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KrystynaKujawińska-Courtney
FromKotttoCommerce:
ShakespeareinCommunistandPost-Communist
Poland
‘ContemporarydramatistscansleeppeacefullyaslongasShakespeare.
doestheirjob,,commentedonePolishcriticin1960(quot.Fik1992:141).1
Radicalasthisopinionmaysound,itsuccinctlysumsupthesignificanceof
ShakespeareasthecontemporaryofCommunistPoland.IndeedtheCommunist
regime(1945–1989)turnedintoa‘GoldenAge,ofShakespeareinPolish
culture,especiallytheatre.Inparticular,thepoliticalunrestof1956,1968,
1970,1976and1982intensifiedtherevivalsofnewproductions.
UndertheCommunistregime,Shakespeare,splaysfulfilledtwofunctions:
givenJanKott,sinfluence,theplaysontheonehandbecameaventforthe
angerofabewilderingmultiplicityofmutedorsuppressedvoices;onthe
other,throughthesubversionofSocialRealismaesthetics,theplaysalso
critiquedtheregime,entrenchingitinnewpoliticalsituations.
ManyPolishShakespeareantheatricalproductionsfocusedonthein-
dividual,stragicnatureornationalfate,bothchaoticallycaughtupin,and
destroyedbythecrazygrindstonesofhistory.Theseinterpretationswere
deeplyindebtedtoJanKott,sreadingofShakespeareas‘‘ourcontemporary,,
(1965).2Ofspecialsignificancewashisconceptofpoliticalhistoryasthe
ruthlessoperationofaGrandMechanismofPower.
ThePolishpublicfounditeasytoidentifywithKott,sversionofShakespe-
are.Audiencessympathizedwith,andunderstoodthepredicaments,ofcharac-
1Ifnotindicatedotherwise,alltranslationsaremine.IwouldlikethankhereProfessorBrian
Russo,theGonzagaUniversity,forhisassistanceinthefinalpreparationofmyessay.
2TheoriginalversionofShakespeareOurContemporarywaspublishedinPolishasSzkice
oSzekspirze(SketchesonShakespeare)in1961.Thesameyearitsexpandedtranslationappearedin
French,whichwasfollowedbyitspublicationsinGermanandItalianin1962,inEnglishin1964
andagaininPolishin1965.
