The Theatre of the Playwright

Abstract

Paweł Demirski, one of Poland’s leading playwrights, searches for the answer to the question of why Polish theatre is still a theatre of producers. Even if recent years have brought a wave of interest in the so-called ‘new Polish dramaturgy’, and the position of dramaturge has appeared in Polish theatre, the director remains in the centre of theatrical events. In the context of thinking about engaged theatre, and of a theatre that tries to accompany society, fighting for a new political language, and of a theatre seeking to escape absorption by the obligatory liberal discourse, this trap can be avoided by a change in perspective from director-centric theatre to a playwright-focused model. The new texts coming out in ever new conditions are a chance for a more accurate articulation of the barely perceptible problems, needs, and expectations of an increasingly dynamically changing society. The theatre of the playwright also gives the director the chance of a fuller and more significant theatrical message. In his conception of the theatre of the playwright, Demirski does not reject the importance of the director’s role. What he proposes is a shift in accent. The future of the work of directors wishing to make distinctive and significant theatre is close collaboration with playwrights, participation in the formation of the thoughts and ideas in the text from when work on it begins.