“Fill in with One’s Own Text...” Confessions of St. Augustine as a Source of Creative Inspiration for Danuta Michałowska (Thoughts on the Monodrama I, Nameless)

Abstract

The aim of the article is to show the relationship between the subjectively engaged reading of the text and its (literary and stage) performance. The author reflects on how the text of Augustine Aureliusz’s Confessions, rooted in cultural tradition, inspired Danuta Michałowska to write the monodrama I, nameless (1996). The self-identifying, subjective reading of the work – especially the fragment concerning the secret relationship with the Philosopher’s Nameless Friend – prompted the outstanding actress, professor of the Krakow drama school to make a late literary debut as well as to perform a play written by herself. The subject of the considerations is, above all, Michałowska’s extensive self-commentary, which allows us to see how this palimpsest work was created. The conclusions of the article, show how the engaged reading of a fragment of Confessions triggered the need for creative expression in words, forcing Michałowska to revise the method of practicing art associated with Mieczysław Kotlarczyk’s Rapsodic Theater.