Barbara Horawianka, a stage and film actress, has died at the age of 94. Known for her roles in the films “Pociąg”, “Loneliness for Two”, “The Lovers of Marona”. The actress will also be remembered for her stage roles, including Tytania in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”, Molly in “The Threepenny Opera” and Podstolina in “Zemsta”.
photo: Ireneusz Sobieszczuk/ TVP/PAP
The information about the artist’s death was confirmed by her niece Maja Horawianka. “Yes, it is true, unfortunately. My aunt died yesterday in the Praga Hospital in Warsaw,” she told PAP on Saturday.
Barbara Horawianka was born on May 14, 1930 in Katowice. From childhood, she dreamed of becoming an actress. She gave her first public performances as a five-year-old, in 1935, on the stage of the Wyspiański Theatre in Katowice. “The ballet school performed there every year. I really liked and wanted to dance, although my father said that if I went to school, that would be the end of dancing,” the actress said in an interview for “Rzeczpospolita”.
In middle school, she was active in the inter-school drama club. “Then I played Podstolina in Fircyk w zalotach, directed by Tadeusz Łomnicki, and Infanta in Le Cid,” the artist recalled.
Instead of going to acting school, Horawianka went to a Trade High School, to – as she said – “acquire a trade and earn a living”. After some time, she decided to seek her chance at the Rapsodic Theatre, run by Mieczysław Kotlarczyk.
“It was my favorite theater since high school, although it wasn’t easy. I was attracted by the way poetry was performed, it spoke to me deeply through its rigidity, lack of decorations, and the lighting that brought out a unique atmosphere. Wonderful asceticism, during the first performances there weren’t even costumes, only white blouses. Music, light, words,” the actress recalled in “Rz”.
Horawianka spent almost three years at the Rhapsodic Theatre, until it was liquidated. “Kotlarczyk was forced to leave, but we stayed. The Poetry Theatre was established under the direction of Maryna Broniewska, Tadeusz Kantor and a director from Warsaw, acting on behalf of the party. Kotlarczyk was angry with us for staying, but we were in a difficult situation – we still had not taken our acting exams. If we had left then, we probably would have had to give up our profession,” the artist explained.
She also performed at the Old Theatre in Kraków (1954–1955) and at the Juliusz Słowacki Theatre (1955–1957), then in Kazimierz Dejmek’s company at the New Theatre in Łódź (1957–1963 and 1974–1976). In 1957 she passed the extramural acting exam.
From 1963 she performed on the stages of Warsaw theatres: the National Theatre (1963–1966), the Dramatic Theatre (1966–1974 and 1976–1979), the Theatre on Woli (1979–1985), the Theatre on Targówek (1985–1988) and the Polish Theatre (1988–1990).
Horawianka has starred in dozens of productions, including the films “Pociąg” (1959), “Kamienne niebo” (1959), Krzyżacy (1960), “Czas przeszłości” (1961), “Echo” (1964), “Kzaśni z Marony” (1966), “Loneliness for Two” (1968), “Pensja pani Latter” (1982), “Pułkownik Kwiatkowski” (1995), “Obywatel” (2014), as well as in the series: “Stawka wielki niż życie”, “W labiryncie”, “Plebania”.
The actress emphasized, however, that theatre has always been more important to her than film. “In film, an actor does not bear full responsibility for the character he plays. After recording, there is editing, cutting, trimming and we, the actors, have absolutely no influence on this. In theatre, an actor takes responsibility for what he shows from beginning to end. In addition, you can feel the audience breathing and their every emotion. I like silence the most or the rustle of tissues heralding emotion,” she said in an interview.
She played many roles that went down in theatre history, including Tytania in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Molly in Brecht’s The Threepenny Opera and Podstolina in Fredro’s Zemsta.
She could also be heard in over 70 radio plays of the Polish Radio Theatre, including “Smoke Over Birkenau” by Seweryna Szmaglewska, “On the Niemne” by Eliza Orzeszkowa, “The Strange Fates of Jane Eyre” by Charlotte Brontë and “The Women’s Sejm” by Marcin Bielski.
The actress often performed with her husband Mieczysław Voit. Since they played Romeo and Juliet together in the early 1950s at Kraków’s Teatr Rhapsodic, they have also appeared in films, including “Krzyżaki” and “Loneliness for Two”, as well as in TV series.
During the martial law, together with a group of actors, including Jerzy Zelnik and Krzysztof Tyniec, she performed at poetry concerts, anniversary performances, and performances of religious and patriotic works in Warsaw and many cities across the country. She was associated with the Ministry of Creative Communities.
After her husband’s death in 1991, the actress limited her artistic work for some time. From time to time she took on small roles, and in 2001 she returned to the profession.
In 2007 she received the Silver Medal for Merit to Culture – Gloria Artis, and in 2013 for her outstanding contribution to Polish culture and achievements in artistic creation, as well as her activities for democratic changes she was awarded the Knight’s Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta.
