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Who's Afraid of Gender and Sexuality? Plays by Women

Women playwrights in Poland have always been under-represented, marginalised or ignored by the majority of repertory theatre directors, critics and scholars alike. With one very brief exception during the interwar years, women’s theatrical visions have never found their realisations on a ‘stage of their own’. Nor have they been championed by a sympathetic male or female director sensitive to gender issues, who would understand their need for different stage aesthetics or the desire to represent a woman-centred point of view. The simple fact is that theatre in Poland is still predominantly controlled by men, who are the chief decision-makers, while gender discrimination remains practically a taboo topic. Male and female critics who write about theatre tend to express androcentric views, believing that they represent a ‘universal perspective’ and that their critical assessment is based on evaluating the plays’ ‘artistic merit’, as if that ‘merit’ were objectively definable. Following in the footsteps of feminist critics, I would argue that since these judgemental criteria are historically and politically determined, they are therefore male-centred and ignore the aesthetics and needs of female-centred readers/spectators. Hence it is hardly surprising that Polish women’s writing for the stage has been continuously ignored and – unlike American, British and German drama – does not have a recorded history with its own genealogy. To restore this neglected genealogy is a huge task and not my immediate objective, but – employing the concept of gender (understood as a cultural and historical category) – I intend to take a closer look at the ‘female playwrights’ scene’ that emerged in Poland after 1989. By advocating this artificial separation between genders I do not mean to suggest that women write in a different imaginary sphere than men nor that they deserve ‘special treatment’. Nor do I believe that a ‘female’ tradition or aesthetics is determined solely by the biological category of 1. This exception was a production of Sprawa Moniki (Monica’s Case, 1932), a feminist play by Maria MorozowiczSzczepkowska. It was directed by Zofia Modrzewska and designed by Zofia Wȩgierko, thus the whole production unit consisted of women. The play premiered in Warsaw in 1932 at The Reduta Theatrical Institute under the artistic management of Juliusz Osterwa. The play had more than 300 performances, setting the record for popularity in the category of feminist drama, written and performed during the inter-war period.