Warsaw – Theatre Centre
Nearly a quarter of the Polish theatres are located in Warsaw, and among 90 Polish drama theatres almost one-third are placed in Warsaw. These numbers define the strength of Warsaw as the theatre centre. Let me compare – Kraków – the second theatrical centre in Poland is home to 10 theatres; Wrocław, very strong cultural centre – 4 theatres, the same Lódź. The figures in the arts are not everything, and sometimes they mean as much as nothing, though the most extensive base for performances production determines Warsaw’s potential.
N/z: Danuta Szaflarska in the role of Grandma in NO MATTER HOW HARD WE TRIED by Dorothy Masłowska, directed by Grzegorz Jarzyna in TR Warszawa
Kiedy w 1964 roku zorganizowano I Warszawskie Spotkania Teatralne, wolno sądzić, że nikt z organizatorów nie zdawał sobie sprawy, że oto powołano do życia jedną z najtrwalszych i najważniejszych instytucji życia teatralnego w Polsce. WST rychło z jeszcze jednego festiwalu (choć wówczas nie było ich jeszcze tak wiele), stały się instytucją: ustalały hierarchie, promowały kariery, nobilitowały lub utrącały, kreowały mody. Były świadectwem stanu teatru, ale i go tworzyły, inspirowały.
Using the examples of theatrical practice of the last half a century, I would like to show the issue of the relations between the architecture and the drama. Additionally I would like to prove the thesis that the new drama, the changes in acting art as well as the born and development of theatre theory have produced the changes in theatre architecture, driven the directors out of the stage into the space of the audience at first and later into the space of the whole theatre building. The directors, actors and theatre experts have forced on architects a new way of thinking about the shape of staging space and a shape of the theatre space on the whole. 
There are several reasons to why the performing arts are on the run from the theatre houses. It is part of modernism and its wish for a total experience, a ”gesamt-kunstwerk”. In the 1960’s and 70’s it was also motivated politically, to reach out to audiences that never would dream on buying theatre tickets. Partly this political tendency had a romantic aspect of finding the roots of stage arts, returning to processions and ritual ceremoniess, street theatre andbuffoonery.. 
It is characteristic of theatre – and the theme of this conference – that while most of today’s theatre takes place in structures created for such dramatic productions, some take place in other venues, and have done so since the beginning of theatre itself.
W teatrze dolnośląskim początku XXI wieku – bo na tym chciałabym się w mojej wypowiedzi skoncentrować – reżyserzy z Wrocławia i Legnicy tworzą swój „site specific theatre” poza uznanymi centrami kulturalnymi. Są to miejsca dalekie od elegancji pluszowych foteli odnowionych teatrów. Reżyserzy i scenografowie wprowadzają widzów w dzielnice „no go”, poszukując tam swojego „genius loci”, skrywającego aurę tajemniczości, która ich zainspiruje, a zarazem zafascynuje odbiorców. Nazwałam ten teatr „lokalnym”, ponieważ zarówno wybór miejsc, jak i tematyka zostaje ściśle powiązana z losami środowiska oraz kreowaniem lokalnej tożsamości. Natomiast w legnickim Teatrze im. Modrzejewskiej Jacek Głomb określił swoje działania jako „teatr w ruinach”.
The Executive Committee of the International Association of Theatre Critics (IATC) is pleased to announce the winner of its fourth Thalia Prize for Critical Writing is dance and theatre critic Ms. Kapila Vatsyayan of New Delhi, India. The prize will be awarded during the 2012 congress of the IATC in Warsaw in March.
Long ago, I met briefly in Stockholm with Mrs Kapila Vatsyayan. It was immediately clear that this lady was a person of deep knowledge, highly refined culture and the impressing capacity to communicate both with ease. When later reading her writings, I was equally struck by her clearness in mind and the rare and specific beauty in her writing.
