Zbigniew Majchrowski looks at the female characters in stagings of Adam Mickiewicz’s Forefathers’ Eve. The author spotlights the socio-economic condition of women in the nineteenth century, which is often overlooked in the interpretive and theatrical tradition of this work. Majchrowski analyses differences in staged presentations not only of iconic female characters such as Zosia or Mrs. Rollison, but also of marginalised, secondary characters such as Ewa, whose monologue was frequently removed from staged performances. The...

Can a theatrical spectacle rectify the greatest neglect of Poland’s post-1989 transformation and create a ‘positive’ founding myth of the ‘Solidarity’? This is the ambition of the musical 1989 produced by a creative team led by Marcin Napiórkowski, Katarzyna Szyngiera, Mirosław Wlekły and Andrzej ‘Wolny’ Webber (co-produced by the Gdansk Shakespeare Theatre and the Juliusz Słowacki Theatre in Krakow). According to the announcements, it was to be the first musical in Poland in the likeness...

The purpose of this article is to present the characteristics of kumiodori – a unique form of theatre that developed in a particular socio-geographical environment of the Okinawa Island over 300 years ago. Created in 1719 as a political tool for an entity that exists no more, it continues to shape the identity of a nation within a nation. Nowadays Okinawa stands for one of the 47 prefectures of Japan, as well as the name...

The male dancer and his role in theatrical performances of the 16th-18th centuries The beginning of the 19th century brought an absolute domination of women on the ballet stage (although they had to face the challenge of mastering the language of dance created by men and originally intended for them on the professional stage). The process of feminisation, also in this ‘symbolic’ aspect, which theatrical dance was undergoing from the nineteenth century directed the research...

This article addresses the issue of the culture construction of visual experience focused on the world of insects. Various situations of observing these creatures have been framed in the context of a cultural theory that uses performative practices, such as training bees or flea circuses. An important aspect of this article concerns the technologies that facilitate a precise image of insects, such as the microscope or photography. This allows us her to explore epistemological questions...