Stary Teatr

The Stary Theatre was founded in 1781. It is one of the oldest professional theatres in Poland and has played a key role in the development of Polish culture. The history of the modern Stary Theatre (Old Theatre) goes back to 1945 and the success in the immediate post-war years in creating a collective sense of responsibility for the theatre's artistic achievements. This tradition of high-level artistic performance was supported by the skill of a succession of directors in building both an outstanding theatre company and a carefully designed repertoire.

Under Mikołaj Grabowski, artistic director since September 2002 (and managing director since 2004), the Stary Theatre has established a dual focus. Firstly, an emphasis on contemporary drama, an interest reflected in the baz@rt festival, which was dedicated to French and German language theatre in 2004 and 2005; and secondly, the reinterpretation of the classics, as evident in the Re-wizje (Re-Vision) festival, which showcased Polish Romanticism in 2005 and Antiquity in 2007.

The Stary Theatre regularly initiates cooperations between directors or theatres from Poland and abroad – as, for example, in the Polish-German co-production of Andrzej Stasiuk’s “Night” (staged with the Düsseldorf Schauspielhaus).