Magda Romanska - writer, dramaturg and theatre scholar

Anthem Press Series in Theatre and Performance Studies, London
forthcoming in 2012

FROM THE PREFACE, written by Kathleen Cioffi

"This book does a very valuable service for Anglophones interested in Polish theatre and performance: it unpacks the multiple layers of meaning in two of the most acclaimed theatre productions of the twentieth century, Jerzy Grotowski’s Akropolis and Tadeusz Kantor’s The Dead Class. We not only get an unusually informed close reading of Grotowski’s and Kantor’s masterworks, but also one that situates these productions and their creators firmly in their literary, historical, and political contexts. Too often, non-Polish theatre historians and critics, as Romanska points out, have ignored the Polish aspects of Grotowski’s and Kantor’s theatre and constructed their own deracinated meanings, while declaring that their inability to understand Polish did not matter. Meanwhile, Polish theatre historians and critics have often ignored the Jewish aspects of these productions in part because it would have been politically dangerous not to do so. Theatre and Meaning: The Strange Case of Grotowski and Kantor reclaims both the Polishness and the Jewishness of Grotowski’s and Kantor’s chefs-d’oeuvres. [...] Romanska demonstrates how various other historical, political, and personal factors played into the devising of these performances, as well their reception."

"Grotowski and Kantor are two of the most significant theatre artists of the twentieth century; this book untangles the strands of meaning in their work in a most impressive way, and thus helps us to fully understand their achievement."

FROM PEER REVIEWS:

"I was riveted by the book. I couldn’t put it down."

"the perspective is original and the book is ‘leading edge’. Romanska has the linguistic and critical skills to develop the arguments in question, and the political contexts are traced at an extremely sophisticated level. This is what lends the writing its dynamism."

"Every page speaks volumes to the breadth of her readings and the number of sources she has used to bring both works into their multiple contexts. "

"a massive gathering of erudition"

"I am convinced that this will not only be the book on each of the two directors but also and especially the only one that manages to develop a framework allowing a discussion of both men and their performances together. In other words, this will be the book on the subject the author set out to explore and it’s very rare that one can say that about any book!"

"It is clear on every page that the author is exceptionally well-versed in her subject matter and conveys it in lucid and clear arguments. She succeeds in interrelating the diverse discourses on avant-garde theater, postdramatic performance, Polish cultural history, and the ethics and aesthetics of Holocaust representation."

"This is a lucidly and even beautifully written book that convincingly argues for a historically and culturally contextualized understanding of Grotowski’s and Kantor’s performances. It should be required reading in any introduction to performance and theater studies course."

"There are few critically sophisticated books available on Polish theatre written in English and I would imagine that the book will be a strong leader in this field. It brings together questions of performance, source text, translation and reception, which means that it is of interest in a number of scholarly contexts."