„Astoundingly non-industrial spirit” – new curtain in Powszechny Theatre in Łódź

On 27 March, 2006, Powszechny Theatre in Łódź became one of a very few Polish theatres with a painted curtain. On that day the curtain titled „Astoundingly non-industrial spirit” was presented for the first time to the delighted audience.

The curtain was produced by Piotr Naliwajko (b. 1960), a famous artist from Cracow who graduated the Academy of Fine Arts there, a student of Jerzy Duda-Gracz. His works has been exposed at over 100 individual and group exhibitions, among others in Poland, Germany, Holland, France, United States, Hungary, Soviet Union, Belgium, Switzerland, Spain, Italy and Slovakia.

 

The idea of the painted curtain came from a famous Polish painter Henryk Siemiradzki, who was to produce it for one of the theatres in Łódź. Unfortunately he did not realize the idea before his death (his only curtain, painted more than 100 years ago, is in the Juliusz Słowacki Theatre in Cracow). The curtain in Powszechny Theatre in Łódź, titled „Astoundingly non-industrial spirit”, is actually an enormous (dimensions – 8,2 m x 4,6 m) and heavy (43 kg) piece of specially woven canvass. It does not part but it is spread on a wooden frame and taken down and up by ropes. The curtain, founded by the art gallery Atlas Sztuki, presents the city panorama and a few allegorical figures.

On the day of the curtain presentation Powszechny Theatre produced a playlet „Dramacik” specially written for the occasion by Krzysztof Kopka. It was directed by Jacek Głomb – director of the Helena Modrzejewska Theatre in Legnica (set design – Małgorzata Bulanda, music – Bartek Staburzyński, stage movement – Jarosław Staniek, cast: Magda Dratkiewicz, Maja Korwin,
Marta Kuśmirek,
Karolina Łukaszewicz,
Zofia Plewińska,
Gabriela Sarnecka,
Ewa Sonnenburg,
Barbara Szcześniak,
Magda Zając,
Beata Olga Kowalska,
Paweł Audykowski,
Marek Bogucki,
Janusz German,
Mirosław Henke,
Andrzej Jakubas,
Janusz Kubicki,
Piotr Lauks,
Jacek Łuczak,
Artur Majewski,
Adam Marjański,
Jan Wojciech Poradowski andMichał Szewczyk.

The curtain can be seen from time to time before the shows; it is possible to organize a special free (individual or group) demonstration of the curtain followed by a lecture on its history by Anna Maria Dolińska. It is also possible to organize a lesson on the curtain within the framework of the Theatre of Theatrical Education where young people can learn about different types of curtains used in different periods as well as about different styles in architecture. Details of the demonstration are to be fixed in our Department of Cooperation with Spectators and Media, tel. (42) 633 50 36.