Jan Klata

Theatre director and playwright. He studied at the State Direction Faculty of the Aleksander Zelwerowicz Theatre Academy in Warsaw and at the Faculty of Drama Direction of the Ludwik Solski Academy for the Dramatic Arts. He has worked as an assistant director during a production of La Bohème directed by Jerzy Grzegorzewski (a performance based on Stanisław Wyspiański’s text, 1995). He has also assisted in the production of performances of Grzebanie (by Jerzy Jarocki, 1996) and Płatonowie wiśniowym i oliwkowym (based on Anton Czekhov’s text, 1996). He made his debut with the drama Uśmiech grejpfruta (2003) and has directed many famous plays, such as Rewizor, H. według Hamleta, Lochy Watykanu, and Transfer. In the Stary Theatre in Kraków, he has directed the following performances: Trzy stygmaty Palmera Eldritcha based on Philip K. Dick’s novel (2006), Oresteja based on Aeschylus’ tragedies (2007), Trylogia based on Henryk Sienkiewicz’s novel trilogy (2009), and Wesele hrabiego Orgaza based on Roman Jaworski’s novel (2010). He has gained a Polityka Passport award (2006), the Konrad Swinarski Award (2008), the Polish Minister of Culture and National Heritage Award (2009), the Grand Prix for Trylogia, the award for a dramatic production of a text (along with S. Majewski) during the 34th Opole Theatre Confrontations for “The Polish Classics” 2009, and the Grand Prix for Trylogia at the 8th Premiere Festival in Bydgoszcz. He is considered a representative of highly political theatre. He prepared the Coprophags or hated, but indispensable based on Joseph Conrad’s novels Under Western Eyes and The Secret Agent. This theatre production was one of the greatest highlights of last year’s Festival. Picture: Natalia Kabanow