Leon Schiller or Leon Schiller de Schildenfeld (14 March 1887 – 25 March 1954) was a Polish theatre and film director, as well as critic and theatre theoretician. He also wrote theatre and radio screenplays and composed music. He was born in

Kraków Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 159 ...

(then Krakau) under the Austrian rule during the foreign Partitions of Poland, to a family of

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

n origin that had been ennobled by Empress

Maria Theresa Maria Theresa Walburga Amalia Christina (german: Maria Theresia; 13 May 1717 – 29 November 1780) was ruler of the Habsburg dominions from 1740 until her death in 1780, and the only woman to hold the position '' suo jure'' (in her own right) ...

. Schiller became famous for his 1934 staging of

Adam Mickiewicz Adam Bernard Mickiewicz (; 24 December 179826 November 1855) was a Polish poet, dramatist, essayist, publicist, translator and political activist. He is regarded as national poet in Poland, Lithuania and Belarus. A principal figure in Polish ...

's ''

Dziady Dziady (Belarusian: , Russian: , Ukrainian: , pl, Dziady; lit. "grandfathers, eldfathers", sometimes translated as Forefathers' Eve) is a term in Slavic folklore for the spirits of the ancestors and a collection of pre-Christian rites, rituals ...

'' at

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is official ...

's ''

Teatr Polski Polish Theatre in Warsaw ( pl, Teatr Polski im. Arnolda Szyfmana w Warszawie) is a theatre in Warsaw, Poland. It is located at ul. Karasia 2. The current artistic director is Andrzej Seweryn. The theatre was initiated by Arnold Szyfman and design ...

'' (Polish Theatre). This was also presented in Lwów (now

Lviv Lviv ( uk, Львів) is the largest city in western Ukraine, and the seventh-largest in Ukraine, with a population of . It serves as the administrative centre of Lviv Oblast and Lviv Raion, and is one of the main cultural centres of Ukra ...

; 1932), Wilno (now

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ; see also other names) is the capital and largest city of Lithuania, with a population of 592,389 (according to the state register) or 625,107 (according to the municipality of Vilnius). The population of Vilnius's functional u ...

; 1933) as well as in

Sofia Sofia ( ; bg, София, Sofiya, ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain in the western parts of the country. ...

in Bulgaria (1937).

Career

Schiller graduated from

's Jagiellonian University in philosophy and

Polish literature Polish literature is the literary tradition of Poland. Most Polish literature has been written in the Polish language, though other languages used in Poland over the centuries have also contributed to Polish literary traditions, including Latin, ...

. He also studied at the Sorbonne in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. ...

. He debuted as a singer in

's ''

Zielony Balonik Zielony Balonik (literally, ''the Green Balloon'') was a popular literary cabaret founded in Kraków by the local poets, writers and artists during the final years of the Partitions of Poland. The venue was a gourmet restaurant of Apolinary J. Mich ...

'' (Green Balloon)

cabaret Cabaret is a form of theatrical entertainment featuring music, song, dance, recitation, or drama. The performance venue might be a pub, a casino, a hotel, a restaurant, or a nightclub with a stage for performances. The audience, often dinin ...

(1906) and as theater director in

Polish Theatre In common with other European countries, the most frequent and most popular form of theatre in Poland is dramatic theatre, based on the existence of relatively stable artistic companies. It is above all a theatre of directors, who decide on the ...

(''Teatr Polski'', 1917). He served as

artistic director An artistic director is the executive of an arts organization, particularly in a theatre or dance company, who handles the organization's artistic direction. They are generally a producer and director, but not in the sense of a mogul, since the ...

of the Ateneum Theatre (1932–34), raising its reputation as one of the leading voices for Poland's new

intelligentsia The intelligentsia is a status class composed of the university-educated people of a society who engage in the complex mental labours by which they critique, shape, and lead in the politics, policies, and culture of their society; as such, the i ...

in the interwar period. Schiller collaborated with the following

theatres: * ''Teatr Wielki'' (Great Theater) * ''Teatr Rozmaitości'' ( Variety Theater in Warsaw) * ''Teatr Mały'' (Little Theater) * ''Teatr Polski'' (Polish Theater) * ''Teatr Reduta'' (Redoubt Theater) * ''Teatr Ateneum'' ( Ateneum Theatre). He also collaborated with theaters in

Łódź Łódź, also rendered in English as Lodz, is a city in central Poland and a former industrial centre. It is the capital of Łódź Voivodeship, and is located approximately south-west of Warsaw. The city's coat of arms is an example of cant ...

and

Lwów Lviv ( uk, Львів) is the largest city in western Ukraine, and the seventh-largest in Ukraine, with a population of . It serves as the administrative centre of Lviv Oblast and Lviv Raion, and is one of the main cultural centres of Ukrain ...

(now Lviv). From 1930 to 1932, he was artistic and drama director of Warsaw's ''Wielki'' (Great), ''Rozmaitości'' (Variety), and ''Mały'' (Little) Theaters. In

he developed his own concept of "monumental theatre," pertaining to the production of great

Romantic Romantic may refer to: Genres and eras * The Romantic era, an artistic, literary, musical and intellectual movement of the 18th and 19th centuries ** Romantic music, of that era ** Romantic poetry, of that era ** Romanticism in science, of that e ...

works: ''

Kordian ''Kordian'' ( pl, Kordian: Część pierwsza trylogii. Spisek koronacyjny; English: ''Kordian: First Part of a Trilogy: The Coronation Plot'') is a drama written in 1833, and published in 1834, by Juliusz Słowacki, one of the " Three Bards" of ...

'' (1930), ''

'' (Forefathers' Eve, 1932) and '' Sen Srebrny Salomei'' (Salomea's Silver Dream, 1932). Schiller's connection with Lwów lasted sporadically until 1939. His directorial work included 29 dramas and some dozen

vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment born in France at the end of the 19th century. A vaudeville was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a dramatic compositio ...

and operetta productions. In 1933 he headed the directorial department at the National Theater Arts Institute. On 29 June 1908 Schiller initiated a correspondence with the English

actor An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), l ...

theater director A theatre director or stage director is a professional in the theatre field who oversees and orchestrates the mounting of a theatre production such as a play, opera, dance, drama, musical theatre performance, etc. by unifying various endeavors a ...

, scenic designer, and theoretician of drama,

Edward Gordon Craig Edward Henry Gordon CraigSome sources give "Henry Edward Gordon Craig". (born Edward Godwin; 16 January 1872 – 29 July 1966), sometimes known as Gordon Craig, was an English modernism, modernist theatre practitioner; he worked as an actor, Th ...

. Together with his letter Schiller sent Craig, in

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico ...

, his essay, ''"Dwa teatry"'' ("Two Theaters"), translated into English by Madeline Meager. Craig responded immediately, accepting the essay for his international theater magazine, ''The Mask''. This was the beginning of a productive collaboration between the two prominent theater directors, who introduced each other's theoretical writings to foreign readers. Pomnik Leona Schillera w Warszawie 2019

World War II

During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, as part of German repressive measures after the '' Volksdeutsch'' German-collaborator actor Igo Sym had been shot dead by the Polish underground (7 March 1941), Schiller was imprisoned at the Pawiak prison and at

Auschwitz-Birkenau Auschwitz concentration camp ( (); also or ) was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It con ...

. In May 1941 he was

ransom Ransom is the practice of holding a prisoner or item to extort money or property to secure their release, or the sum of money involved in such a practice. When ransom means "payment", the word comes via Old French ''rançon'' from Latin ''re ...

ed by his sister, Anna Jackowska, with 12,000 złotys that she received for her jewelry. After

, in 1946-49, Schiller was president of the National Drama School in Łódź (''Państwowa Wyższa Szkoła Teatralna w Łodzi''). In 1952 he founded the publication, ''Pamiętnik Teatralny'' (The Theater Memoir). He died in 1954, aged 66, in

.Leon Schiller in: Internet Movie Database.
Retrieved 25 February 2014.

Works

Essays: *''Teatr Ogromny'' (Monumental Theater), 1961 *''U progu nowego teatru'' (On the Threshold of the New Theater), 1978 Performance scripts: *''Pastorałka'' (Pastorale), 1931 *''Kram z piosenkami'' (A Market Booth of Songs), 1977 "Monumental" productions: *''Samuel Zborowski'', 1927 *''Kordian'', 1934 *''

'', 1934 *'' Nie-Boska Komedia'' (The Un-Divine Comedy), 1938 ''Zeittheater'' - productions on current social issues: *''Opera za trzy grosze'' ( The Three-Penny Opera), 1929 *''Krzyczcie Chiny'' (Cry, China!), 1938 *''Kapitan z Koepenick'' (The Captain from Koepenick), 1932 Musicals: *''Dawne Czasy w Piosence, Poezji i Zwyczajach'' (Old Times in Song, Poetry and Custom), 1924 *''Bandurka'' (Bandora), 1925 *''Kulig'' (Sleigh Ride), 1929

Notes

References

* Leon Schiller, ''U progu nowego teatru, 1908-1924'' (On the Threshold of the New Theater, 1908-1924), edited by Jerzy Timoszewicz, Warsaw, Państwowy Instytut Wydawniczy, 1978. {{DEFAULTSORT:Schiller, Leon 1887 births 1954 deaths Writers from Kraków Nobility from Kraków Polish theatre directors Polish male writers Polish theatre critics Polish Workers' Party politicians Auschwitz concentration camp survivors Polish Austro-Hungarians Polish United Workers' Party members Members of the Polish Sejm 1947–1952 Recipients of the Order of the Banner of Work Commanders with Star of the Order of Polonia Restituta Burials at Powązki Military Cemetery

Career

World War II

Works

See also

Notes

References