Na początku było słowo. Król-Duch w wersji Teatru Rapsodycznego (1941, 1946, 1957)

Abstract

The author of the article analyses three successive versions of the theatrical staging of Juliusz Słowacki’s King-Spirit, performed by Dr. Mieczysław Kotlarczyk at the Rhapsodic Theatre in Kraków in 1941, 1946 and 1957. The premiere of the first performance was conspiratorial in nature and took place on November 1, 1941 in Nazi-occupied Kraków. In this play, Karol Wojtyła, later Pope John Paul II, played the role of an actor. The theatrical struggle with Słowacki’s poem, of which only the first Rhapsody was published in 1847 and the rest remained in manuscripts, was based on a 2-volume edition of the work by Jan Gwalbert Pawlikowski (Lviv 1925). All three performances of King-Spirit realised the idea of “rhapsodic theatre”, in which the art of the living word is cultivated. Its most important means of expression is stage speech, and the repertoire is dominated by poetic works, both dramatic, epic and lyrical, adapted for the stage.