Theatre Design & Technology - Spring 1980 - 24

ments of size and scale, and humorous juxtapositions, continued the folkloric art tradition as shaped by a contemporary artistic sensibility. One major section of the exhibition, devoted
to his puppets for Panchatantra (Lalka Theatre, Warsaw,
1973), showed the imaginative range of Kilian's work. The
puppets for this production of Indian tales and fables ranged
from small, humorous mythological animals to full size masks
and costumes worn by actors in creating "super puppets."
The wide range of artistic vocabularies used in the twentyfive Polish puppet theatres was further demonstrated by the
hand, string, and rod puppets with their strong patterning,
imaginative shapes, and brilliant colors. Puppets built of straw
and wood appeared, alongside those of felt, glass, metal, and
plastic. The designers have employed all possible materials in
creating their imaginative metaphors and ideas.
Although the Polish puppet designers have drawn from
their native folklore background, the more innovative designers are now searching for other scenographic means in extending the theatrical metaphors. Masks, live actors, film projectiQIts, and microphones in various combinations have all
combined in this experimental search. One design in particular by Zygmunt Smandzik for a play, The Bird, indicated this
new direction. In this production, with its reflection on human
existence, Smandzik combined silhouettes, collage properties, and an horizon marked by light, all set within a surreal
environment. His model for this quasi-puppet production
showed the rich possibilities and innovative approach open to
an evolving and contemporary puppet theatre design.
The abstract variations that characterized several of the
Polish puppet designs were also found in many of the scenographic presentations. In the twentieth century, abstraction-as depicted by partial forms, free mixing of objects, unusual textural combinations, and symbolic statements-has
been central to the Polish scenographic sensibility. Through
variations on poetic realism and surrealism, symbols combine
in defining the dramatic landscape. These combinations of the
- real and surreal, the pictorial and the abstract, were apparent
in designs by A. Sadowski, B. Stopka, and J. Jarosiewicz. Sadowski, who like Kilian had exhibited at PQ 75, created compositions in which architectural elements served as framing
devices for mixtures of surreal and real pictorial statements.
Using photo-collage with painted images and unusual spatial
combinations, Sadowski's designs made free use of contemporary painting in expressing the inner action of the drama
through partial poetic depictions. Barbara Stopka's design for
Fantasy continued in this same tradition of combining the
painted and the architectural, the real and the abstract in
floating images poetic in nature. The Polish use of abstraction
found one of its most unique treatments in Jarosiewicz's
model and-costames--designs-forBon 6iovanni: HeTe-an atmost skeletal structure of architectural units, heavily and
richly textured, created wing-like frames reflecting eighteenth-centruy spatial forms. The companion costume designs continued this emphasis on textured structural forms.
Although the Polish exhibition, with its primary focus on the
imaginative variety offered by their puppet designs, did not
display the complete range of forms and approaches that
characterize contemporary Polish scenography, the main
trend of a poetic realism influenced by painting styles was
clearly evident. It is unfortunate that the viewers of the Polish
exhibition were not able to see the extensive retrospective on
the history of Polish scenography that opened in Warsaw just
prior to the Quadrennial. Shown in conjunction with an international symposium on the esthetics of design, the Warsaw
exhibit presented not only a comprehensive overview of the
development of Polish theatre design in all its variations, but
also the innovative directions that Polish design is currently
evolving. Seen from both these historical and contemporary
perspectives, the Polish Quadrennial exhibition gained a new
depth and meaning.D
22

Theatre Design & Technology

Three
Award-Winning
Exhibitions

by Eric Fielding

John Napier: Model for A Midsummer Night's Dream

USITI/Spring, 1980

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