A Fighter or a Jester? Ibsen’s "An Enemy of the People" in the Polish Theatre

The article presents traditional and modern approaches to Ibsen’s An Enemy of the People in the Polish theatre. Banned in Poland for almost a decade (the country was a part of three different states until 1918), first staged in 1891, continuously censored, the play became a part of the national debate on freedom and rebellion, for a long time staged as a manifesto, even though Ibsen’s popularity lessened. The political approach was re-invented in the communist 1970s and 1980. After a thirty years’ gap, Ibsen’s masterpiece premiered recently in Cracow, directed by a famous and controversial artist of the younger generation