic and revolutionary theatre in which the excluded regain their voices.
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The article discusses dramatic works by Maria Morozowicz-Szczepkowska (1885-1968) which - like many other dramas written by women playwrights - have been largely erased from Polish theatre history. Even though she became for a short... more
The article discusses dramatic works by Maria Morozowicz-Szczepkowska (1885-1968) which - like many other dramas written by women playwrights - have been largely erased from Polish theatre history. Even though she became for a short moment a famous feminist author in the interwar years, throughout her life she struggled to have her plays staged. Most of them have been forgotten not only by theatre artists but also by theatre researchers. Until we recognize women's dramatic works as valuable documents of theatre and social life, our knowledge, sensitivity and aesthetic will remain limited.
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The article examines the press discourse on the tragic death of a revue dancer Iga Korczynska, who was shot down backstage by her ex-fiance. It explores how the interwar issues of class and gender combined with the melodramatic scenario... more
The article examines the press discourse on the tragic death of a revue dancer Iga Korczynska, who was shot down backstage by her ex-fiance. It explores how the interwar issues of class and gender combined with the melodramatic scenario which structured the public narrative on Korczynska.
Research Interests: Theatre Studies, Women's Studies, Feminist Theory, Theatre History, Women's History, and 15 moreMelodrama, Dance History, Crime History, Women in the Theatre, Women and Culture, Women in Theatre History, History of Crime, Women and Gender Studies, Warsaw, Glamour, Cabaret, Actors and actresses, Melodrama & Culture, Melodrama and Performance, and Dancer
This article examines recent TV (True Blood, The Vampire Diaries) and cinematic stories (Twilight saga) from a feminist perspective. It focuses on the the gender relations and female agency embedded in these stories in order to determine... more
This article examines recent TV (True Blood, The Vampire Diaries) and cinematic stories (Twilight saga) from a feminist perspective. It focuses on the the gender relations and female agency embedded in these stories in order to determine if they conjure up any liberating potential for their audience.
Research Interests: Media Studies, Women's Studies, Feminist Theory, Gothic Studies, Feminist Media Studies, and 5 moreContemporary Gothic Fiction, Feminist Literary Theory and Gender Studies, Vampire Studies, Vampires in Film and Literature, and Gothic, female Gothic, Gothic in literature, the Gothic as a subculture, the fantastic, horror, the vampire figure in literature and film, the femme fatale, feminist readings of vampire narratives
This article engages with gendered ideologies in post-socialist Poland through an analysis of the figure of Danuta Wałe ̨sa, wife of the legendary Solidarity leader Lech Wałe ̨sa, First Lady of Poland from 1990 to 1995, and mother of... more
This article engages with gendered ideologies in post-socialist Poland through an analysis of the figure of Danuta Wałe ̨sa, wife of the legendary Solidarity leader Lech Wałe ̨sa, First Lady of Poland from 1990 to 1995, and mother of eight children.
Research Interests: Feminist Sociology, Theatre Studies, Women's Studies, Women's History, Polish History, and 16 moreAutobiography, Feminism, Post-Soviet Studies, Post-Socialist Societies, Microhistory, Polish Studies, Women's Empowerment, Memoir and Autobiography, Post-Socialism, Women and Culture, Women and Gender Studies, Post-Communist Studies, Polish Media, Autobiography and life writing studies, Microhistory and History of Everyday Life, and Feminine Studies
The paper presents Polish interwar revue from gender studies perspective by focusing on the so-called chorus girls.
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The article presents the history and characteristics of American burlesque and its renaissance at the turn of the 20th and 21st century in the form of the "new burlesque". The aim of the article is to reflect on an emancipating potential... more
The article presents the history and characteristics of American burlesque and its renaissance at the turn of the 20th and 21st century in the form of the "new burlesque". The aim of the article is to reflect on an emancipating potential of the genre, which from the very beginning has challenged existing concepts of female body and sexuality.
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The birth of “new burlesque” (descending from the Anglo-Saxon tradition of female burlesque) in the late twentieth century has raised burning questions about objectifying and emancipatory properties of the genre, which simultaneously... more
The birth of “new burlesque” (descending from the Anglo-Saxon tradition of female burlesque) in the late twentieth century has raised burning questions about objectifying and emancipatory properties of the genre, which simultaneously defines the artist-stripper as object and subject. The article explores how and by what theatrical means “femininity” is performed and experienced both on new burlesque’s stage and in the audience, considering that new burlesque is identified as a “metasocial commentary” to current gender paradigm.
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The aim of the article is to define the mechanisms of shaping female body into an object of either sexual, or aesthetic pleasure. The findings suggest that, even though soft pornography and art appears to constitute separate cultural... more
The aim of the article is to define the mechanisms of shaping female body into an object of either sexual, or aesthetic pleasure. The findings suggest that, even though soft pornography and art appears to constitute separate cultural fields, both of them apply parallel disciplinary tools in order to produce the feminine ideal.
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The article explores the metamorphosis of a vampire figure in the beginning of the 19th century, when it evolved from a mindless walking corpse, well-known from Slavic folklore, into a deadly dangerous seducer of aristocratic backgrounds.... more
The article explores the metamorphosis of a vampire figure in the beginning of the 19th century, when it evolved from a mindless walking corpse, well-known from Slavic folklore, into a deadly dangerous seducer of aristocratic backgrounds. The thorough interpretation of "Le Vampire" by Charles Nodier, staged for the first time in Paris in 1820, uncovers a strong relation between the hegemony of melodrama in the 19th-century theatre and the vampire fever, which expanded from France to other European countries.
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Research Interests: Art and Didaskalia
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Research Interests: Sociology and Didaskalia
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In 2012 we published the first English-language edition of Didaskalia. We now present the second issue, containing a selection of texts printed in our magazine between 2011-2013. The articles and interviews chosen for publication present... more
In 2012 we published the first English-language edition of Didaskalia. We now present the second
issue, containing a selection of texts printed in our magazine between 2011-2013. The articles
and interviews chosen for publication present the key phenomena in Polish theater, as well as the
current academic interests and methodological approaches to theater history and today’s theater in
contemporary theater studies.
We begin with texts that deal with the reinterpretation of the Jerzy Grotowski’s work. Grotowski,
Women, and Homosexuals: Marginal Notes to the “Human Drama” might be seen as an extension of
Agata Adamiecka-Sitek’s reflections on gender in Grotowski’s theater contained in the “The Gender
of the Performer” (co-written by Weronika Szczawińska), found in the previous English-language
issue. This time the critic analyzes Apocalypsis cum figuris (chiefly based on the recording of the
performance), demonstrating the dramatization of the misogynist discourse of psychoanalysis and
male homosexuality in the play. This work polemicizes with interpretations to date, and serves as
a point of departure for discussions on Grotowski’s work and the methodology of researching the
history of theater contained in Adamiecka-Sitek’s correspondence with Leszek Kolankiewicz.
In the following part we publish texts dealing with the issue of “negative performativity,” which
appeared in Didaskalia in the context of works by Judith Halberstam and Bojana Kunst. Joanna
Jopek transplants this concept in the context of Polish visual and performative art by Oskar
Dawicki, Joanna Rajkowska, and Cezary Bodzianowski, indicating the anti-political, critical potential
of failure that it contains. An important point of reference in her study is a pair of interviews
with Oskar Dawicki. In these conversations the author less illuminates the process of making the
film Perfomer (devoted to his work) than gives extremely different responses to the same questions,
continuing his game with the image of the artist.
Part Three, on the other hand, is entirely devoted to new Polish theater, though it closely corresponds
with the issues raised in the preceding sections. In the article “Embarrassing Performances
by Losers: Counterhistories of Political Theater,” Marcin Kościelniak focuses on counterhistory
theater projects, putting forward the thesis that they “are most insightful in our day in realizing
the postulates of political art and are creating the most fascinating and vital movement in Polish
theater.” Isolating three models of writing counterhistories for stage, the author analyzes projects
by duos of dramaturgs and directors: Paweł Demirski and Monika Strzępka, Jolanta Janiczak and
Wiktor Rubin, and Marcin Cecko and Krzysztof Garbaczewski. His theoretical reflections are
supplemented by a conversation with Justyna Wasilewska on her work on the title role in Marcin
Cecko and Krzysztof Garbaczewski’s Balladyna.
The subject of creating the image of the artist returns in two more texts, where it is shifted into
media discourse and its impact on the reception of art. In her article “Covered/Uncovered: Memory
Games in the Promised Theater” Małgorzata Dziewulska examines promotional strategies in
theaters and the media discourse that accompanied two chronologically remote premieres: Jerzy
Jarocki’s Dream of the Sinless of 1979 and Krzysztof Warlikowski’s (A)pollonia of 2009. She points
out that the discrepancy between the advertisements for the performances before the premiere and
the final form of the plays affected the content of the reviews, and ultimately modified the plays
themselves. Monika Kwaśniewska, in turn, analyzes Jan Klata’s strategies of self-depiction, tracing
his statements in the media. Kwaśniewska wonders what happened to make Klata (presently the
director of the National Stary Theater in Krakow) the face of the new political theater, thereafter
evolving into the “specialist on Polishness,” an “expert” on national issues.
The subject of the texts in the final section is the phenomenon of the choir in contemporary theater.
The texts by Ewa Guderian-Czaplińska and Agata Łuksza on two projects by Marta Górnicka
at the Theater Institute in Warsaw – [‘hu:r kobj+] (“[ˈkɔːrəs əv wɪmən]”) (a play made with amateurs,
dealing with the place of women in culture) and Requiemmachine (a performance that uses pieces
by Władysław Broniewski to comment on the neo-liberal labor model) – are summed up by a conversation
with the artist. In the interview “I Sing the Body Electric” Marta Górnicka speaks of the
concept of the choir, created by individuals. She calls the language in her play a kind of speech
cleansed of psychology, recalling the sound of a computer or a machine. The director relates the
process of creating a choir, and the work in creating a new actor/performer through training sessions
during rehearsals. The motif of the theatrical chorus branches out into various themes, lending
itself to feminist, historical, political, and aesthetic reflections, concerning the phenomenon of
musicality in the theater.
issue, containing a selection of texts printed in our magazine between 2011-2013. The articles
and interviews chosen for publication present the key phenomena in Polish theater, as well as the
current academic interests and methodological approaches to theater history and today’s theater in
contemporary theater studies.
We begin with texts that deal with the reinterpretation of the Jerzy Grotowski’s work. Grotowski,
Women, and Homosexuals: Marginal Notes to the “Human Drama” might be seen as an extension of
Agata Adamiecka-Sitek’s reflections on gender in Grotowski’s theater contained in the “The Gender
of the Performer” (co-written by Weronika Szczawińska), found in the previous English-language
issue. This time the critic analyzes Apocalypsis cum figuris (chiefly based on the recording of the
performance), demonstrating the dramatization of the misogynist discourse of psychoanalysis and
male homosexuality in the play. This work polemicizes with interpretations to date, and serves as
a point of departure for discussions on Grotowski’s work and the methodology of researching the
history of theater contained in Adamiecka-Sitek’s correspondence with Leszek Kolankiewicz.
In the following part we publish texts dealing with the issue of “negative performativity,” which
appeared in Didaskalia in the context of works by Judith Halberstam and Bojana Kunst. Joanna
Jopek transplants this concept in the context of Polish visual and performative art by Oskar
Dawicki, Joanna Rajkowska, and Cezary Bodzianowski, indicating the anti-political, critical potential
of failure that it contains. An important point of reference in her study is a pair of interviews
with Oskar Dawicki. In these conversations the author less illuminates the process of making the
film Perfomer (devoted to his work) than gives extremely different responses to the same questions,
continuing his game with the image of the artist.
Part Three, on the other hand, is entirely devoted to new Polish theater, though it closely corresponds
with the issues raised in the preceding sections. In the article “Embarrassing Performances
by Losers: Counterhistories of Political Theater,” Marcin Kościelniak focuses on counterhistory
theater projects, putting forward the thesis that they “are most insightful in our day in realizing
the postulates of political art and are creating the most fascinating and vital movement in Polish
theater.” Isolating three models of writing counterhistories for stage, the author analyzes projects
by duos of dramaturgs and directors: Paweł Demirski and Monika Strzępka, Jolanta Janiczak and
Wiktor Rubin, and Marcin Cecko and Krzysztof Garbaczewski. His theoretical reflections are
supplemented by a conversation with Justyna Wasilewska on her work on the title role in Marcin
Cecko and Krzysztof Garbaczewski’s Balladyna.
The subject of creating the image of the artist returns in two more texts, where it is shifted into
media discourse and its impact on the reception of art. In her article “Covered/Uncovered: Memory
Games in the Promised Theater” Małgorzata Dziewulska examines promotional strategies in
theaters and the media discourse that accompanied two chronologically remote premieres: Jerzy
Jarocki’s Dream of the Sinless of 1979 and Krzysztof Warlikowski’s (A)pollonia of 2009. She points
out that the discrepancy between the advertisements for the performances before the premiere and
the final form of the plays affected the content of the reviews, and ultimately modified the plays
themselves. Monika Kwaśniewska, in turn, analyzes Jan Klata’s strategies of self-depiction, tracing
his statements in the media. Kwaśniewska wonders what happened to make Klata (presently the
director of the National Stary Theater in Krakow) the face of the new political theater, thereafter
evolving into the “specialist on Polishness,” an “expert” on national issues.
The subject of the texts in the final section is the phenomenon of the choir in contemporary theater.
The texts by Ewa Guderian-Czaplińska and Agata Łuksza on two projects by Marta Górnicka
at the Theater Institute in Warsaw – [‘hu:r kobj+] (“[ˈkɔːrəs əv wɪmən]”) (a play made with amateurs,
dealing with the place of women in culture) and Requiemmachine (a performance that uses pieces
by Władysław Broniewski to comment on the neo-liberal labor model) – are summed up by a conversation
with the artist. In the interview “I Sing the Body Electric” Marta Górnicka speaks of the
concept of the choir, created by individuals. She calls the language in her play a kind of speech
cleansed of psychology, recalling the sound of a computer or a machine. The director relates the
process of creating a choir, and the work in creating a new actor/performer through training sessions
during rehearsals. The motif of the theatrical chorus branches out into various themes, lending
itself to feminist, historical, political, and aesthetic reflections, concerning the phenomenon of
musicality in the theater.
Research Interests:
Polish Theatre Revisited explores nineteenth-century Polish theatre through the lens of theatre audiences. I place special emphasis on the most engaged spectators, known as “theatremaniacs” — from what they wore, to what they bought, to... more
Polish Theatre Revisited explores nineteenth-century Polish theatre through the lens of theatre audiences. I place special emphasis on the most engaged spectators, known as “theatremaniacs” — from what they wore, to what they bought, to what they ate. My source material is elusive ephemera from fans’ lives, such as notes scribbled on a weekly list of shows in the Warsaw theatres, collections of theatre postcards, and recipes for sweets named after famous actors.
The fannish behavior of theatremaniacs was usually deemed excessive or in poor taste by people in positions of power, as it clashed with the ongoing embourgeoisement of the theatre and the disciplining of audiences. Nevertheless, the theatre was one of the key areas where early fan cultures emerged, and theatremaniacs indulged in diverse fan practices in opposition to the forces reforming the theatre and its spectatorship.
(publisher's description)
The fannish behavior of theatremaniacs was usually deemed excessive or in poor taste by people in positions of power, as it clashed with the ongoing embourgeoisement of the theatre and the disciplining of audiences. Nevertheless, the theatre was one of the key areas where early fan cultures emerged, and theatremaniacs indulged in diverse fan practices in opposition to the forces reforming the theatre and its spectatorship.
(publisher's description)
Research Interests:
Mocno czekoladowy tort Marcello, który na specjalne okazje pojawia się na polskich stołach, powstał jako hołd dla warszawskiej aktorki, Heleny Marcello. Choć nie sposób dziś ustalić oryginalnej receptury tego odświętnego ciasta, w jego... more
Mocno czekoladowy tort Marcello, który na specjalne okazje pojawia się na polskich stołach, powstał jako hołd dla warszawskiej aktorki, Heleny Marcello. Choć nie sposób dziś ustalić oryginalnej receptury tego odświętnego ciasta, w jego nazwie zachowało się uwielbienie, którym obdarzano artystkę, przetrwała fascynacja i entuzjazm, jakie budziła – ona sama i jej gra sceniczna. Tort Marcello to zatem jeden z historycznych śladów po teatralnych kulturach fanowskich, które wyłaniały się na ziemiach polskich w XIX i na początku XX wieku. Książka "Tort Marcello" odzyskuje wczesne doświadczenia i praktyki fanowskie – pomimo że stanowiły one ważny element polskiego życia teatralnego, zostały uznane za zbyt błahe, by o nich pamiętać. Jest opowieścią o dziewiętnastowiecznych teatromanach i teatromankach, miłośnikach i miłośniczkach gwiazd scenicznych i przedstawień teatralnych, ujawniającą sploty między historią teatru i historią fanostwa. Kim byli dziewiętnastowieczni fani i fanki? Jak przedstawiały ich ówczesne media? Jak okazywali swoją pasję?
Research Interests: Theatre Studies, Theatre History, Nineteenth Century Studies, Polish History, Celebrity Culture, and 12 moreFan Studies, Fan Cultures, Nineteenth Century, Theatre, Stardom and Celebrity, Celebrity Studies, Polish Theatre, History and Theory of the Theatre, Fandom Studies, Cultural Trends, Fame and Celebrity History, and History of Fandom
In this book I explore the relation between femininity, performance, and desire in modern consumer societies. I reconstruct and analyse the model of glamorous femininity which from the very beginning have depended on the figure of an... more
In this book I explore the relation between femininity, performance, and desire in modern consumer societies. I reconstruct and analyse the model of glamorous femininity which from the very beginning have depended on the figure of an actress and the space of a broadly understood stage in general, and the figure of a chorus girl and popular theatrical genres in particular. Even though public performance of glamorous femininity does not have to be subversive, I argue that it often directly or indirectly challenged the stability and legitimacy of prevailing gender paradigms.
Research Interests:
Translations from English to Polish: Henry Pernet, Maski, p. 33–50; David Napier, Maski świąteczne – typologia, p. 83–92; Cara McCarty, Maska – atak/obrona, p. 133–154; Lone Riisgaard, Bjørn Thomassen, Moce maski. Rytuały uczestnictwa w... more
Translations from English to Polish:
Henry Pernet, Maski, p. 33–50; David Napier, Maski świąteczne – typologia, p. 83–92; Cara McCarty, Maska – atak/obrona, p. 133–154; Lone Riisgaard, Bjørn Thomassen, Moce maski. Rytuały uczestnictwa w lokalno-globalnych protestach politycznych, p. 163–185; Polly Savage, Gry dla publiczności. Maski w galeriach i muzeach, p. 261–273; Valerie Steele, Moda, fetysz, fantazja, p. 275–283.
Henry Pernet, Maski, p. 33–50; David Napier, Maski świąteczne – typologia, p. 83–92; Cara McCarty, Maska – atak/obrona, p. 133–154; Lone Riisgaard, Bjørn Thomassen, Moce maski. Rytuały uczestnictwa w lokalno-globalnych protestach politycznych, p. 163–185; Polly Savage, Gry dla publiczności. Maski w galeriach i muzeach, p. 261–273; Valerie Steele, Moda, fetysz, fantazja, p. 275–283.
Research Interests:
Polish translation of: Susan A. Glenn, "Female Spectacle: The Theatrical Roots of Modern Feminism", Harvard University Press, Cambridge MA–London 2000, fragments of the chapter "The Strong Personality: Female Mimics and the Play of the... more
Polish translation of:
Susan A. Glenn, "Female Spectacle: The Theatrical Roots of Modern Feminism", Harvard University Press, Cambridge MA–London 2000, fragments of the chapter "The Strong Personality: Female Mimics and the Play of the Self", pp. 75–84, 86–95
© 2000 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College. Translated with permission.
Susan A. Glenn, "Female Spectacle: The Theatrical Roots of Modern Feminism", Harvard University Press, Cambridge MA–London 2000, fragments of the chapter "The Strong Personality: Female Mimics and the Play of the Self", pp. 75–84, 86–95
© 2000 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College. Translated with permission.
Research Interests:
Aga Kozak rozmawia z Agatą Łukszą i Magdą Szcześniak, "Magazyn Gazety Wyborczej" online, 14.11.2020.
Research Interests:
In this special themed journal issue of the Eastap Journal (No.4, to be published in Spring 2022), we invite scholars and artists from around the globe to think through practical concepts of performance activism to address compelling... more
In this special themed journal issue of the Eastap Journal (No.4, to be published in Spring 2022), we invite scholars and artists from around the globe to think through practical concepts of performance activism to address compelling current issues and relevant historical cases. We especially welcome contributions that critically reappraise earlier scholarship with the aim of contextualizing today’s protest cultures and reflecting on interconnections between political philosophies and performative practices. We are also interested in contributions that elaborate concepts of protest and activism in order to enhance theatre and performance methodologies, including analytical, historical, and comparative approaches, modes of situated ethics as a research method, as well as cross-cultural and inter-societal perspectives beyond a methodological Eurocentrism.
Research Interests: Theatre Studies, Performance Studies, New Models Of Participatory And Direct Democracy, Art and Activism, Performativity, politics and ethics of spectatorship in the performing arts, and 11 moreProtest Movements, Call for Papers, Communalism, Participatory and Relational Arts, Drama, Performance, History of Theatre, Theatricality and performativity, Egypt Theatre History Performance Realities Political Context Arab Spring Modernity, Methods of Ethics, Performance Activists/Activism, Theatre Riots, and History of Protest and Social Movements
As editors of this fourth special Essays section of the European Journal of Theatre and Performance, we ask ourselves: what can a theatre and/or performative lens bring to the table to understand contemporary forms of activism? What can... more
As editors of this fourth special Essays section of the European Journal of Theatre and Performance, we ask ourselves: what can a theatre and/or performative lens bring to the table to understand contemporary forms of activism? What can we learn from past forms and scholarship? What is the contribution of theatre and performance concepts to critical social and political inquiry, like in current debates of democracy, populism, environmentalism, violence, racism, sexism, social justice, etc.? What does it really mean ‘to act’, ‘to move’, or ‘be moved’? What is theatre’s or performance’s real (bio)power? How does theatre ‘assemble’ people or create spaces to carry on the memory of a movement in times of absence and repression? How do theatre and performance bypass censorship in support of an activism of the stage? Or do they contribute rather to a democracy that looks more like Plato’s vexed ‘theatrocracy’? And how do theatrical modes of spectating, framing, and referencing specific symbiologies come into play to incite citizens to re-act, to take part in solidarity, be it directly in the streets or more distant, in theatres or through our mobile devices?