Born 20 September 1919, Henryk Tomaszewski was a mime, choreographer, director, stage manager and the founder and director of the Wrocław Mime Theatre, its theatrical director and author of the scripts for all its performances. Tomaszewski died 23 September 2001

Just after the Second World War ended, in 1945, he began his studies in Kraków at Iwo Gall's Studio Dramatyczne and Feliks Parnello's dance theatre. In 1948, he became a soloist at the Wrocław Opera, where he appeared in memorable leading roles such as the Peacock in Tadeusz Szeligowski's "Paw i dziewczyna / The Peacock and the Girl" (1948) and the Devil in "Pan Twardowski" by Ludomir Różycki (1953). In addition, he was the Opera's choreographer for dramatic productions and developed several solo dances for the stage. For one of these, "The Pianist", more mime than ballet, he won the silver medal at the World Youth Festival in Warsaw in 1955.

His roles in classical ballet did not fulfil Tomaszewski's artistic aspirations, however, and did not allow him to express himself fully through his dance. "It seemed to me that through movement (...) one can express things and reach a certain sphere of human reality that eludes both ballet and theatre of the spoken word." ("To sie słowa nie uklada", "Odra", no 6/1975) In 1956, he founded his own centre called Studium Pantomimy; one year later, he and the Studium won a group prize and the gold medal for their mime drama "The Overcoat", by Nikolai Gogol at the World Youth Festival in Moscow. In 1959, the group acquired the status of a professional theatre and began to gain international acclaim as the Wrocław Pantomime Theatre.

From the beginning, Tomaszewski's intent was to create a new kind of theatre, based on group pantomime. Beginning with illustrative pantomime, based on plots taken from literature, this path led to autonomous full-length productions. Their first productions were comprised of studies and sketches, including "Gabinet osobliwości / The Curiosity Shop" (1961), "Wejście w labirynt / Entrance to the Labyrinth" (1963) and "Ogrod milosci / Garden of Love" (1966). In 1970, Tomaszewski moved from these miniature forms to his first full-length pantomime production based on one single theme. This was "Odejscie Fausta / Faust Departs" based on Johann Wolfgang Goethe's work. Other important performances included "Gilgamesh" (1968), based on the Sumerian epic poem, which became reflections on friendship, loyalty, resourcefulness and courage. In addition, there was also the character of Frank Wedekin in "Menażeria Cesarzowej Filissy / Empress Filissa's Menagerie" (1972), interpreted as grotesque; "Spor / The Dispute" (1978), which transposed a philosophical and literary Rococo discourse into a pantomime image (the subject of the dispute, taken from the work of Pierre a Marivaux, is the age-old inconstancy of emotions in male-female relations); "Hamlet - Ironia i żaloba / Hamlet - Irony and Mourning", based on motives from William Shakespeare (1979).

Henryk Tomaszewski shaped his group for forty-five years in a conscious and determined manner. He was the group's best actor, appearing on the stage until 1963, as well as stage manager, author and choreographer. Together with the group, he created a unique pantomime theatre. He replaced words with movement, capturing thoughts and abstractions, embodying non-verbal dreams and imaginings. Creating modern body language, he drew on methods ranging from the ascetic to the Baroque, but also in a communicative and precise way. He introduced the art of mime into the sphere of philosophy. In his theatre, it was concepts that drove what was happening on the stage. He was inspired not only by the art of dance and movement, but also by literature and painting, and the great world myths, such as Faust, Orpheus, the Minotaur, Pan Twardowski, King Arthur, the Prodigal Son and Gilgamesh.

The task of pantomime, as Tomaszewski liked to stress, is the affirmation of man - the affirmation of life.

"Man is the most beautiful being in all creation, man is a reflection of the cosmos. In movement, man is manifested in his most pure form. His inner and spiritual life and movement comprise one whole. When man is in motion, he is striving towards something, and gets lost. It is that being lost which is the most beautiful and fascinating of all. The result is not as important as the time spent in motion, because we all know that Icarus fell. But how did this happen? That is what I am interested in." ("Ciekawość artysty", "Tygodnik Powszechny", no. 15/2000)

Tomaszewski was also a theatre director. His most important accomplishments include staging Stanisław Wyspiański's "Protesilas i Laodamia / Protesilas and Laodamia" in Teatr Polski in Wroclaw (1969) and the Norwid Theatre in Jelenia Gora (1979), and "Legenda" in Teatr Dolnośląski in Jelenia Gora (1972), as well as a pre-premiere production of "The Killing Game" by Eugene Ionesco (1973) at Wroclaw's Teatr Polski.

"Tomaszewski's art, in its philosophy, is deeply humanistic. It stands for life and joy, addresses the subject of injustice, and of people who are persecuted by a world of evil objects and powers, pushed to the very bottom. Above all, however, his art is one that speaks of love: ideal and sensual, tragic and joyful - love that is complete both when it is realised, as well as when it remains an unattainable dream." (Andrzej Hausbrandt)

Henryk Tomaszewski's last two productions were staged in 1999: "Tragiczne gry", by Ferdinand Brückner - the story of a woman who harnesses all her energy to battle against passage of time, unable to tend to her own humanity, and "Traktat o marionetkach / On the Marionette Theatre", based on a work by Heinrich Kleist, which is a beautiful and wise essay on the subject of movement and its role in life.

Tomaszewski's great passion was doll collecting. His collection contained dolls from all over the world, made of all different kinds of materials: porcelain, paper, iron, wood, wax, clay, rubber and dough, dolls which were used both for play and for cult rituals, all of which have been donated by the artist to the Doll Museum in Karpacz.

Most significant awards:

• 1962 - prize for his valuable artistic experimentation in the production "Gabinet Osobliwosci", at the Festival of Polish Contemporary Art in Wroclaw
• 1967 - prize for the staging and direction of "Męczeństwo i śmierć Marata / Marat/Sade" by Peter Weiss in Teatr Polski (Poznan), during the Kalisz Theatrical Encounters
• 1973 - prize for the direction, staging and choreography of "Legenda" by Stanislaw Wyspianski at the Teatr Dolnośląki Jelenia Góra at the Kalisz Theatrical Encounters
• 1975 - Grand Prize (Individual) for the production of "Killing Game" by Eugene Ionesco at the Teatr Polski (Wroclaw) at the Kalisz Theatrical Encounters
• 1999 - Award of the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage for lifetime achievement in the field of theatre
• 2000 - the Konrad Swinarski Award for lifetime achievement

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