| Abstrakt: | This work has been devoted to the opera stage productions of nearly all of Richard Wagner’s major works put on in Poland in the years 1956-2012. The subject of research - twenty nine post-war performances of The Flying Dutchman, Tannhäuser, Lohengrin, The Ring of the Nibelungs and Parsifal staged in Polish opera theatres over several dozen years have been analysed from the point of view of the problems contained in the dissertation title, i.e. theatralization of elements, understood as manners of their transformation in stage space, applied by stage arrangers so as to achieve a particular dramatic effect, using theatrical means such as: props, decorations, light, animated background etc. To capture the bygone theatrical shape of the productions of Wagner’s works subjected to research, reconstructive procedures were applied, aimed at recreating the stage images of nature and its elemental forces. Demonstrating the importance of theatralized nature in the intensification of theatrical message understood as building the performance dramaturgy was one of the main theses of this work. Dealing with so formulated research problem involved analytical refection on capturing the role of nature, its vision in Wagner’s neoromantic works in the long tedious process of creating the works by the German artist until they appeared on the stage in 19th-century author’s productions, which provided a significant historical or intellectual point of reference for Polish performances analysed in this work. Due to the multidimensional and multi-aspect character of the motives raised in the dissertation, the author took the decision to use methodological pluralism so as to illuminate the examined subject to the fullest possible extent. It involved complementary use of research methods and
strategies for investigating the following areas subjected to analysis in the work: drama reading (the text of the drama), theatre reading (the text of the performance), critical analysis of the theatrical text. The research procedures applied have been based on the following methodologies: the methodology of idea history, thematic criticism, the mythographic method, the semiological method as well the following research strategies: image extrapolation, metaphoring. Also the concept of Tadeusz Zieliński’s “idea life” and research findings contained in the joint publication The esthetics of four elements: earth, water, fire, air turned out to be important for the conducted analyses. The results of investigations carried out in this work with so selected methodology have been listed and summarized in final conclusions. The conducted research procedures have also born fruit in the form of an annex, attached with the dissertation. The album contains a total of more than 200 selected theatrical photographs (including designs of scenography alone as well as costumes) and is an integral part of the work. |