THE POLISH VOICE

No. 21

The Polish Voice

The Polish Radio Theater

Spirit of the Radio

For nearly 80 years the Polish Radio Theater's tradition of presenting national masterpieces as well as creative experiments has been cultivated in active cooperation with the most outstanding artists of Polish culture.

"This is the largest theater in Poland as it employs 200 actors monthly," says the director of the Polish Radio Theater, Janusz Kukuła. In one year the Radio Theater airs over 300 regular radio broadcasts and over 100 premiere radio plays, along with nearly 800 programs presenting prose and poetry.

Kukuła is convinced that his theater is needed now, and despite rapid changes in the world of mass media it still has an important role to play. "The world of artistic radio is changing more rapidly than phonographic technologies," says Kukuła. "Radio has always been a foreground of any transformations in art, not only drama but also music, prose and poetry, and I hope it will still fulfill this role. The strange ambiguity of radio modernity attracts both program matters and audience," he adds.

In terms of artistic achievements, internationally the Polish Radio Theater ia among the best. Kukuła puts it in the first four, "if not higher," he states. "I can say without any hesitation that we go hand in hand with powers such as the Scandinavian and German radio broadcasting corporations," he says. "For many years the Polish Radio Theater has been winning awards in the largest international festivals, which best proves our achievements." The most important radio prize presented at the Prix Italia festival has been awarded to Poland four times.

Imagination

The emergence of theater on Polish Radio coincided with the establishment of Polish Radio itself. At first, stage plays were aired live, but very soon the staff realized that it was just not enough, and that plays typical to this media had to be located. "The first radio play aired in November 1925, based on Stanisław Wyspiański's Warszawianka, required the presentation of collective scenes," recalls Kukuła. "At that time they had no idea how to realize them, even the notion of `sound effects' was unknown. The sound of the marching army was made by rubbing brushes against a table-top, which gave excellent results. This is how the consciousness of this medium was born," says Kukuła.

From the very start the Polish Radio Theater was called a "theater of imagination." In the 1930s this was its official name. Even today, program matters willingly apply this term. "This expression best helps us to understand the idea of Ingarden's theory of place fulfillment [Roman Ingarden-a Polish philosopher who examined artwork with the use of the phenomenological method-ed.], because the theater of imagination does not exist without an addressee whose activity fills the void and gives names to the unnamable and to insinuation," says Kukuła. "This is not the theater of imagination of the people who create it but rather of the recipients. Here lies the beauty of this expression," explains Kukuła.

Soon after the theater of imagination was established, writers working solely for the radio appeared. The premiere of the innovative radio play by Witold Hulewicz-Pogrzeb Kiejstuta (Kiejstut's Funeral)-took place in May 1928. The event also marked the beginning of a new literary genre-the radio drama. The greatest achievements in this area are owed to Jerzy Szaniawski (1886-1970), the author of numerous radio plays which are considered classics of this genre, including the 1935 Zegarek (A Watch). "A radio play has always been an experimental ground for writers searching for new narrative techniques," says Kukuła. "And we want this to continue, therefore we're trying to attract them to the radio, we want them to feel good here."

In the `60s and `70s writers associated with the Polish Radio Theater initiated the trend called the "Polish school of radio plays." This included the use of a short form which was coherent to the highest degree as well as a very clear narrative technique. "Program matters of the Polish school of radio plays set serious tasks to be fulfilled by a radio play: it had to create a descriptive vocabulary for the surrounding world and help the listener comprehend the setting while speaking about the most important contemporary problems in the simplest ways," says Kukuła. "Also, the possibility to evoke strong emotions among the audience achieved during those simple, single-plot, stories can only be compared to a good whodunit," says Kukuła. Jarosław Abramow-Newerly, Henryk Bardijewski and Kazimierz Orłoś, were among the masters of the Polish school of radio plays.

The radio "reality show"

Radio plays are still the most important of the Radio Theater's broadcasts: dramas written specifically for the radio. In an era of all-embracing visual culture, radio plays pose a real challenge to writers, directors and producers working in radio. Adaptations of theatrical plays and literary works, such as novels, short stories and poetry, are also popular. Initiated in 1993, Radio Festivals of Creativity presenting the achievements of remarkable Polish poets Zbigniew Herbert, Jerzy Krzysztoń and Stanisław Grochowiak rank among the most significant events for Polish culture. The Radio Theater also welcomes aural-collage or feature documentaries, entertainment and satirical programs as well as radio plays addressed to wide audiences.

The most representative examples of radio plays produced by Polish Radio Theater include the lengthy series known to every Pole-Matysiakowie (The Matysiaks) and W Jezioranach (In Jeziorany). Written by two outstanding radio writers Jerzy Janicki and Andrzej Mularczyk, the two radio serials have been broadcast on Polish Radio One since 1956 and 1960 respectively.

At the time Matysiakowie and W Jezioranach were created, the guiding principle of the radio management was to "address ordinary people by speaking about ordinary matters." But as Kukuła admits, "life does not consist of simple matters alone, and the nature of every human is complicated." In spite of the popular character of radio plays, Kukuła does not approve of classifying them under the label of pop culture, and points to their innovative qualities. "From the point of view of radio theater, reality shows broadcast on TV, which cause so much sensation, are no revelation at all," says Kukuła. A similar idea was already used years ago, for instance in Matysiakowie, when it was considered truly modern."

Also the method of leading narration in Polish radio series deserves special attention. The introduction of reporting techniques was a revolutionary step. At the same time radio plays followed the idea of the dramatic unity of place, time and action derived from the Greek theater. According to a radio anecdote, as a result of this some listeners perceived the radio novels as accounts of lives led by real people rather than fictitious characters. "Apparently, the idea of our radio plays must have some hidden power since they have continued for so many years," acknowledges Kukuła. Only British radio boasts a radio play which has been aired longer than Matysiakowie [The Archers on BBC Radio 4].

Six sacred words

In the opinion of Kukuła, who is also a play director, there exist six "sacred words" which are indispensable to the realization of radio plays: quieter-louder, closer-farther, slower-faster. "Today most radio programs are aired live, minute to minute," says Kukuła. "In the case of the Radio Theater productions, one minute of a program can require 10 hours of intensive work, which best shows how difficult and complex the process of creating our programs is. The set of six "sacred words" also includes the phrase "once again" which is repeated often until the right effect has been reached," says Kukuła.

Authors of radio theater have at their disposal very limited means of expression. "We use four elements-word, music, sound and silence. The mystery of radio theater lies in the fact that each sound that is made is necessary and appears only when it needs to appear. Every additional sound disturbs the story, unlike in the visual culture with plenty of redundant signs," explains Kukuła.

Radio theater cannot exist without silence and without music. The Polish Radio Theater boasts cooperation with the most distinguished Polish composers, including Witold Lutosławski, Tadeusz Baird and Augustyn Bloch. Presently music for radio plays is written by composers that include Paweł Szymański, Marcin Błażewicz and Edward Pałłasz.

Radio plays also feature leading Polish actors. For 14 years Polish Radio has been awarding the Great Splendor prize to those deserving credit for their work in radio theater. The laureates include the late Aleksander Bardini, the late Bronisław Pawlik as well as Zbigniew Zapasiewicz, Irena Kwiatkowska, Gustaw Holoubek and other outstanding actors of Polish theater. "Actors love the radio and want to work with us, because they know that radio is where important things are created," explains Kukuła.

Plans and responsibilities

Kukuła looks forward to the development of exchanges with broadcasting corporations from other countries, in which the Polish Radio Theater has been involved for some time. Polish scripts are used in foreign radio stations and Polish radio directors work abroad. "Germans are the most open to receive our program matters," says Kukuła. "Recently a project based on Polish literary pieces was carried out in Bremen." The cooperation works both ways, the Polish Radio Theater invites outstanding foreign directors to realize works from their linguistic areas. This year John Tydeman from the BBC directed Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Warsaw studio.

Asked about the Polish Radio Theater's budget, Kukuła admits he is not one of those directors who tend to complain that they cannot do anything because of lack of money. "Complaining doesn't make much sense as it leads nowhere. Of course, we aren't able to implement all our plans, but we have learned to manage the theater as to afford the most important projects," he explains.

One such project is the production of Zemsta (The Revenge) as part of a festival dedicated to the greatest Polish comedy writer Aleksander Fredro. The radio play is to be aired live from the Witold Lutosławski Polish Radio Music Studio, with an audience present. A similar project took place last year on the centenary of the premiere of Stanisław Wyspiański's Wesele (The Wedding). "It's going to be a big start to the coming season," predicts Kukuła. "Then we want to record all of Fredro's works. We see this as Polish Radio Theater's responsibility to Polish culture."

Marcin Mierzejewski

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