Olga Lipińska (born 6 April 1939 in

Piotrków Trybunalski Piotrków Trybunalski (; also known by #Etymology, alternative names), often simplified to Piotrków, is a city in central Poland with 71,252 inhabitants (2021). It is the capital of Piotrków County and the second-largest city in the Łódź Voi ...

) is a Polish theatre director, screenwriter, and TV comedy producer, best known for her TV cabaret called the Kabaret Olgi Lipińskiej (Cabaret of Olga Lipińska).

Biography

She graduated in 1964 from the Faculty of Directing at the Warsaw Theatre Academy (then '' Państwowa Wyższa Szkoła Teatralna''), where she was associated with the Student Satirical Theatre. Between 1977–1990 she was an executive producer at the ''Teatr Komedia'' in Warsaw. Lipińska began her TV career as director considerably early. In 1973, she produced ''Damy i huzary'' by

Aleksander Fredro Aleksander Fredro (20 June 1793 – 15 July 1876) was a Polish poet, playwright and Polish authors, author active during Romanticism in Poland, Polish Romanticism in the Partitions of Poland, period of partitions by neighboring empires. His works ...

, followed by TV production of play by

Ivo Brešan Ivan "Ivo" Brešan (27 May 1936 – 3 January 2017) was a Croatian and Yugoslav playwright, novelist and screenwriter, known for political satire. His works include screenplays written with his son Vinko Brešan, Vinko. Personal life Born in Vodi ...

in 1985, and more Polish dramas by Fredro: ''Gwałtu, co się dzieje'' (1992), ''Zemsta'' (1994); ''Baryłeczka'' by

Guy de Maupassant Henri René Albert Guy de Maupassant (, ; ; 5 August 1850 – 6 July 1893) was a 19th-century French author, celebrated as a master of the short story, as well as a representative of the naturalist school, depicting human lives, destinies and s ...

(1995), ''Ja się nie boję braci Rojek'' by

Konstanty Ildefons Gałczyński Konstanty Ildefons Gałczyński (23 January 1905 – 6 December 1953), alias ''Karakuliambro'', was a Polish poet. He is well known for the "paradramatic" absurd humorous sketches of the . Biography Born to a lower-middle-class family in War ...

(2003) and an opera ''Cud mniemany, czyli Krakowiacy i górale'' by

Wojciech Bogusławski Wojciech Romuald Bogusławski (9 April 1757 – 23 July 1829) was a Polish actor, theater director and playwright of the Polish Enlightenment. He was the director of the National Theatre, Warsaw, (''Teatr Narodowy''), during three distinct pe ...

in 2007. At the same time, Lipińska produced satirical cabarets for

Telewizja Polska Telewizja Polska S.A. (; TVP), also known in English as Polish Television, is a Public broadcasting, public service broadcaster in Poland, founded in 1952. It is the oldest and largest Polish television network. After 2015, when the right-wing po ...

including: ''Głupia sprawa'' (10 episodes, 1968–1970), ''Gallux Show'' (10 episodes, 1970–1974), ''Właśnie leci kabarecik'' (10 episodes, 1975–1977), ''Kurtyna w górę'' (18 episodes, 1977–1981), and finally, her best-known and most important work, Kabaret Olgi Lipińskiej. Between 1990 and 1992, she ran a talk-show for

TVP1 TVP1 (TVP Jeden, ''Telewizja Polska 1'', ''Program Pierwszy Telewizji Polskiej'', ''"Jedynka"'') is the main public television channel of Telewizja Polska, TVP (Telewizja Polska S.A.), Poland's national television broadcaster. It was the first Po ...

called ''Piosenki z Kabaretu Olgi Lipińskiej'' (Songs of Olga Lipińska cabaret).

Media

In the 2009 interview for ''

Przekrój ''Przekrój'' (; ''Cross-section'') was the oldest Polish weekly newsmagazine in operation, established in 1945 in Kraków. After temporary closure in 2013, it was bought by photographer Tomasz Niewiadomski and subsequently relaunched in December ...

'' magazine conducted by Piotr Najsztub in Warsaw, which marked her cabaret's return to the airwaves, Lipińska said that all she really wanted was to make the world a better place; there was no communism to begin with – she said – only the

Soviet-style socialism Before the perestroika reforms of Mikhail Gorbachev that promoted a more liberal form of socialism, the formal ideology of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) was Marxism–Leninism, a form of socialism consisting of a centralise ...

which was bound to collapse. In the

People's Republic of Poland The Polish People's Republic (1952–1989), formerly the Republic of Poland (1947–1952), and also often simply known as Poland, was a country in Central Europe that existed as the predecessor of the modern-day democratic Republic of Poland. ...

she wanted to inform the public about the real state of affairs, because – as Lipińska said, 70 percent of viewers according to survey, could not make sense of the weather-report on state television. However, she is not pleased with what happened after the

Revolutions of 1989 The revolutions of 1989, also known as the Fall of Communism, were a revolutionary wave of liberal democracy movements that resulted in the collapse of most Communist state, Marxist–Leninist governments in the Eastern Bloc and other parts ...

, especially about the new-found religiousness visible across the country and the capitalist economy which makes everyone fear for their own unknown future. For over a dozen years, Lipińska was regularly publishing essays on culture in '' Twój Styl'' magazine leading to her own book of collected essays called ''Mój pamiętnik potoczny'' (My

colloquial Colloquialism (also called ''colloquial language'', ''colloquial speech'', ''everyday language'', or ''general parlance'') is the linguistic style used for casual and informal communication. It is the most common form of speech in conversation amo ...

memoir) published in 2005. Her second book of commentaries on arts, culture and politics entitled ''Co by tu jeszcze...'' (What else...) was published in 2009. Lipińska is the recipient of numerous medals and awards including the

Order of Polonia Restituta The Order of Polonia Restituta (, ) is a Polish state decoration, state Order (decoration), order established 4 February 1921. It is conferred on both military and civilians as well as on alien (law), foreigners for outstanding achievements in ...

(Krzyż Kawalerski Orderu Odrodzenia Polski) and the Cross of Merit (Złoty Krzyż Zasługi). Olga Lipińska, odznaczenia.
Polski portal teatralny ''e-teatr.pl''. Retrieved June 18, 2012.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lipinska, Olga Recipients of the Order of Polonia Restituta Polish opinion journalists Polish women journalists Polish satirists Polish theatre directors Polish women theatre directors Polish television personalities 1939 births Living people Writers from Warsaw Aleksander Zelwerowicz National Academy of Dramatic Art in Warsaw alumni Polish women screenwriters Recipients of the Meritorious Activist of Culture badge Recipients of the Medal of the 40th Anniversary of the People's Republic of Poland Polish women satirists