THE NEW POETICS OF ITALIAN THEATRE ART IN POLAND: THE CASE OF GIORGIO STREHLER AND LUIGI PIRANDELLO (1958-1979)

Abstract

The article deals with the new poetics of Italian theatre art in Poland, in the light of a stage project by Giorgio Strehler and his Milanese 'Piccolo Teatro', first realized in Warsaw in 1958, which focuses on the theatrical staging of a play by Carlo Goldoni entitled “Harlequin: The servant of two masters”. Strehler's realisation is based on direct dialogue between the actors and the audience, a dialogue centred on various fundamental problems of the genre, the autonomy of theatre art, human destiny and the search for the true meaning of life, hope and liberation. Strehlerian theatrical interpretation of Goldoni gave incentive to a renewed scenic conception, derived from Luigi Pirandello's comedies: Questa sera si improvvisa a soggetto and Giganti della montagna, werke staged in Poland at the Wybrzeże Theatrein Gdańsk (1961/1962), directed by Kazimierz Braun, in Poznań (1973), directed by Izabella Cywińska, and in Warsaw in 1979, directed by Andrzej Markowicz, and with an original set design. It is thus a new poetics of theatre that radically opposes the entertainment theatre of the early 20th century. In effect, the directors return to the concept of the commedia dell'arte as great poetic theatre, in which the actor becomes an artist, indeed an intellectual, wishing to illustrate the cathartic power of art, inappropriate to everyday life. The performances have ever since aroused interest among Polish audiences.