MAJA
KOMOROWSKA
An outstanding theatre, film and television actress, was born in 1937.
She graduated from the Faculty of Puppetry of the National Academy
of Theatre of Krakow. After a year of work at the Theatre of Mask
and Puppet Grotesque in Krakow, she moved to the 13 Rows Theatre founded
by Jerzy Grotowski in Opole, and then to the Laboratory Theatre in
Wroclaw. She worked with Grotowski until 1968, where she starred in,
among others, Juliusz Slowacki's KORDIAN, Calderon's and Slowacki's
WORKER'S ORATORY and THE UNSHAKEN PRINCE.
In the beginning of the 1970's she was engaged to the Contemporary
Theatre of Warsaw by its director Erwin Axer. She played in, among
others, Edward Bond's LEAR, Thomas Bernhard's BORIS'S FEAST, Ernest
Bryll's THE NOVEMBER THING and Slowacki's KORDIAN. She is still collaborating
with this theatre. The 1970's also witnessed Maja Komorowska's screen
debut in a not even thirty minutes long film by Krzysztof
Zanussi MOUNTAINS AT DUSK. Soon, Komorowska became the director's
favourite actress and he hired her for his best productions: THE FAMILY
LIFE, THE QUARTERLY BALANCE, THE SPIRAL and AT FULL GALLOP.
She also worked with Andrzej Wajda
THE WEDDING and THE MAIDS OF WILKO, Tadeusz Konwicki HOW FAR FROM
HERE, HOW CLOSE, THE LAVA and Istvan Szabo STORIES OF BUDAPEST. In
the 1980, her theatre career was dominated by the film, the actress
performed on the stage only five times: in Max Frisch's TRIPTYCH,
staged by Erwin Axer and in Witkiewicz's WATER HEN, Czechow's THREE
SISTERS and Peter Shaffer's LAETITIA AND THE LOVAGE directed by Maciej
Englert.
During the following decade Komorowska appeared on the stage much
more often. She created several outstanding and mature parts, like
in Friendrich Durrenmatt's THE VISIT OF THE OLD LADY directed by Wojciech
Adamczyk, Samuel Beckett's THE HAPPY DAYS directed by Antoni Libera,
Thomas Bernhard's AT THE GOAL staged by Erwin Axer, and in AUSLOESCHUNG-EXTINCTION
/ AUSLOESCHUNG-WYMAZYWANIE directed by Krystian Lupa.
Komorowska was quickly found to be an outstanding artist and a moral
authority of the actors' community because of her charismatic personality
and acting perfection. "There's no doubt that Maja Komorowska is
a star, but a particular kind of a star, the one and only. The furthest
from ostentation, the actor's capriciousness, self-content. If one
can speak in this case about a star, then Maja Komorowska is a star
of love and shared responsibility. She loves her landscapes, her family
and friends, her colleagues", said Artur Miedzyrzecki, an outstanding
poet and essayist.
Important Awards:
1971 - the Zbyszek Cybulski Award
1990 - the Aleksander Zelwerowicz Award for the part in LAETITIA AND
THE LOVAGE
1996 - the award for the main female role in AT FULL GALLOP at the
21st Festival of Polish Feature Films in Gdansk
