ALL THE CITY’S A STAGE FOR OUR THEATRE

 

Legnica is a town characterised by cracks. Out of the cracks our theatre builds its tale of the town. For most of its history Legnica had been a German town - but in 1945 it was taken over by the Soviet Red Army. And Legnica was turned into the Army`s stronghold, a garrison town and a seat of the Soviet General Staff for the Eastern Europe. It was here, at the local airport, that the Soviet bombers were meant to have a refueling stop on their way to Paris in the case of the outbreak of World War III... As a result of 1945’s Yalta conference Legnica was given to Poland. In co-operation as well as in conflict with the Russians, the Poles began to build the identity of the town - an identity full of cracks and one never too easy to bear.


I want to talk with you about the theatre whose stage is the city - in the sense that the theatre takes over various spaces within the city - be it an old factory hall, a ruined cinema, a run-down theatre, industrial warehouses, a former market hall. The theatre locates the venues, arranges their interiors, and adapts them for the purpose of regular performing.

 

 

 

 2. The manufacturing hall in Jagiellońska Street

Once a part of a great industrial complex held by the Teicherts, a family of assimilated Jews (their sumptuous villa became a favourite residence of Soviet Marshall Rokossovski- today it is the most exclusive hotel in Legnica). Teichert&Sohn company was established in the end of 19th century. Until 1945 it produced machines of various sorts- during WW II the manufacturing list included also tank caterpillar tracks and tank guns. After the cession of Lower Silesia to People’s Poland the hall became a part of Legnica Manufacture of Pianos. It was in this place that after the most auspicious departure of the best of political systems ever (namely, communism) the Legnica theatre won its first spectacular success under the management of Jacek Głomb: the premiere of The Bad One according to Leopold Tyrmand. Recently, our Tale of a Port has been performed there. PLAC WOLNOŚCI

 

3. A market hall at Izerska street

A fragment of the architectural atrocity built at the time of the Martial Law regime of the 1980’s. It is a part of a (nomen omen) complex of one-storey buildings. They constitute a claustrophobic shopping/service centre for the apartment district „Piekary”, where a fifth of Legnica’s inhabitants sleep their nights. The tin barrack covered over with peeling grey paint served at first as a co-op store, later to lodge a wholesale company dealing in farmaceuticals. Today, after the inauguration of the „Piekary Stage” theatre, the healing power of medicines has been replaced by that of art. Made in Poland, the latest most celebrated production of Modjeska Theatre, has been produced there. DZIADY, WLOTKA PL.

 

4. The hall on Kartuska/Kazimierza street

The hall in which Lemko in Kartuska/Kazimierza street is performed appeared on the map of Legnica in the second half of the 19th century, when it was a restaurant named Zur Wacht am Rhein ("Watch on the Rhine"), the name coming from the Rhine Crisis of 1840. The restaurant had a vaudeville stage, later used for film. After WWII the hall was used by the Poles as a community center; there were boxing matches and a touring cinema. Political changes resulted in ownership by beverage producers, who later declared bankruptcy, and the building seemed fated for its end. However, after the premiere of “Łemko” and the opening ceremony of the First International Theatre Festival City in Legnica (2007), interest arose in revitalizing the building. There is a major renovation planned, to develop a Culture Centre for Children and Youth in Zakaczawie.