Jan Kott: His Own Witness

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Notes

First published as ‘Kott, świadek siebie’ in the theatre magazine Didaskalia, 47 (February 2002), 14–15. This is a cut and edited version with additional notes.

Jan Kott, ‘Mały traktat o umieraniu’, from Aloes: Dzienniki i małe szkice [Aloe: Diaries and Short Essays] (Warszawa: 1966), published later in English in Memory of the Body: Essays on Theater and Death (Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press, 1992).

Tadeusz Łomnicki (1927–1992), an outstanding Polish actor who died during a dress rehearsal of King Lear at the Teatr Nowy, Poznań, 22 February 1992. See Tadeusz Łomnicki – w stronę Leara [Tadeusz Łomnicki – towards Lear], photos, ed. and composition Mariusz Stachowiak, literary consultation Milan Kwiatkowski (Kraków: Oficyna Wydawnicza Parol, 1993); Tadeusz Łomnicki, 18 VII 1927–22 II 1992, in Elżbieta Wysińska (ed.), graphic design Rosław Szaybo (Warszawa: Teatr na Woli im. Tadeusza Łomnickiego, 2002); Pamiętnik Teatralny, 1–4 (2002).

Grzegorz Ciechowski, lead singer in the rock group Republika – part of the boom in rock in Poland in the 1980s – died at the age of 44 on 22 December 2001 – the same day as Kott.

The meeting took place on 13 June 1993. See Teatr, 12 (1993), 8–11.

Jan Kott, Lustro o ludziach i teatrze [A Mirror of People and the Theatre] (Warszawa: Czytelnik, 2000).

This 1981 play was based on and used text from Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House.

Jacek Woszczerowicz (1904–1970), an important actor and director, who came from Teatr Reduta and performed on stage and screen before and after the Second World War. He directed and played the title role in Richard III in 1960.