Stary National Theatre

ul. Jagiellońska 1

Stary National Theatre is one of the oldest theatres in Poland. Its contemporary repertoire consists of both contemporary works and reinterpretations of classics.

The theatre, which found its home in a historical building on a corner of Szczepański Square, is one of Poland’s national stages, directly managed by the Minister of Culture. In the 19th century, its stage was graced by the theatre’s current patron, a consummate actress, Helena Modrzejewska, known to the English-speaking world as Modjeska. A great many eminent artists trod the legendary boards of the Stary after the war, notably Tadeusz Kantor, Jerzy Grotowski, Zygmunt Hübner, and Krystian Lupa. The stagings of Adam Mickiewicz’s The Forefathers’ Eve directed by Konrad Swinarski and of Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s The Possessed directed by Andrzej Wajda made history. The contemporary repertoire of the theatre consists both of current works and reinterpretations of classics.