The Białystok Puppet Theatre has been active since 1953, when a group of puppeteers, led by Piotr Sawicki, was granted a state subsidy. From then on the theatre – being a professional stage – has been in operation continuously, producing 3 to 5 new performances every theatre season, using the various puppet techniques (rod-puppets, glove puppets, string puppets and non-conventional forms), different forms of visual theatre, object theatre, mask theatre, drama theatre.
The Theatre has
been managed by, consecutively: Piotr Sawicki, Joanna Piekarska, Krzysztof Rau,
Wojciech Kobrzyński and Wojciech Szelachowski, Marek Waszkiel and from
september 2012 – Jacek Malinowski. Many distinguished Polish artists have
cooperated with the Theatre, such as Jan Wilkowski and Adam Kilian, Jan Dorman,
Leokadia Serafinowicz and Wojciech Wieczorkiewicz, Andrzej Dziedziul, Piotr
Tomaszuk and Tadeusz Słobodzianek.
The Białystok
Theatre is one of the oldest Polish puppet stages to propose a puppetry repertoire
for adults and which, as of 1972, regularly includes on its playbill works by
the world’s grand literary authors: Boccaccio, Calderon, Rostand, Gogol,
Bernhard, Różewicz, Szukszyn, Mrożek or Gałczyński. It is also the first Polish
puppet theatre to have its premises especially constructed for its purpose, as
in 1979, at the expense of the city, an especially designed building was
erected. It contains three stages: the grand stage (200 seats), the small stage
(100 seats), and rehearsal stage (40 seats). Over the past 30 years, the
Theatre has also organized many national and international puppetry festivals,
in particular the festival of solo puppeteers and the national meetings of
puppet theatres.
In 1974 the
Białystok Puppet Theatre called to life an actor’s studio which was a year
later transformed into the Puppetry Art Department of the Warsaw Theatre
Academy. Nearly all the actors of the Theatre are graduates of this school.
They are also the core members of staff teaching young puppeteers at the Białystok
Department of Warsaw Academy.
Today, the
Theatre’s activities specialize in three basic areas:
- performances for children – stage adaptations of famous fairy tales and popular literature for children, in particular contemporary pieces, written with the puppet theatre in mind and produced in various dramatic and puppetry conventions;
- performances for adults – a constant puppetry activity, unique in its character on a grand scale;
- performances which seek new grounds and engage in experimentation – projects carried out on the studio’s stage, in cooperation with the youngest generation of puppeteers from the Theatre Academy in Białystok.
The Białystok Puppet Theatre is open to
international cooperation, including in its offer theatre internships for young
puppeteers, study projects and workshop meetings.
