Because of its scope, multilayered setting and constant balancing between pathos and irony, Akropolis is difficult to stage. Some Polish directors and critics regard it as poetry rather than drama. Starting in 1904, Władysław Prokesch unequivocally proclaimed Akropolis to be “unsuitable on stage, despite the fact that Wyspiański included sheets of music composed by Bolesław Raczyński.”340 elżbieta Morawiec, writing about the 1978 production directed by Krystyna Skuszanka, stated that “In the history of Polish theatre, this production remains yet another attempt to resurrect a play that in this form cannot be resurrected.”341 Jerzy Bober suggested that the play does not have a “dramatic form.”342 Maciej Szybist concurred: “This drama as drama cannot be staged.”343 As Marta Fik noted, “One false step, and instead of originality and genuine pathos, you get falsity and pretension.”344 Krzysztof Pleśniarowicz pointed out that Wyspiański’s play presents two challenges. One is the issue of stylistic consistency, as the play comprises four one-act plays of different structures and styles. The second is the fact that it is virtually impossible to stage the final scene, with its dual challenge of Apollo-Salvatore entering the stage riding a chariot drawn by horses and the castle getting destroyed.345 Thus, the play has been generally avoided by Polish theatres. Parts of the play were sung by the choir at the Teatr Miejski in Lwów on 28 September 1904, and Leonard Bończa staged the first and fourth acts on 1 december 1916 in Cracow’s Słowacki Theatre, under the artistic direction of Adam Grzymała-Siedlecki. Bończa’s production was prepared in an attempt to commemorate both Wyspiański’s death and the anniversary of the november uprising against the Russians in 1830, which ended in Poland’s defeat. Zygmunt Wierciak designed the scenery and Zbigniew and Andrzej Proszanek designed the costumes.346 This production evoked mixed reactions, with Teofil Trzciński writing one of the most laudatory reviews: “Someday, in the years to come, when all other Wyspiański dramas will perhaps be seen as mere historical footnotes, Akropolis will be viewed as a timeless, eternal work, the Festspiel of Polish theatre.”347
Some, however, questioned the wisdom of staging only two acts while completely cutting act 3. The theatre justified its choice, explaining that it wanted to focus on the motif of resurrection rather than the usual martyrological theme. The approaching end of World War I brought hopes of Polish independence (indeed, 1916 is called the
“year of Polish hopes”), and with it a feeling of relief from 200 years of struggle. That optimistic atmosphere clearly influenced Bończa’s interpretation of Akropolis. Fittingly, Teofil Trzciński called the play “a moment of respite for the Polish conscience.”348
Akropolis was staged in its entirety for the first time 22 years after its publication, following a conflict between the Słowacki Theatre (under the artistic direction of Zygmnunt nowakowski) and the national Theatre in Warsaw regarding who should premiere the play, a dispute the Słowacki Theatre won. The play opened on 29 november 1926, and featured Józef Sosnowski as both director and actor, with a set design by Bolesław Kudewicz. Although the play eventually attracted great acclaim among both critics and audiences, Leon Schiller did not like it. He wrote, “Akropolis got stuffed in the box of Cracow’s scene among decorations copied verbatim from Wawel architecture, a choice that turned the play into some kind of postcard from Cracow, unnecessarily allegorical.”349 In this production, the final scene showed the cathedral falling apart into the darkness as the back wall rose, revealing Apollo-Salvatore riding a chariot driven by four white stallions. This version too provoked mixed reactions, with some critics praising “the cinematic effects” while others considered them inappropriate for the “national mysterium.”350 The last production staged before World War II was the 1932 version directed by Teofil Trzciński that opened on 26 november at the Teatr Polski in Poznań. The set was designed by Zygmunt Szpingier, who based his design on Wyspiański’s drawings and Wyczółkowski’s graphics. Schiller liked this production, declaring: “Teofil Tczciński, in Poznań, was able to mount – against difficult odds – a memorable, incredibly clear and successful production.”351 As in previous productions, the final scene had liberatory underpinnings, with a golden Wawel emerging in the background.352 Both Iwo Gall and Leon Schiller later attempted to stage the play, and sketches of their designs are preserved in Polish archives, but the concepts were never realized.353 After the war Akropolis was staged by Kazimierz dejmek in 1959 without great success. In 1966, Mieczysław Kotlarczyk directed a production at Teatr Rapsodyczny in Cracow.354 According to Osiński, dejmek chose to interpret Hector as a symbol of “Polish madness” and the entire play as a condemnation of Polish Romanticism.355 Both dejmek and Kotlarczyk chose to interpret Akropolis foremost as a national drama. In February 1978, Krystyna Skuszanka directed yet another version of Akropolis at the Słowacki Teatr in Cracow, with the set designed by ewa Tęcza and the music by Adam Walaciński. The reviews were lukewarm. Jerzy Bober asked: “does Akropolis, this unsettled drama-poem, have any chance for a coherent staging? In my opinion, it does not.”356 Akropolis wasn’t staged in Warsaw, the Polish capital, until 2001, under the direction of Ryszard Peryt.
The relative lack of interest in staging Akropolis runs counter to the near obsession with Wyspiański’s other dramas (such as The Wedding and Liberation), which have been in the repertoire of almost every Polish theatre since they were written. Knowing the convoluted production history and the controversies surrounding various attempts at staging, one can’t help but credit Grotowski for taking up the challenging project.
Grotowski was the first one to bring Akropolis back to the Polish stage in the second half of the twentieth century.357 The unofficial world premiere of Grotowski’s version of Akropolis is marked as either October 9 or 10, 1962 (depending on the source), and the official premiere as October 20, 1962. At that time, the line between rehearsal and public performance was somewhat blurry; Grotowski would often rehearse a piece with an invited audience or show a piece to the public, then withdraw it to rework it some
more. This was the case with his production of Akropolis, which was shown at various stages of its development beginning in early 1962.358 According to Józef Kelera, there are five versions (“variants”) of the production, each considered by Grotowski’s group to be a separate work with its own opening.359 Osiński lists them as October 10, 1962, Opole (variant I); 1962, Opole (variant II); 1964, Opole (variant III); 1965, Wrocław (variant IV); and 1967, Wrocław (variant V).360 The cast included Zygmunt Molik as Jacob, the harpist and the leader of the dying tribe; Rena Mirecka as Rebecca and Cassandra; Antoni Jaholkowski as Isaac; Zbigniew Cynkutis and Mieczysław Janowski as Angel and Paris, respectively; and Ryszard Cieślak as esau. The set and props were designed by Józef Szajna. each of the five variants presented a slightly different version of the show.361