Allen Kuharski | Swarthmore College (original) (raw)
Papers by Allen Kuharski
Theater, 2004
... Krzysztof Warlikowski's adaptation of Attorney Krajkowski's Dancer, first performed... more ... Krzysztof Warlikowski's adaptation of Attorney Krajkowski's Dancer, first performed at the Third International Gombrowicz Festival in 1997. ... Jaroslaw Tomica, Witold Mazurkiewicz, Michal Zgiet, and Jacek Brzezinski in Teatr Provisorium and Kompania Teatr of Lublin's 1998 stage ...
University of Toronto Press eBooks, Dec 31, 2018
New Theatre Quarterly, May 1, 2002
Antonio] being thus lorded Not only with what my revenue yielded But what my power might else exa... more Antonio] being thus lorded Not only with what my revenue yielded But what my power might else exact, like one Who having into truth-by telling of it-Made such a sinner of his memory To credit his own lie, he did believe He was indeed the Duke, out o' th' substitution And executing th' outward face of royalty With all prerogative. Hence his ambition growing. .. To have no screen between this part he played And him he played it for, he needs will be Absolute Milan. Prospero, The Tempest (I, ii, 97-109)
As a Pole living in exile, Gombrowicz’s works were suspected by the communist government although... more As a Pole living in exile, Gombrowicz’s works were suspected by the communist government although his works were published and performed during periods of liberalization such as the Polish October era. In his article, Allen J. Kuharski’s interest is in how various cliques or factions within Polish theatrical and cultural life before 1989 sought to claim legitimacy through identification with the performance of his works. Extending to Polish theater artists producing Gombrowicz abroad (expatriots/dissidents), this essay includes early examples of international touring of Polish productions of Gombrowicz in the 1970s, and the complications around the ongoing performance of his works within Poland in the 1980s
The Polish Review, 2015
The Polish Review Gombrowicz's interest in Genet was apparently limited to the novels and [Jean-P... more The Polish Review Gombrowicz's interest in Genet was apparently limited to the novels and [Jean-Paul] Sartre's critical biography Saint Genet: Comédien et martyr. Virgilio Piñera was one of Gombrowicz's closest contacts in Buenos Aires and a major presence in the Diary, and he went on to become a prolific and influential playwright in his native Cuba, but their respective interest in playwriting was apparently not a significant part of their relationship. [Henrik] Ibsen receives several respectful mentions, but functions primarily as the author of the kind of plays that Gombrowicz is not interested in writing himself. In the Diary, Gombrowicz does not make a single reference to the emergence of major Polish auteur directors at the time, such as Jerzy Grotowski, Tadeusz Kantor, or Konrad Swinarski. 3 This indifference was not mutual, however: we now know that both Grotowski and Kantor were intensely interested in Gombrowicz's work, and Grotowski a particularly devoted reader of the Diary. 4 Gombrowicz does take time to demolish the dramatic works of his older compatriots Stanisław Przybyszewski and Stanisław Wyspiański, but offers no opinion of the numerous plays of S.I. Witkiewicz (also known as Witkacy), his fellow traveler in Poland's interwar avant-garde, who otherwise figures prominently. Gombrowicz in performance, meanwhile, continues to flourish both in Poland and internationally, with over 900 productions in at least forty countries to dateof which the majority have been performed in languages other than Polish. The performances of Gombrowicz's work globally have spanned a wide variety of performance genres and media and include a significant number of adaptations of his nondramatic works. Along with Sławomir Mrożek, Gombrowicz over time has become Poland's most produced playwright internationally, and Gombrowicz's Ivona, Princess of Burgundia over the years has very likely been the most produced Polish play abroad. In live performance, in fact, the play has certainly been the most common first point of contact between Gombrowicz and international audiences (constituting his primary "readership" outside Poland). Before the publication of Monika Żółkoś's 2001 critical study Ciało mówiące (The speaking body), Ivona was 3. Swinarski's production of the world premiere of Peter Weiss's The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat as Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton Under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade (Marat/Sade) took place in West Berlin on April 24, 1964, while Gombrowicz was still in residence there. This was also roughly six months after Swinarski's wife, Barbara Witek-Swinarska, published her controversial "interview" with Gombrowicz in the Polish communist press, following a meeting with him shortly after his arrival in West Berlin. Gombrowicz and others denounced Swinarska's text as an intentional defamation, which may have been written at the prompting of Polish communist security forces. 4. See Ludwik Flaszen, Grotowski & Company, trans. Andrzej Wojtasik with Paul Allain and ed. Paul Allain (Holstebro/Malta/Wrocław: Icarus, 2010).
New Theatre Quarterly, May 1, 2002
I still cannot come to terms with my age. Very frequently I get the feeling that I have far too m... more I still cannot come to terms with my age. Very frequently I get the feeling that I have far too many years behind me. Sometimes it seems to me that I am still eighty years old, only to have someone remind me that I am eighty-seven. That is a big chunk of time.. . .
Theater, 2004
... Joe selected those themes. They had to barry 104 Chaikin and Judith Malina in Man is Man, The... more ... Joe selected those themes. They had to barry 104 Chaikin and Judith Malina in Man is Man, The Living Theatre, 1962. ... Page 16. Monica mall. Struck Dumb is about a fictional aphasic character, Adnan, living in Venice, California, who is afraid of earthquakes. ...
Theatre Journal, Dec 1, 1988
New Theatre Quarterly, Nov 1, 1995
Theater, 2004
... Krzysztof Warlikowski's adaptation of Attorney Krajkowski's Dancer, first performed... more ... Krzysztof Warlikowski's adaptation of Attorney Krajkowski's Dancer, first performed at the Third International Gombrowicz Festival in 1997. ... Jaroslaw Tomica, Witold Mazurkiewicz, Michal Zgiet, and Jacek Brzezinski in Teatr Provisorium and Kompania Teatr of Lublin's 1998 stage ...
University of Toronto Press eBooks, Dec 31, 2018
New Theatre Quarterly, May 1, 2002
Antonio] being thus lorded Not only with what my revenue yielded But what my power might else exa... more Antonio] being thus lorded Not only with what my revenue yielded But what my power might else exact, like one Who having into truth-by telling of it-Made such a sinner of his memory To credit his own lie, he did believe He was indeed the Duke, out o' th' substitution And executing th' outward face of royalty With all prerogative. Hence his ambition growing. .. To have no screen between this part he played And him he played it for, he needs will be Absolute Milan. Prospero, The Tempest (I, ii, 97-109)
As a Pole living in exile, Gombrowicz’s works were suspected by the communist government although... more As a Pole living in exile, Gombrowicz’s works were suspected by the communist government although his works were published and performed during periods of liberalization such as the Polish October era. In his article, Allen J. Kuharski’s interest is in how various cliques or factions within Polish theatrical and cultural life before 1989 sought to claim legitimacy through identification with the performance of his works. Extending to Polish theater artists producing Gombrowicz abroad (expatriots/dissidents), this essay includes early examples of international touring of Polish productions of Gombrowicz in the 1970s, and the complications around the ongoing performance of his works within Poland in the 1980s
The Polish Review, 2015
The Polish Review Gombrowicz's interest in Genet was apparently limited to the novels and [Jean-P... more The Polish Review Gombrowicz's interest in Genet was apparently limited to the novels and [Jean-Paul] Sartre's critical biography Saint Genet: Comédien et martyr. Virgilio Piñera was one of Gombrowicz's closest contacts in Buenos Aires and a major presence in the Diary, and he went on to become a prolific and influential playwright in his native Cuba, but their respective interest in playwriting was apparently not a significant part of their relationship. [Henrik] Ibsen receives several respectful mentions, but functions primarily as the author of the kind of plays that Gombrowicz is not interested in writing himself. In the Diary, Gombrowicz does not make a single reference to the emergence of major Polish auteur directors at the time, such as Jerzy Grotowski, Tadeusz Kantor, or Konrad Swinarski. 3 This indifference was not mutual, however: we now know that both Grotowski and Kantor were intensely interested in Gombrowicz's work, and Grotowski a particularly devoted reader of the Diary. 4 Gombrowicz does take time to demolish the dramatic works of his older compatriots Stanisław Przybyszewski and Stanisław Wyspiański, but offers no opinion of the numerous plays of S.I. Witkiewicz (also known as Witkacy), his fellow traveler in Poland's interwar avant-garde, who otherwise figures prominently. Gombrowicz in performance, meanwhile, continues to flourish both in Poland and internationally, with over 900 productions in at least forty countries to dateof which the majority have been performed in languages other than Polish. The performances of Gombrowicz's work globally have spanned a wide variety of performance genres and media and include a significant number of adaptations of his nondramatic works. Along with Sławomir Mrożek, Gombrowicz over time has become Poland's most produced playwright internationally, and Gombrowicz's Ivona, Princess of Burgundia over the years has very likely been the most produced Polish play abroad. In live performance, in fact, the play has certainly been the most common first point of contact between Gombrowicz and international audiences (constituting his primary "readership" outside Poland). Before the publication of Monika Żółkoś's 2001 critical study Ciało mówiące (The speaking body), Ivona was 3. Swinarski's production of the world premiere of Peter Weiss's The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat as Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton Under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade (Marat/Sade) took place in West Berlin on April 24, 1964, while Gombrowicz was still in residence there. This was also roughly six months after Swinarski's wife, Barbara Witek-Swinarska, published her controversial "interview" with Gombrowicz in the Polish communist press, following a meeting with him shortly after his arrival in West Berlin. Gombrowicz and others denounced Swinarska's text as an intentional defamation, which may have been written at the prompting of Polish communist security forces. 4. See Ludwik Flaszen, Grotowski & Company, trans. Andrzej Wojtasik with Paul Allain and ed. Paul Allain (Holstebro/Malta/Wrocław: Icarus, 2010).
New Theatre Quarterly, May 1, 2002
I still cannot come to terms with my age. Very frequently I get the feeling that I have far too m... more I still cannot come to terms with my age. Very frequently I get the feeling that I have far too many years behind me. Sometimes it seems to me that I am still eighty years old, only to have someone remind me that I am eighty-seven. That is a big chunk of time.. . .
Theater, 2004
... Joe selected those themes. They had to barry 104 Chaikin and Judith Malina in Man is Man, The... more ... Joe selected those themes. They had to barry 104 Chaikin and Judith Malina in Man is Man, The Living Theatre, 1962. ... Page 16. Monica mall. Struck Dumb is about a fictional aphasic character, Adnan, living in Venice, California, who is afraid of earthquakes. ...
Theatre Journal, Dec 1, 1988
New Theatre Quarterly, Nov 1, 1995