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Old Theater

The official name of the Old Theater in Krakow – the National Old Theatre (Narodowy Stary Teatr) – rightfully describes its place in the history and culture of Krakow and Poland. It is truly old – dating back to the 18^th century – and national – not in the sense of presenting thick, banal 'ideological' plays, but striving to touch the more sensitive nerve of Polish culture and broadening its horizon. Paradoxically, the National Old Theater in Krakow is therefore perhaps more international than other Krakow theaters.

The Birth of the Old Theater

The date of birth of the later Old Theatre in Cracow is well known: on October 17^th 1781, the Krakow magistrate let Mateusz Witkowski, an actor of the Warsaw Theater, stage comedies if he pays 50 zloty a month to the Cracow authorities. Three days later, the first play – a comedy by Alexandre Ferrier – was staged, probably in one of the buildings next to the Krakow Main Square.

The Old Theater – then called simply the Krakow Theatre – moved to its current place of residence on Jagiellonska street in 1799. Throughout the 19^th century, though Poland was divided between Russia, Prussia and Austria, Krakow had a relative autonomy (being a free city for a large part of the century), and was a good place for keeping the national culture alive. The Krakow Theater played an important role in that task, staging Polish plays both in Cracow and on other stages on the former Polish lands.

The Old Theater's Curse of Popularity

The Krakow Theatre's popularity lead to trouble, though. The old building at Jagiellonska street wasn't enough for the more and more demanding Krakow audience. At the turn of the 19^th and 20^th centuries, the Krakow Theatre moved to a new building, the eclectic jewel that is now the Juliusz Slowacki Theatre. The interiors of the Old Theatre building were converted to house ballrooms and concert halls.

Strangely, the restoration of the Polish National Old Theater was facilitated by the Nazis, who, during World War II, returned the Jagiellonska street building to its former role of a theatre to stage their own plays. Thanks to them, it was much easier to reestablish the National Old Theater after 1945.

A Resistant Theater

From then on, during the Communist era, the Old Theater in Krakow was an important place of resistance, and its troupe of actors as well as directors were among the best in Poland. The actors include such figures like Anna Dymna, Gustaw Holoubek, Jerzy Stuhr, Krzysztof Globisz, Jan Peszek or Jerzy Trela, and the directors, who worked – and still work – in Krakow, are among the best known, also as filmmakers, and include Agnieszka Holland, Konrad Swiniarski, Jerzy Grzegorzecki, Tadeusz Kantor, Andrzej Wajda or Jerzy Grotowski.

The Old Theater in the New Poland

Currently the National Old Theatre presents classic as well as modern plays, linked by the Theatre's high artistic standard. Tickets can be bought at the ticket office at 1 Jagiellonska Street, where three of the four playhouses are. The only other – the Scena Kameralna (Small Stage) is on 21 Starowislna Street. It is advisable to try and book the tickets in advance, as the good places usually don't last long.