Polish theatre director, writer and university professor
Erwin Axer
Erwin Axer
(1 January 1917 ? 5 August 2012) was a Polish theatre director, writer and
university professor
. A long-time head of
Teatr Wspołczesny
(Contemporary Theatre) in
Warsaw
, he also staged numerous plays abroad, notably in German-speaking countries, in the US and
Leningrad
(USSR).
[1]
Laureate of
Witkacy Prize ? Critics' Circle Award
(1993).
Life and career
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Although born in
Vienna
, Erwin Axer spent most of his early years in Lwow (modern
Lviv
, Ukraine). Born to a wealthy Jewish family of
Maurycy Axer
, a noted lawyer, and Ernestine nee Schuster, young Erwin decided to devote his life to theatre. In late 1930s his debut was
Moon of the Caribbes
by
Eugene O'Neill
. In 1938 he also staged
N?dza uszcz??liwiona
by
Maciej Kamie?ski
and
The Tidings Brought to Mary
by
Paul Claudel
. The following year he graduated from the State Institute of Theatrical Art and directed
Miss Julie
by
August Strindberg
.
However, the
Invasion of Poland
and the outbreak of
World War II
put his career to an end. He spent the first years of the Soviet occupation in Lwow, where he made his living acting and staging dramas in the communist-controlled
Polish Dramatic Theatre
, the only Polish-language theatre left open in the city. However, following the German takeover of the city and the arrest of his father, Axer moved to Warsaw.
He took part in the
Warsaw Uprising
of 1944 and was taken prisoner by the Germans and sent to a quarry in Germany as a slave worker. After the war he returned to Poland and in 1946 became the head of the
Chamber Theatre of the Soldiers' House
in Łod?, an institution that moved to Warsaw the following year and was renamed the
Teatr Wspołczesny
. Axer headed that theatre for almost 40 years and retired only in 1981, following the imposition of the
Martial Law in Poland
.
Between 1954 and 1957 he also headed the
National Theatre
, the most prestigious scene in post-war Poland. Since 1949 he was also a professor at the Warsaw-based Theatrical Academy. After 1962 Axer regularly directed plays abroad. Among the countries he visited were Germany, Switzerland, USSR, USA and the Netherlands. He was invited by
Georgy Tovstonogov
to direct three performances at Bolshoy Drama Theatre in Leningrad; the first of them, "
The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui
" by
Bertolt Brecht
in 1963, was recognised as one of the best shows of the decade and had a profound influence on the next generation of Russian directors.
[2]
Since 1972 he has been a collaborator of the Viennese
Burgtheater
.
References
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Bibliography
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- Magdalena Prokopowicz (ed.): "?ydzi Polscy. Historie niezwykłe". Warszawa: Wydawnictwo DEMART, 2010.
ISBN
978-83-7427-392-3
.
External links
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1984?1989
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1990?1999
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2000?2009
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2010?2019
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