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21 November 2009


Polish Culture in the World
Polish Cultural Institutes
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Jerzy Radziwiłowicz
languages: Polish  / English 
 

Born in 1950, Radziwiłowicz is a theatrical, television and film actor, a professor at the National Academy of Theatre in Kraków and a translator.

He graduated from the Faculty of Acting of the National Academy of Theatre in Warsaw. He debuted in 1972 on the stage of the Old Theatre (Stary Teatr) in Kraków as Zagórski in Michail Szatarov's "Bolsheviks" directed by Andrzej Przybylski. One year later he already played in Adam Mickiewicz's "Forefather's Eve / Dziady" directed by Konrad Swinarski, a staging, which became part of the canon of Polish theatre. Swinarski also hired Radziwiłowicz for "Liberation / Wyzwolenie" and for the television version of Wyspiański's "The Judges / Sędziowie". He also begun rehearsals for Shakespeare's "Hamlet", where he was supposed to play the main role, but the staging never took place because of a sudden death of the director.

Jerzy Radziwiłowicz was lucky to meet in his theatrical and film career the most outstanding Polish directors and actors. Already in 1973 he started collaborating with Jerzy Jarocki at the staging of Franz Kafka's "Trial". He collaborated with Jarocki among others at the stagings of Anton Czechov's "Cherry Orchard" (1975), Gogol's "Controller" (1980), Thomas S. Eliot's "Murder in the Cathedral" (1982), Calderon de la Barco's "Life Is a Dream" (1983), Mrożek's "Portrait" (1988), the breakthrough and canon staging of Gombrowicz's "Wedding" (1991) and the first Polish staging of Johann Wolfgang Goethe's "Faust" (1997).

In 1977 he was notice by Jerzy Grzegorzewski who trusted him with the role of the groom in Stanislaw Wyspiański's "Wedding Party / Wesele". Eighteen years later Radziwiłowicz played in another version of Mickiewicz's drama, this time it was Grzegorzewski's staging of "Forefather's Eve, 12 Improvisations / Dziady, 12 Improwizacji". Inspired by Grzegorzewski, Radziwilowicz prepared in 1996 a new translation of Moliere's "Don Juan".
"Jerzy Radziwilowicz benefited from the French role, after which he wanted to present on Polish stage the original rhythm of Moliere's text and therefore attempted the translation. It was a success. It is a role of full flavour: consequent from the beginning to the end, but not monotonous, because, and that is a paradox, it is capriciously changing moods and has many surprises" - wrote the reviewer of "Rzeczpospolita Daily".
Grzegorzewski and Radziwiłowicz staged "Don Juan" twice: in Poland and in France.

In the 1970 Radziwiłowicz begun the long and close collaboration with Andrzej Wajda, both in film and in theatre. He played, among others, Mishkin in "Nastasia Filipovna" based on Dostoyevsky's "Idiot". He played in the internationally awarded "Man of Marble / Człowiek z marmuru" (1976) and "Man of Iron / Człowiek z żelaza" (1981), films, which became symbols of the reckoning of the times of Stalinism and of a prediction of liberty changes. "The beauty of this exceptional film lies in the complexity of the director's relations to Birkut, this perfectly humble representative of the whole unhappy and alienated epoch" wrote in 1979 Alberto Moravia about Birkut, role played by Radziwilowicz in "Man of Marble / Człowiek z marmuru".
"Birkut, before becoming a Stakhanovite, had these qualities and flaws, which were always an invariable element of humanity, never mind place and time. Under the etiquette of a hero of socialism, the humility and the righteousness make him a real hero. What is the result of this delicate operation? Well, while Stalinism is finally condemned, the socialism as the idea and as utopia seems to be saved."
Four years later Radziwiłowicz plays in another of Wajda's masterpieces, in theatre this time: "Crime and Punishment" basing of Fiodor Dostoyevsky.

A reserved "a perfectionist actor, gifted with intelligence and deep sensitivity": this is how Maciej Karpinski described Radziwilowicz in his book "Andrzej Wajda's Theatre". Truly, Radziwilowicz's acting reveals an important influence of Jerzy Jarocki's school, which he also uses in films: Kieślowski's "Endless / Bez końca" (1984), Stanisław Różewicz's "Door in the Wall / Drzwi w Murze" (1973), Jean-Luc Godard's "Passion" (1982), on the most important Polish stages: the Old Theatre (Stary Teatr) in Krakow and the National Theatre (Teatr Narodowy) in Warsaw and in the French theatre Comédie de Saint-Etienne.

Most important awards:
  • 1977 - the Leon Schiller Award
  • 1985 - the award for the role of Raskolnikov in "Crime and Punishment" at the 25. Theatrical Meeting of Kalisz
  • 1986 - the award for the role of the Doctor "Woyzeck" in the Old Theatre in Krakow at the 26. Theatrical Meeting of Kalisz
  • 1988 - the award for the role of Bartodziej in "Portrait" at the 27. Festival of Polish Contemporary Plays in Wroclaw
  • 1989 - the Silver Cross of Merit
  • 1993 - the Order of Fine Arts and Literature awarded by the French Minister of Culture 1999 - the award of the Section of Theatrical Critics of the Polish ITI Centre for popularisation of Polish theatrical culture abroad
Browsing history




RECENTLY ADDED
Kwadrofonik at Crossculture Festival
The European Film Academy (EFA) has announced its choice of international EFA Ambassadors. Among the selected distinguished personalities from the world of European film there is Maciej Stuhr. The Polish actor will represent EFA and the European Film Awards at various prestigious events.
The Berlin Maxim Gorki Theatre will show Heinrich von Kleist's "Amphitryon", directed by Jan Bosse (November 19, 2009) and Fritz Kater's "Haeven", directed by Armin Petras (November 21, 2009) at Stary Teatr in Cracow. The shows are part of the collaboration between the two theatres, called "Wanderlust".
18th History Book Fairs will take place on November 26 - Novemer 29, 2009, in Warsaw. The inauguratory press conference "History Book Fairs - the new beginning" starts on November 23, 2009 at 12:00 p.m. in Kubicki Arcades at the Royal Castle.
40 short documentary films from 11 countries have been qualified for competition in the 13th International Film Festival "Off Cinema". The Festival starts on November 18, 2009, in Poznań.
The former headquarters of the Polish United Workers' Party's Central Comitee, a monumetal building located in downtown Warsaw, near the de Gaulle traffic circle, was on November 16, 2009, inscribed on the list of registered monuments of the Masovian Voivodeship.
On November 13, 2009, at the Academy of Fine Arts in Wrocław, the Minister of Culture and National Heritage, Bohdan Zdrojewski, signed an agreement, according to which the Ministry shall co-fund the construction of the Centre of Applied Arts and Innovation Centre at the Academy of Fine Arts.



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