Introduction to Cyprian Norwid’s "Behind the Wings"

Abstract

Kazimierz Braun introduces his stage adaptation of Behind the Wings, a drama considered the crowning achievement of the poet/playwright, Cyprian Norwid (1821–1883). Behind the Wings is composed of two parts. The action of one part takes place in the 19th Century in Warsaw. The other is situated in ancient Greece around the 7th Century BC. Both parts are bound by the structure of “theatre within theatre”, popularized by Shakespeare in Hamlet. The Danish Prince uses the production of The Murder of Gonzago to unmask the murderer King. The hero of Behind the Wings, Omegitt, uses his play Tyrtaeus to unmask the moral degradation of his contemporaries. The action of the entire play (composed of these two parts) takes place in a theatre, where, during a carnival ball, among other attractions, Tyrtaeus is performed. Behind the Wings, as many of Norwid’s works, was not published during the author’s life time and was preserved with significant loopholes. Thus, for a production of this play the existing text must be adapted and transformed into a working scenario. The article discusses major obstacles which hinder the entrance to the great and complex dramatic edifice of Behind the Wings – such as the problems of the multitude of the characters, and the specific use of space and time by Norwid. In addition to the analysis of Behind the Wings, Kazimierz Braun recalls his own works on this play, beginning by his studies of Polish Literature at the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań and at the Directing Department, Warsaw’s School of Drama. During his long career he directed fifteen productions of Norwid’s texts, both in theatres and in television in Poland. A literary adaptation and a miseen-scène project of Behind the Wings prepared by Kazimierz Braun was published in a book: Cyprian Norwid, Za kulisami, opracowanie literackie i inscenizacyjne Kazimierz Braun, Wydawnictwo Pewne, Kielce 2021.