Anna Gostyńska (1847-1918). A Sketch for Her Biography

Abstract

The sketch is devoted to Anna Berta Gostyńska (née Dudlow) who was born on 14 June 1847 in Warsaw in the family of a shoemaker – August Dudlow, and died in Lvov on 13 July 1918. Orphaned early by her parents, she was left to her own devices. Her persistence, unusual diligence, and a real love of the theatre allowed her to make her dreams come true. She made her début on 10 June 1873 in a Warsaw garden theatre. Then, with various companies she played in the provinces (the Łódź and Lublin regions, Galicia). In April 1880 she was engaged by Jan Dobrzyński, the manager of the Lvov Theatre. There she remained till the end. She made herself famous by playing many roles, both in comedies and in tragedies, as well as in modernist dramas. With the Lvov Theatre Company she visited Kiev, Vienna and Paris. In Lvov she celebrated two jubilees of her theatrical work (in 1898 and in 1910).