Jan Klata

Studied drama directing first in Warsaw and then at the PWST in Kraków. Worked as an assistant to Jerzy Grzegorzewski, Jerzy Jarocki, and Krystian Lupa. On graduation he worked as a copywriter, music journalist, and director of a TV talk show. His first professional production was Nikolai Gogol’s Rewizor / The Inspector General for the Jerzy Szaniawski Dramatic Theatre in Wałbrzych (2003). A month later Klata staged his own drama, Uśmiech grejpruta / Grejprut's Smile, at the Polski Theatre in Wrocław In 2004 his H. wg HamletaWilliama Shakespeare’a / H after William Shakespeare's Hamlet for the Wybrzeże Theatre had its high profile premiere at the Gdańsk Shipyard. From that time, the director has constantly worked with Poland’s most interesting stages, including the TR Warszawa, National Stary Theatre in Kraków, Polski Theatre in Wrocław, and Polski Theatre in Bydgoszcz. In 2006 he won the Passport Award of the Polityka weekly in the Theatre category for his innovative reading of the classics, and for his passion and tenacity in examining national myths and diagnosing the Polish reality. Sprawa Dantona/ The Danton Case (Polski Theatre in Wrocław, 2008) won Klata not only general acclaim but also the Konrad Swinarski Prize, the Laur Konrada at the Interpretations Festival in Katowice, and the Best Director Prize at the Boska Komedia / Divine Comedy Festival in 2008. In 2009 he was commissioned by the Dialogue of Four Cultures Festival with a contemporary version of Ziemia obiecana / The Promised Land based on Władysław Reymont. In 2013–17 Klata was the director of the National Stary Theatre in Kraków, where he directed Trzy stygmaty Palmera Eldritcha / The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch (2006), Oresteia (2007), Trylogy based on Henryk Sienkiewicz (2009), Wesele hrabiego Orgaza / The Wedding of Count Orgaz (2010), Do Damaszku / To Damascus (2013), Król Ubu / Ubu Roi (2014), King Lear (2014), Wróg ludu / Enemy of the People (2015), and Wesele / The Wedding (2017).