In the Current of Truth. On Some Aspects of Roman Brandstaetter's Dramatic Works

Abstract

Roman Brandstaetter (1906-1987) was one of the most prolific Polish contemporary playwrights. In the 1950s he wrote eight dramas. Although their subjects are allusions to the past, they were also quite current. Against the background of the socialist realist plays that were reigning supreme on Polish stages at that time, the writer defined his dramatic works as “the theatre of subtexts and oblique statements”. For Brandstaetter, history was not an illustration of propaganda slogans, but a background for discussing contemporary times and the presentation of the highest ethical values, as well as criticism of what had originated from the spirit of injustice and cosmopolitism.

In the works written by the author of Wojna żaków z panami ‘The War of Schoolboys against the Lords’ both patriotic and moral tones can be heard; they also remind the reader of Renaissance Poland, the Poland of a great culture. There is a call for Polish theatre and for respect for native speech, as well as for the ideas of freedom and justice that have always been so dear to the Poles. The symbolism referring to the past is, therefore, an expression of opposition to the political oppression and ubiquitous symbolic violence of the Stalinist period. In Brandstaetter’s works, by alluding to the history of Poland and the lives of great Poles, traits such as sacrifice, struggle and transformation were especially emphasised, as was the spiritual strength of being a Pole, which was derived from Christianity.