Article
The Dead Class (1975), by Tadeusz Kantor and the Cricot 2 company, is considered one of the most innovative and influential works of twentieth-century theatre.
The breakthrough first version of the production — performed to great critical acclaim, but only rarely seen live by audiences outside Poland — was documented on film in 1976 by the Oscar-winning director Andrzej Wajda. This DVD and companion booklet set from Polish Theatre Perspectives presents Wajda’s remastered film (2007), alongside an extended conversation about the performance between Wajda and two other leading figures of Polish theatre: the literary critic Konstanty Puzyna and the poet, dramatist, and essayist Tadeusz Różewicz.
With new scholarly translations of the film and discussion into English, this edition makes widely accessible for the first time to international viewers key materials relating to Kantor’s seminal production.
The Dead Class is available to order now from www.ptp.press.
Technical Information:
Remastered film on DVD
Format: PAL Colour
Production Date: 1976
Running Time: 72 mins
Aspect Ratio: 4:3
Region: 0
Subtitles: English, Polish
Sound: Dolby Digital 2.0 Polish
The Dead Class (1975). Photograph: Jacquie Bablet, courtesy of Cricoteka.
Filming The Dead Class in Plac Nowy, Kraków, 1976. Photograph from Andrzej Wajda’s private archive.