Nasza klasa Tadeusza Słobodzianka: dramat i jego wykonanie

Abstract

In this article, the author discusses the circumstances surrounding the writing of Tadeusz Słobodzianek’s drama Nasza klasa (Our Class), the critical reactions to this piece and the reception of the work, mainly in the country but also abroad. The first part of the article concerns the intellectual relationships between Anna Bikont, the author of My z Jedwabnego (We from Jedwabne) and Tadeusz Słobodzianek, focusing on the mutual influence of the authors on the formation of their texts. In the second part of the article, the author goes to the main topic, which is Nasza Klasa (Our Class), discussing the circumstances accompanying the presentation of the first (read) version of the drama, the structure of the text, the information on the book edition of the play and reactions to it. The third part of the article concerns the reception of the play, both in the West and in Israel, as well as in Poland. The author cites statements from the reviewers of the play, recalling the positions of both those who considered the drama to be valuable and the critics who approached the purport of Nasza Klasa with reserve. The author reminds the drama’s successes abroad, explaining the great interest in the interpretation of the Holocaust theme presented by Słobodzianek, with the words of the author of the play himself. He claimed that theatre is there “to purify and trigger emotions, and at the same time to think and talk about what is freedom and what is destiny.”