 |
 |
 Zbigniew Zapasiewicz |
Zbigniew Zapasiewicz was born in 1934. He is an actor, a director and the head of a theatre. He graduated from the Faculty of Acting of the National Academy of Theatre in Warsaw. He had his debut performance in 1955 in the Theatre of New Warsaw (Teatr Nowej Warszawy). For many years he had worked in the Dramatic Theatre (Teatr Dramatyczny) in Warsaw, he has also been its director. He played there in, among others, Witold Gombrowicz's WEDDING / ŚLUB, Sławomir Mrozek's BUTCHERY RZEŹNIA and in William Shakespeare's KING LEAR. His theatrical output includes roles of various emplois: Zbyszko in Gabriela Zapolska's MRS. DULSKA'S MORALITY MORALNOŚĆ PANI DULSKIEJ, Andriei Posorov in Antoni Czekov's THREE SISTERS, Laurenty in Tadeusz Rozewicz's ON ALL FOURS / NA CZWORAKACH. Zapasiewicz has also worked in the Contemporary Theatre (Teatr Współczesny), where in the 1960s he collaborated with Erwin Axer, his theatrical master. He is still performing on the stage of this theatre in, among others, Sławomir Mrożek's LOVE IN THE CRIMEA / MIŁOŚĆ NA KRYMIE and AMBASSADOR / AMBASADOR and in Gogol's DEAD SOULS. However, his mother stage is in the Common Theatre (Teatr Powszechny) in Warsaw. In this theatre he has recently returned to King Lear in a staging directed by Piotr Cieplak. The audience and the reviewers have always stressed the continence, with which Zapasiewicz uses the acting means and indicated his excellent artistic skills, the capability of fresh analysis of a text and the way he applies it in constructing the role. "Zapasiewicz is one of the last actors, who stress the meaning of the theatrical skills this much, and each of his performances is a confirmation of the seriousness of his profession. He realises that he knows almost everything about the theatre and he avoids the occasion for a star show. He remembers that each role is an element of the play and not a solo part." (Jacek Wakar, "Życie"). Zbigniew Zapasiewicz also performs in the Theatre of Television (Teatr Telewizji), among others in the FOREFATHER'S DAY / DZIADY directed by Jan Englert and Sławomir Mrożek's TANGO directed by Maciej Englert. He is also one of the most outstanding Polish film actors, he played the main roles in, among others, Andrzej Wajda's NO ANAESTHESIA / BEZ ZNIECZULENIA, Krzysztof Kieslowski's SHORT FILM ABOUT KILLING / KRÓTKI FILM O ZABIJANIU and Krzysztof Zanussi's PROTECTIVE COLOURS / BARWY OCHRONNE and LIFE AS A FATAL SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED DISEASE / ŻYCIE JAKO ŚMIERTELNA CHOROBA PRZENOSZONA DROGĄ PŁCIOWĄ. For many years he has been a professor at the National Academy of Theatre in Warsaw. "Old Lear in the Common Theatre has the old Zapasiewicz's face, lined with furrows, with narrow half-closed eyes, which sometimes open wide. (...) His Lear is hidden inside of himself. (...) The peremptory father, demanding the love confessions from his daughters as a kind of loyalty confirmation, turns into an invalid old man. But he knows how to mock at his age and play a parody of a toothless old man begging for the favours of his own daughters." wrote Roman Pawlowski ("Gazeta Wyborcza") after the premiere of Cieplak's KING LEAR. Selected awards: |