Tytuł pozycji:
Problemy społeczne w polskich utworach dramatycznych po 1989 roku
Social problems in Polish dramatic works since 1989
The article is devoted to social problems in Polish dramatic works after 1989. Many of
today's dramas on the condition of the Polish population develop a discourse of trauma and provide
a subjective commentary on the issues concerning Poles living in transition.
The emerging new system has brought political freedom, the abolition of censorship (artistic
freedom), but it has also generated other problems inherent in the laws of the market. Each transformation
brings changes of an “ambivalent balance”. This could not be otherwise in the case of political, economic
and cultural transformation in Poland. Sociologists write about the value duality, disorganization,
cultural disorientation and even about collective trauma or shock caused by social change. At the same
time, they pay attention to the positive effects of the collapse of the communist system. The authors
of dramas seem not to notice the good sides and accentuate only the negative results of changes.
On the basis of the stage plays (in their literary version) collected in several anthologies that
appeared between 2003 and 2013 and published in the Dialog (Dialogue), the author captures the
manifestations of anomie observed by the artists – playwrights as they try to adapt to new conditions,
use the strategies described by Robert Merton – they are conformists, escape into ritualism, rebel and
apply innovations.
The artists showing social problems in dramatic works do not intend to reject a system in
limine, their criticism shows reflectivity, in other words, the ability to perceive the adverse effects
and formulate a positive programme that aims to inhibit or eliminate hazards and increasing social
pathologies. Diagnosing the diseases in society (poverty, social exclusion, violence, dystrophy of family
and social ties, consumerism, unsettled communist past etc.), the authors of dramas suggest ways
of curing them: overcoming inertia, involvement in grass-roots activities and genuine, spontaneous
initiatives - sine qua none conditions for the joint development of civil society.