International Women Stage Directors

Poland

Poland Magda Romanska The issues facing women directors in Poland were always connected to the history of Poland’s liberatory struggle—first, under partitions, then, under Nazi and Soviet occupations. Although historically Polish theatre has gained worldwide renown predominantly thanks to its male directors such asTadeusz Kantor and Jerzy Grotowski, Poland today has a thriving and influential cadre of young women directors, who have gained renown and respect in Poland and abroad. Women’s Rights: Historical Context In 1772 Poland was partitioned by the Russian Empire, Kingdom of Prussia, and Habsburg Austria, which divided the Polish Commonwealth among themselves. In 1795 after two more partitions, Poland ceased to exist as an independent nation. It did not regain its statehood until 1918, following World War I. Because of its long legacy of partitions, the early Polish feminist movement has always been connected to national liberatory struggle. Positivism, the late-nineteenth-century progressive sociocultural movement, considered women’s education and work outside of the home to be necessary for the survival of the Polish nation. The ethics of equal access to work and knowledge allowed for a relatively pluralistic social structure. On military ground, many women fought alongside men in various national uprisings. In addition to the Positivist and militant strains, deeply rooted Polish Catholicism, Polish Romanticism, and a long-established system of nobility created an idealized image of a Polish woman, respected and worshiped foremost as a mother (stemming from the Madonna figure) whose domain was to protect and safeguard the Polish home and national values of “God, Honor, and the Country” (Walczewska 10). As a result of all of these factors, Polish women received their full voting and elective rights the same year as the country gained its independence, a tacit acknowledgement of their contributions to the national struggle during the 123 years of partitions.1 However, despite visible progress, the two visions of Polish womanhood—the militant, working woman and the “Polish Mother”—remained in tension. Following World War II, the rise of communism and the Soviet regime changed gender relations in Poland: the Communists saw social relations primarily through the prism of class struggle. In that context, the new image of a socialist working woman, who was simple, healthy, able to work side by side with men, and contributed equally to the common, brilliant socialist future, contrasted with the prewar image of a “bourgeois ” woman of leisure, who was portrayed as hysterical and weak. With the spread of state-owned kindergartens and preschools, women were given equal access to the workplace, and the concept of a stay-at-home mother basically disappeared from the Polish landscape. As most society was, on some level, engaged in some form of resistance against the Communist regime, once again the image of a “Polish Mother” came to the forefront: she was now both a working woman and a stereotypical Polish mother who stood guard over family, national, and religious values; she was often engaged in some form of subversive political activity, while at the same time being primarily responsible for the survival of her family. Since the Communist regime greatly undermined the sense of Polish masculinity, day-to-day existence under the system was a combination of matriarchal and deeply misogynistic tendencies, with women shouldering the entire burden of housework and childrearing activities while maintaining their position as equal or sometimes the only breadwinners. Regardless of their complex position within the family structure, women were equally present in the workforce, getting the same pay for the same work. Though they had more difficulties gaining recognition and promotion, women had a relatively strong social and cultural position despite the deeply misogynistic tendencies of the Catholic discourse that continued to dominate much of Polish family life. Early Women Directors During the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, despite the progress that Polish women were making on other fronts, theatre and art remained a male domain. Though women playwrights such as Gabriela Zapolska and Felicja Kruszewska made their mark on Polish theatre, women directors were virtually absent. One of the early women directors was Lidia Wysocka (1916–2006), a theatre and film actor, theatre director, and costume designer. Her most notable productions were staged after World War II and included Stuart Engstrand’s Springtime in Norway, produced in 1949 in Szczecin, and Aleksander Fredro’s Husband andWife, produced in 1959 in London. The 238 Magda Romanska situation in Polish theatre changed significantly after World...