Adam Hanuszkiewicz

Born June 16, 1924, in Lwów. Polish actor and director. Prominent figure of the contemporary Polish theater.

Hanuszkiewicz graduated from drama school in the city of Rzeszów in 1945 and acted in theaters in Kraków, Poznań, and other cities. In 1958 he made his debut in Warsaw, where from 1960 to 1963 he worked in the Dramatyczny Theater. From 1963 to 1969 he was administrative and artistic director of the Pow-szechny Theater, and in 1969 he became the artistic director of the Narodowy Theater.

As an actor, Hanuszkiewicz is known for his refinement and subtle, intellectual character interpretations. His repertoire includes the title roles in Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Molière’s Don Juan, Raskol’nikov in an adaptation of Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment, and the Poet and Konrad in Wyspiański’s The Wedding and Liberation.

In the plays he directs, Hanuszkiewicz reveals profound patriotism and explores historical and philosophical themes. He has directed Wyspiański’s The Wedding (1964 and 1974), Beaumar-chais’s The Marriage of Figaro (1966), Krasiński’s The Undivine Comedy (1969), Slowacki’s Fantazy (1970) and Kordian (1970), Hamlet (1970), Chekhov’s The Three Sisters (1972), Gogol’s The Inspector-General (1973), Turgenev’s A Month in the Country (1974), Garczyński’s The Life of Waclaw (1974), and Iredyński’s Love and Maria (1976). He also adapted Crime and Punishment for the stage.

Hanuszkiewicz also works in the cinema and television. In 1968 he was awarded the State Prize of the People’s Republic of Poland.