Stary Theatre
Kraków Artists: Theatre, Cabaret and Film
The National Stary Theatre named after Helena Modrzejewska, a national cultural institution and the second theatre in Poland. The Kraków authorities gave the Warsaw actor Mateusz Witkowski permission to stage performances on 17 October 1781. Until 1799 performances took place in the Spiski Palace on the Main Market Square, and in 1799 the impresario Jacek Kluszewski moved the theatre to a building at the corner of Jagiellońska Street and Szczepański Square, where the theatre is still based today. Despite its dependence on the Austrian partition authorities, Polish plays were staged here. The building houses the Interactive Museum / Theatre Education Centre MICET, opened in 2016.
History
The National Stary Theatre (Old Theatre) is one of the oldest stages in Poland - it was the second theatre founded in the country. Its founders were the Kraków deputy Feliks Oraczewski and the Warsaw actor Mateusz Witkowski. On 17 October 1781 the Kraków authorities granted Witkowski permission to stage performances, for which he was to pay 50 Polish złoty a month; he became the first impresario, in other words the theatre's director. The company, which following the example of the Warsaw actors took the name National Actors, then performed in the Spiski Palace on the Main Market Square.
In 1799 Jacek Kluszewski moved the stage to a building on the corner of Jagiellońska Street and Szczepański Square - where the theatre is still based today. Under his management the theatre grew in standing and popularity, and despite its dependence on the Austrian partition authorities, performances were given in Polish. In 1865 Helena Modrzejewska, today the theatre's patron, appeared here for the first time. From 1866 to 1885 the stage was run by Stanisław Koźmian, creator of the so-called Kraków school, which placed particular importance on the quality of acting and the careful preparation of productions.
In 1893 the municipal theatre moved to a new building on Świętego Ducha Square, and the building on Szczepański Square was thoroughly rebuilt in 1903-1906 in the Art Nouveau style. Regular theatre work resumed here after the Second World War, in 1945. In 1963 Zygmunt Hübner became director, and the company was joined by, among others, the directors Andrzej Wajda and Konrad Swinarski. Wajda then directed Stanisław Wyspiański's "Wesele" ("The Wedding"), and in 1973 Swinarski staged Adam Mickiewicz's "Dziady" ("Forefathers' Eve") - a production regarded as one of the most important events in the history of the theatre.
In 1991 the stage was granted the status of a national theatre, and in February 2001 it adopted its present name. A museum of the theatre's history opened in the building in 1981, followed in 2016 by the Interactive Museum / Centre for Theatre Education, MICET.
Did you know?
Among the documents collected in the theatre museum is the first plan of the auditorium, drawn in 1799 by Jacek Kluszewski - the year the theatre moved into its present building.