Success or failure? : on Tadeusz Kantor’s French production of "The Shoemakers"

The production based on "The Shoemakers" by Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz realised by Tadeusz Kantor at Malakoff near Paris in 1972 was not a success he had expected. This is probably the reason why we know little about it, as it was not received favourably by Parisian theatre critics. Yet it marked a very important phase in the development of Kantor’s theatre, and it had a remarkable influence on his subsequent productions. Both the dramaturgical and visual aspects of "The Shoemakers" production may serve as a starting point for broader research on Kantor’s theatre oeuvre. It is possible to reconstruct the spectacle based on the surviving photographs, stage designs, notes and reminiscences. Emballages played an important role in the performance as kind of “wrappings” that restricted the actors’ movements. The props, costumes and bio-objects constituted a very interesting visual side of the production, further enhanced by references to the art of painters whom Kantor admired. Visually, then, the production was well thought out, even though Kantor did not manage to realise all of the things he had planned; among other things, he failed to create "folk atmosphere", to some extent related to his plans for staging "The Wedding" by Wyspiański.