The Warsaw Theatreland

The name “theaterland” comes from 19th century Warsaw's local slang of the early-19th century Warsaw. A theaterplace is a place with theaters – we are easily reminded of similar words, such as marketplace, workplace, landing place. An association with the marketplace is not without merit – after all, the theater started to grow in a place where Marywil, a shopping center, used to be. We can also think of theaterplace as a sort of a marketplace for theaters, for actors, not to mention a vanity fair... Theaterplace rhymes naturally with the word showplace, too.

In the 20th century Mieczysław Rulikowski and Józef Szczublewski, theater historians, reminded us of the “theaterland”. The latter, in particular, has gone to great lengths to restore the use of this word. In its most basic meaning, theaterland described the edifices of Teatr Wielki and Teatr Rozmaitości. The broader meaning also encompassed the city squares in front of the buildings, as well as other stages nearby with organizational links to Teatry Warszawskie: Teatr Letni, Teatr Mały, Teatr Nowości, Teatr Nowy.

Almost each evening Janina would stroll on Theater Place. If she was in a great hurry, she would only pass through the place, get a glimpse of the Grand Theater and return home again, but if she had plenty of time she would find a seat on the square or on a bench near the tramcar station and from there gaze at the rows of columns, at the lofty profile of the theater's facade and lose herself in dreaming. She somehow felt that those walls drew her irresistibly to them. She experienced moments of deep delight when passing under the colonnade, or when in the calm of a bright night she viewed the long gray mass of the edifice.

That huge stone giant seemed to speak to her and she would listen to the whispers, the echoes, and the sounds that floated from it. Spread out before her in the dim twilight and visible to her soul alone, there would pass before her imagination the scenes that were acted there not long ago.


The Comedienne (1896)
by Władysław Reymont
Translated from Polish by Edmund Obecny

The theaterland was one of the liveliest spots in Warsaw around the year 1900. It was close to the Teatralny Square, where a city hall, a cloister, militia headquarters, a church, and numerous shops, were located. Social life was booming in shows, concerts organized by the Warsaw Music Society, and nally – during balls in the city hall and the Redutowe Rooms in Teatr Wielki.

This is how one theatregoer remembered a winter night in 1947:

I remember, it was a snowy evening, just like today. Gas lanterns were alight in front of the Town Hall. A ward was walking from one to another with a long stick, adjusting the flame. It was bright around the Town Hall. You could see dozens of candles in candelabra. The streets were full of carts, carriages and trams. (...) I was standing exactly in the same place. I was already dressed up, wearing a tailcoat under an overcoat. I was still wondering whether to head back home or to go to the Wielki.

The windows of the theatre were bright too. Bright is an understatement, the light was blinding. Sleighs kept coming. Whole processions of sleighs. It was all jingling, all snorting. People were staggering out of them, from under sheepskins, with coats and furs barely covering their shoulders, so as not to ruin their costumes. The jingling of sleighs was mixed with a woman’s laughter, incessant, creating some real, enchanted melody. (...)

And it was that womanly, seductive laughter that influenced my decision. I don’t remember leaving my overcoat in the cloakroom, I don’t remember how, caught in a wave of people, I found myself inside. I was overcome by dazzling lights, smell of perfume and a whole chaos of colours. (...) Everything was spinning around, intertwining, melting into one with the music, which, hanging somewhere high above, was Strauss’ most fashionable waltz. The music seemed to penetrate the walls, was mingling with the light. Even the marble pillars seemed to be swaying to the rhythm. (...) I couldn’t recognize the room.

Andrzej Kobyłecki, Inexprimable w prążki. Wspomnienia karnawałowe, "Stolica” 1947 No. 6

Teatry Warszawskie (the Warsaw Government Theaters) that the theatreplace consisted of were a huge dramatic company. It all began in 1833, when a building, which was supposed to be named Teatr Narodowy, the National Theater was opened. After the November uprising, however, the Tzar’s authorities censored the use of this name, therefore another one, which was popular already, was used – Teatr Wielki, the Grand Theater.

Three years later, in 1836, a theater stage in the west wing was inaugurated – Teatr Rozmaitości, which was renamed to Teatr Narodowy in 1924. On these two stages opera, drama and ballet were performed. It was only at the end of the 19th century that a distinction arose: Teatr Wielki hosted the opera, Teatr Rozmaitości the dramatic performance.

Teatr Mały and Teatr Nowości were essential for the beginnings of Warsaw operetta genre.

Since 1880 Teatr Mały operated on Daniłowiczowska street.

The theater was supposed to be a competition for privately funded dramatic enterprises. Teatr Nowy was the realm of the raunchy muse, the revue and the cabaret. Operetta and farce ensembles from the Warsaw stages performed here.

From time to time the ensembles from Teatry Warszawskie performed in Łazienki Park. The theater in Stara Pomarańczarnia would revive during the Tzar's visits.

For a long time there were numerous bans concerning the work of Warsaw private theater ensembles. The first garden theater in Warsaw – Tivoli, under the direction of Jan Russanowski – was opened on Królewska street for the general public only in 1868.

Among them many performed in proximity to the theaterplace: on Królewska street – Tivoli, Alkazar, Arkadia; on Miodowa street – Alhambra, Orfeum; or on Długa street – Eldorado.