“Bone Sviatovids”: Functionaries of the Communist Apparatus of Violence in Selected Theatrical Productions
Krystyna LATAWIEC
University of the National Education Commission, Krakow , Polandhttps://orcid.org/0000-0003-3334-6924
Abstract
The article describes the manner in which three Polish theater plays portray functionaries of the communist state. Two of the plays are television productions: Norymberga by Wojciech Tomczyk (2006) and Kontrym by Marek Pruchniewski and Marcin Fischer (2011). The third play, Kochałam Bogdana W., by Paweł Kamza (2006), was produced by the Łaźnia Nowa Theater, Cracow–Nowa Huta—the venue situated in the vicinity of the place where, in 1982, a young man had been shot by a Public Security officer. The negative protagonists of the history of the Polish People’s Republic are depicted not as demoniac characters but rather as ordinary individuals driven by their personal and professional ambitions and obediently working for the state whose aim was to keep the society under total control. The actors’ interpretations of the parts of the communist functionaries reveal their psychological and intellectual characteristics. Theatrical performances similar to the productions discussed in the paper make it possible for audiences to gain an insight into closed milieus of the communist state services.
Keywords:
political theater, communist functionaries, actor’s interpretation, The Polish Television TheaterUniversity of the National Education Commission, Krakow https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3334-6924
