Genezja Fraternity – Prayer and Word-Fullness
Tadeusz Kornaś
tadeusz.kornas@uj.edu.plUniwersytet Jagielloński (Poland)
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1114-6393
Abstract
During the Second World War, which he saw as a time of cleansing and penance, Juliusz Osterwa planned to establish two acting fraternities: Genezja (Genesia) and Dal (Distance). Dal was envisaged as a secular brotherhood, Genezja as a religious one, specifically Catholic. In his wartime diaries and notebooks, Osterwa elaborated plans for how these associations should operate, envisaging them as a vehicle for a complete transformation of theatre. The article presents the practical solutions Osterwa had in mind for Genezja. Based on unpublished manuscripts from 1941–1944 – a diary, a prayer book for Genezja, and several notebooks analysing the structure of the holy mass – the author argues that Genezja was to be the culmination of Osterwa’s path towards theatre understood as a religious mystery, and practical exercises based on liturgical texts and prayers were to serve as a means of transporting theatre to the spiritual level. The documents also feature concrete solutions concerning stage and workshop space: Genezja’s “temple” was to be the Church of Holy Cross in Kraków, and the site of the laboratory work was to be the “Genezjanum” at the Pieskowa Skała castle, north of the city. However, after the war, with the change of the political system, the fraternities were ultimately not established, and Osterwa continued his work in repertory theatres. (Transl. Z. Ziemann)
Keywords:
Juliusz Osterwa, Reduta, Genezja, theatre and holy mass, liturgical theatreReferences
Bouyer, L. (2009). Architektura i liturgia( P. Włodyga, tłum). Kraków: Astraia.
Google Scholar
Guszpit, I. (1989). Przez teatr – poza teatr: Szkice o Juliuszu Osterwie. Wrocław: „ELS”.
Google Scholar
Guszpit, I. (2003). Sceny z mojego teatru. Wrocław: Wydawnictwo Dolnośląskie.
Google Scholar
Limanowski, M., Osterwa, J. (1987). Listy (Z. Osiński, red.). Warszawa: PIW.
Google Scholar
Magrysiewicz-Dobrzańska, K., Grochal, A. (1999). Zmiany wystroju kościoła św. Krzyża. W: Z. Kliś, & G. Lichończak-Nurek (red.), Studia z dziejów kościoła św. Krzyża w Krakowie. Kraków: UNUM.
Google Scholar
Muszyńska, L. (2009). Reduta jako mistyczne zwierciadło świata. Toruń: 2009: Wydawnictwo Adam Marszałek.
Google Scholar
Orzechowski, E. (1974). Stary Teatr i Studio. Kraków: Wydawnictwo Literackie.
Google Scholar
Osiński, Z. (2003). Pamięć Reduty: Osterwa, Limanowski, Grotowski. Gdańsk: słowo/obraz terytoria.
Google Scholar
Osiński, Z. (2005). Przypomnienie „Genezji” Juliusza Osterwy. W: M. Leyko, & I. Jajte-Lewkowicz (red.), Etos życia – etos sztuki: Wokół legendy o św. Genezjuszu – aktorze (s. 139-163), Łódź: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego.
Google Scholar
Osterwa, J. (1945). I ja tak widzę przyszłą w Polsce sztukę....Tygodnik Powszechny, 1, 4.
Google Scholar
Osterwa, J. (1968). Listy (E. Krasiński, red.). Warszawa: PIW.
Google Scholar
Osterwa, J. (2004). Przez teatr – poza teatr (I. Guszpit, D. Kosiński, wybór, red.). Kraków: Towarzystwo Naukowe Societas Vistulana.
Google Scholar
Osterwa, J. (2007). „Antygona”, „Hamlet”, „Tobiasz” dla Teatru Społecznego (I. Guszpit, & D. Kosiński, wyb., red.). Wrocław: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Wrocławskiego.
Google Scholar
Szczublewski, J. (1971). Żywot Osterwy. Warszawa: PIW.
Google Scholar
Materiały archiwalne:
Google Scholar
Osterwa, J. (1940-1944a). Genezja: Modlitewnik (MT/IX/489/9). Muzeum Teatralne, Warszawa, Polska.
Google Scholar
Osterwa, J. (1940-1944b). ORDO MISSAE: Obrzęd Św. Uczty” (MT/IX/493/6). Muzeum Teatralne, Warszawa, Polska.
Google Scholar
Osterwa, J. (1940-1944c). ŚwiętoUczta (MT/IX/493/1). Muzeum Teatralne, Warszawa, Polska.
Google Scholar
Osterwa, J. (1940-1944d). Bogusłużebnictwo (MT/IX/493/3). Muzeum Teatralne, Warszawa, Polska.
Google Scholar
Osterwa, J. (1940-1944e). ŚwiętoUczta Bogusłużebnika (MT/IX/494/5). Muzeum Teatralne, Warszawa, Polska.
Google Scholar
Osterwa, J. (1940-1944f). Do służebnictwa (MT/IX/493/4). Muzeum Teatralne, Warszawa, Polska.
Google Scholar
Osterwa J. (1941). Dziennik V, VI 1941 (MT/IX/563). Muzeum Teatralne, Warszawa, Polska.
Google Scholar
Authors
Tadeusz Kornaśtadeusz.kornas@uj.edu.pl
Uniwersytet Jagielloński Poland
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1114-6393
Statistics
Abstract views: 497PDF downloads: 335
License
Copyright (c) 2020 Tadeusz Kornaś

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
The author grants a royalty-free nonexclusive license (CC BY 4.0) to use the article in Pamiętnik Teatralny, retains full copyright, and agrees to identify the work as first having been published in Pamiętnik Teatralny should it be published or used again (download licence agreement). By submitting an article the author agrees to make it available under CC BY 4.0 license.
From issue 1/2018 to 3/2022 all articles were published under a Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. During this period the authors granted a royalty-free nonexclusive license (CC BY-ND 4.0) to use their article in Pamiętnik Teatralny, retained full copyright, and agreed to identify the work as first having been published in our journal should it be published or used again.
Most read articles by the same author(s)
- Tadeusz Kornaś, In the Study and on Expedition: My Reminiscences of Zbigniew Osiński (1939–2018) , Pamiętnik Teatralny: Vol. 67 No. 4 (2018)