Piotr Fronczewski. Portrait of a Friend ebook

Piotr Fronczewski

© Dariusz Domański

© Studio ACORD Publishing House Bogdan Sylwestrowicz Kraków 2024

STUDIO ACORD®, ul. Korabnicka 34/L7, 32-050 Skawina

Project Coordinator: Arkadiusz Pietrukowicz

Graphic Design and Layout: Jacek Orzechowski

Cover Design: Jacek Orzechowski

Illustrations:

Piotr Fronczewski Archive,

Dariusz Domański Archive,

Aneta Domańska,

National Digital Archive,

Wojciech Plewiński,

Edward Hartwig,

Marek Holzman,

Jacek Strzemżalski,

Ewa Barańska-Jamrozik p. 23

Title Page Photo: Roman Anusiewicz

Back Cover Photo: Aneta Domańska

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Book from the series „Portraits of Friends” by Dariusz Domański

Available for purchase: Franciszek Pieczka, Maria Malicka, Jan Nowicki, Krzysztof Zanussi

In preparation: Adam Woronowicz, Małgorzata Kożuchowska, Anna Seniuk, Barbara Krafftówna...

First Edition

ISBN 978-83-68489-01-9

Dariusz Domański

Piotr Fronczewski

Portrait of a Friend

„...to read the truth

and a sense of humor...”

In Memory of Gustaw Holoubek

A man is born an actor just as he is born a prince. One does not act to earn a living. One acts to lie, to deceive oneself, to be able to be what one cannot be because one is tired of being what one is. One plays good people because one is bad, saints because one is vile, murderers because one is a born liar. One acts to not know oneself, and one acts because one knows oneself too well. One acts because one loves the truth, and one acts because one hates the truth. One acts because one would go mad not acting.

Jean Paul Sartré

INTRODUCTION

„Hamlet”, „Oedipus Rex”, a Gombrowiczian actor, Franek Kimono, Mr. Kleks, a Feuerbach actor.

In Piotr Fronczewski's theatre, one can buy attitudes, sell sentiments, and trade in tradition.

In Fronczewski's Stalls, sentimental songs („Hello Szpicbródka”, „Boys from Our Street”…), manifestos (To be or not to be…), truths, quips, cabarets, living people, fragments of our daily lives, conversations with the world (A. Camus), popularity, ideas, fatigue, a lot of pain, fetishes, longings, and a bit of foolishness are on display.

But always at all these stalls, Fronczewski is more important than his work.

A strange and wonderful mix of poetry, greatness, kitsch, art, seriousness, and directness, resulting in an original artistic cocktail.

Dariusz Domański

Motto

What is Piotr Fronczewski's strength? Versatility, diligence, talent. Virtually all his significant film achievements are his own work; the author or director gives him little, it is always Fronczewski in… theatre, film, cabaret. If I were to make a film with Piotr Fronczewski, it would have to be a film about himself.

Andrzej Wajda

CONVERSATION WITH PIOTR FRONCZEWSKI

In This Profession, You Need Your Own Handwriting

Dariusz Domański – Piotr, this year marks the 55th anniversary of your theater debut and 65 years since your film appearance. I also want to remind you that we met 35 years ago when you gave me an interview for the biweekly magazine „Student”. How do you remember those youthful performances, those years?

PIOTR FRONCZEWSKI – Darku, that’s a lot of facts… Indeed, 55 years ago, I debuted after theater school at the National Theatre, and as you mentioned, in 1958, I appeared, or rather was on set – as I would say – in Stanisław Różewicz’s „Free City”. But I also had performances as a child in the theater. I grew up backstage.

DD – At the Syrena Theatre, you partnered with many outstanding actors.

PF – Yes. That theater was my second home back then; my father worked at Syrena, and it so happened that when a child was needed, I stood on stage. Those were beautiful years, with wonderful tenures of Kazimierz Krukowski, Kazimierz Rudzki, Gozdawa, and Stępień for a long period, and in the dressing rooms sat: Adolf Dymsza, Tadeusz Olsza, Irena Kwiatkowska, Hanka Bielicka, Lidia Korsakówna, Kazimierz Brusikiewicz, artists who set the tone for revue, satirical theater, and cabaret in those times.

DD – Did you start thinking about acting back then?

PF – I think inertia played a role here because I indeed made my first contact, my first acquaintance with the theater in childhood, acting in theater, television, or film at the age of 10 or 11. I didn’t have any special talents for exact sciences; I excelled in humanities, and I think that had a huge influence, which is why I decided to take the entrance exam for the Theater School. I was prepared by the great actor Janusz Warnecki, I passed the required entrance exam, and our year’s mentor was Prof. Marian Wyrzykowski.

DD – A specialist in verse…

PF – Among other things, in verse. I met outstanding acting teachers at school.

DD – Let me go back to Janusz Warnecki, this great actor and director, known in Kraków for his role as Rembrandt in „The Return of the Prodigal Son”, a production he prepared with Karol Frycz, and the aforementioned Marian Wyrzykowski was a beloved teacher of many Polish actors. You were very lucky to fall under their protective wings.

PF – Yes, definitely. I was mostly educated by Wyrzykowski, Jan Kreczmar, Ludwik Sempoliński, Maria Wiercińska, Zofia Małynicz, Janina Romanówna, they were theater people through and through, truly wonderful. For me, the very moment of being with them, in their circle, their aura… was very important. I worked the most with Marian Wyrzykowski. As an old-school artist, he taught me the ethics of the acting profession, humility towards art, people, artists, and the world. It seems to me, Darku, that these are the foundations of education that should apply in this profession.

DD – You mentioned artists whose careers began in the interwar period; it so happens that my love for theater was also taught by, as you put it, old-school artists, to name a few: Zofia Niwińska, Irena Eichlerówna, Karolina Lubieńska, Ewa Bonacka, Zofia Jaroszewska, Maria Malicka, Janina Romanówna, Elżbieta Barszczewska, Bohdan Korzeniewski, Bronisław Dąbrowski, Aleksander Bardini, Jan Świderski, Henryk Borowski… Being with them taught me the same traits you spoke of.

PF – I’m impressed that you got to know so many luminaries of Polish theater…

DD – Piotr, at the National Theatre, where you started your career, you mostly did extra work. An important moment was your move to Erwin Axer’s Contemporary Theatre, and then the beautiful work with Gustaw Holoubek at the Dramatic Theatre.

PF – I trudged along very laboriously, apprenticing in the profession alongside outstanding actors, and I highly value that journey. I moved from left to right, in the fourth row, I played the ninth monk in „The Un-Divine Comedy”, danced the minuet in „The Song Shop”, fought with swords in „Richard III”. That is also, I’ll tell you, the path to theater, that is experience. It was only with Erwin Axer that I started playing responsible roles. Mortimer in „Mary Stuart”. I also appeared in „King Stag” with Barbara Krafftówna. That was a wonderful period of learning real contemporary theater for me, where classical works were also staged.

DD – At that theater, you met Tadeusz Łomnicki.

PF – I became friends with Tadeusz, whom I later assisted at the Theater School on Miodowa Street.

DD – Piotr, the period of work at the Dramatic Theatre was the time of your greatest achievements as an actor and the achievements of that theater. Here you played not only „Hamlet” in Gustaw Holoubek’s production. That’s a special experience.

PF – I fondly remember working on „Hamlet”, yet I maintain that it wasn’t fully utilized or discovered by me. Perhaps it came from a somewhat unexpected situation in which this proposal appeared. I think it came a bit too early; I lacked time to „finish” the character, to delve deeper into the work. Sometimes I thought about returning to „Hamlet”, but now it’s too late.

DD – When I asked you about the director who had the greatest influence on your acting during that period, you immediately mentioned Prof. Jerzy Jarocki.

PF – Two, I believe, of my most important theatrical works involved Jerzy Jarocki. He’s a great director. I learned a lot from him, especially the strictly theatrical craft. Because every actor, aside from being an independent personality, has a certain perspective, philosophy, a particular sensitivity, and the opportunity to be among outstanding theater people leaves traces, knowledge, material for reflection, and contemplation about art. So, when it comes to craftsmanship, I owe a lot to Jerzy Jarocki.

DD – Do you think an actor is more of a priest or a craftsman?

PF – I’m inclined to say a craftsman, because considering Shakespeare’s „All the world’s a stage,” priests perform on a different stage.

DD – Piotr, for my generation, you are not only a „Gombrowiczian” actor but above all Franek Kimono, Mr. Piotruś from Olga Lipińska’s cabaret. Don’t you feel that you are strongly associated with these characters?

PF – I don’t feel pigeonholed. The crazy Piotruś from Olga Lipińska’s cabaret stuck in the audience’s consciousness. I don’t know if he was liked, but generally, he was met with acceptance and kindness, though he carried some danger, like any cyclical, serial character. After some time, I escaped from there into other forms of work. I have a natural inclination to be in various stage genres. I’ve played in tragedies, from Shakespeare, through Polish and Russian classics, I’ve done titles from Greek drama, appeared in comedies, farces, grotesque, cabaret, and variety shows. And Franek Kimono was born during the production of Mr. Kleks. I met composer Andrzej Korzyński. One day he brought me two songs, I liked the texts, they were witty, had a pastiche character. He asked me if I would sing them. The songs made it to the hit lists. That led to more texts and compositions, and thus the album was born.

DD – Once I wrote about you that you are a cross between Olivier and Fernandel because you have great talent. What is talent?

PF – I don’t know… Talent is necessary in life, it’s noticeable in sports, in courtrooms, in the world of doctors, not to mention art. And what is talent? Simplifying greatly, I think it’s proof of the existence of God, proof of nature’s generosity, or maybe I don’t know… the greatness of man, maybe what I’m saying isn’t precise… a seed, a molecule, a particle embedded in human nature. Which needs help, which needs to be cultivated, nurtured, it’s also an additional sense, a beyond-standard endowment of nature.

DD – What human traits are close to you, are important?

PF – I’m always moved by human selflessness and kindness. I value human work, and I must repeat after a certain man who said this. It’s not important whether you’re beautiful or ugly, educated or less so, stupid or smart, what’s important is not to be a coward – there’s a lot of wisdom in that.

DD – Thank you for the conversation.