It is worth returning to 1997, when the first Leon awards gala took place on the stage of our theatre.
The statuettes were then awarded in separate categories to the best actresses and actors of the dramatic and puppet scenes. Among the performers who showed mastery in the art of bringing puppets to life, Beata Sobicka and Jan Wysocki gained the greatest recognition from the audience. They both starred in the very popular stage adaptation of "Puss in Boots", based on a text by Jan Brzechwa (premiere February 16, 1997). The director was Zdzisław Rej, then director of the Teatr Lalki i Aktora im. Hans Christian Andersen in Lublin, a pupil of the famous Jan Wilkowski, whom he considers his master. According to Rej, a puppet theater is “an artistic theatre, full of colours, lights and wonderful scenography. They revive youthful fascinations. While working on "Puss in Boots", he said that he "considers himself an orthodox puppeteer and believes that a beautiful puppet theater will be revived, which is already returning to form". This is how he explained the message of his play:
The protagonist of the play, Janek, in the realistic layer is (like Cinderella) a home bully, oppressed and humiliated by his evil brother and sister-in-law. Despite the hard work in the mill, which was appropriated by his brother, Janek is driven out of the house together with a cat that no one needs. At this point, Acacia moves from the real world to the world of fantasy. For the cat, as it turns out, is not an ordinary domestic animal, but a wizard. Thanks to the clever tomcat's intrigues, the injured Janek becomes a great lord in the new world, he marries a beautiful princess, which means that he receives, in accordance with the fairy-tale symbolism, the highest compensation for the harm he suffered in the real world.
Little girls and little boys should be made aware that every harm and every pain will be rewarded. Even if life does not confirm it, the awareness of the reward will always be stronger and will allow you to accept failures more easily.
“Puss in Boots” is a performance […] for children aged 4 to 8. But I construct a performance for both young viewers and their parents, I make sure that there is something for mums and dads, I bring some fragments of the performance to life.
I was invited to Zielona Góra to direct Puss in Boots. I am most pleased with the studios that created beautiful puppets and decorations, alive in the lights and colors used in the performance by stage designer Jan Zieliński. An integral part of the action is the music composed by professor Mieczysław Mazurek.
Małgorzata Kowalska-Masłowska wrote about the performance in "Informator Kulturalny Województwa Zielonogórskie":
I'm at the Puss in Boots show. The audience, the younger classes of the primary school, waves like a stormy sea. It's a few minutes past ten. The show starts a little late. The screams cease, the rustling of plastic bags being unrolled is no longer heard. […] Concentration on the faces. Puppets appear on the stage, animated by visible actors. Director Rej announced that they would be beautiful. And he was right.
[…] Janek's misery absorbs attention. There is a moment when the stage, the foreground with the mill equipment, the table that serves as a bridge and road, and the screen are shrouded in golden light. For me, this is the most visually beautiful part - the interpenetrating colors of old gold and green with this gold. Like on old Flemish canvases.
Let's go back to the actors and action - I especially like the court procession, the horses (what a shorthand, four horses on one body), King Jerzy Lamenta, the steward, Jan Wysocki, and two ladies, Beata Sobicka and Wioletta Sokal, and led by them dolls. They are a lively, cheerful, colorful group. Meanwhile, the Puss in Boots and the Hat acts as a catalyst, changes his master's life, does not allow fate to be cruel to him for a long time beyond measure. […] Today [the children] are having a great time. And they rejoice for a long time with Janek, his cat, the happy princess. And they would probably sing along with the actors if they only knew the words to the songs, because in the program the most important poems were placed under the characters' drawings.
On May 3, 1998, the 100th performance of "Puss in Boots" took place. To celebrate him, an exhibition of pedigree cats was organized in the foyer of the theater, combined with, among others, with a cat beauty contest. 100 specimens that previously took part in the world exhibition in Poznań were presented.
Sources:
"Almanac of the Lubuski Theater named after Leon Kruczkowski in Zielona Góra 1997/1998”, edited by A. Buck and A. Tokarska, Zielona Góra 1998.
M. Kowalska-Masłowska, "The Princess has achieved her goal", "Cultural Guide of the Zielona Góra Voivodship" 1997, No. 3.
Z. Rej, "Who is Puss in Boots?" [listened to by M. Kowalska-Masłowska], "Cultural Guide of the Zielona Góra Voivodship" 1997, No. 3.
Illustrations: J. Zieliński [in the program edited by A. Buck and A. Tokarska]
(elaborated by pp)
Creators:
Author: Jan Brzechwa
Editing and direction: Zdzisław Rej
Scenography: Jan Zieliński
Music: Mieczyslaw Mazurek
Choreography: Władysław Janicki
Cast:
Ludwik Schiller - Cat
George Lamenta - King
Ida Ochocka – Princess
Marek Szczęsny - Janek
Jan Wysocki - Chefmaster, Brother, Herald
Beata Sobicka - Lady I
Wioletta Sokal – Lady II
Maria Weigelt - Sister-in-law
Beata Sobicka, Wioletta Sokal, Dobrosława Trębacz and Maria Weigelt - Mice, Bunnies, Partridges and other animals and trees
Premiere: February 16, 1997
Photos: Urszula Karpińska/materials LT
Illustrations: Jan Zieliński [in the program edited by Andrzej Buck and Anna Tokarska]
