Polish Theatre Revisited

This is a slice of life. "Polish Theatre Revisited" takes you to the time and place of 19th century and early 20th century Polish theatre and gives you more than enough joy at the development of the Polish theatre. I can't express enough how joyful it was to just get caught up in this book. It really is a time machine for immersing yourself in the fads, fancies and frolics of the day. It is also very serious in that it gives in English a wonderful description that can't be found elsewhere of the development of a pivotal artform in Polish culture.

"Polish Theatre Revisited: Theatre Fans in the Nineteenth Century" took me a long time to read, because I kept stopping to look up Polish history, Polish actresses, Sarah Bernhardt, Polish pronunciations and more - every detail Agata Luksza mentions seems fascinating and worth looking into.

The book (appropriately) starts with a chapter on Polish nationalism and the theater, framing theater as a space for Polishness under the Russian occupation, while also offering historical context not only regarding 19th century Poland, but also regarding the approach to studying the history of Polish theater as a "serious" endeavor (hint: the 19th c. is interpreted in a national key).

We start, then, with the mainstream, but then we move on to the more marginal "fannish" experiences. First, we have male fans of ingenue actresses having symbolic fights over the objects of their affections (Wisnowska vs. Czaki) while behaving in a manner that other theater-goers perceived as disruptive and childish. Their fights, while frowned upon, make the newspapers.

Another chapter discusses the Warsaw theater-goers' passion for (and women's emulation of) Sarah Bernhardt, the Jewish-French actress; emulating her was, naturally, frowned upon. But it still made the news, if only as mockery.

Then we have women fan circles and their passion for actresses and for collecting photographs and memorabilia. Already, this is turning into a secret history of sort, the kind that's hard to track and understand.

And finally, the vogue for Japan, Japanese-themed shows, and Japanese objects, vaguer than the rest, because the objects of interest are fashions and styles derived from an Orientalist view borrowed from the English, rather than an abiding love for celebrities or causes that strike close to home. If the previous chapters can name specific fans and their behaviors, this one is more general.

As I've said, I stopped often to look up things. Agata Luksza includes some images in her book, especially when discussing important photographs or paintings, but I still fell down the rabbit hole of looking for the actresses who fascinated crowds over a century ago. I found Judwiga Czaki beautiful, and Maria Wisnowska fascinatingly ugly (interestingly, Luksza seems more of a Wisnowska fan - we'd be on opposite sides of the barricade here!). Sarah Bernhardt I couldn't really get a feel for through photos alone. I looked up maps of split Poland, and tried to find images of theaters.

But even without my endless searches, Luksza's book stands on its own (although perhaps looking up Poland's 19th c. history in the broadest terms doesn't hurt), recreating a lost world of finding entertainment, meaning and freedom in the theater, and taking the chance at the start of every chapter to create an illustration of what life might have been like for theatre-goers of the type she'll describe. It's a lovely volume, and one that came as a very pleasant surprise.

This was quite a heavy read, as it’s an academic text, but the writing is accessible and if you’re someone who’s interested in the history of theatre, its stars and its fans, then this is a must-read. I knew nothing about Polish theatre before embarking on it, and I learnt a great deal, especially about the rise of “fandom” there, and “fans” really hasn’t changed much over the years - although now perhaps more visible in the music world. Although the focus is on Polish theatre, the book nevertheless has a universal relevance for theatre lovers and students and I think most readers will find much of interest here. I certainly did.