Jan Klata – Director

Jan Klata is a theatre director. From 2013 to 2017, he was the director of the Helena Modrzejewska National Stary Theatre in Krakow, and, as director of the National Stary Theatre he was also a member and secretary of MITOS21, a European Theatre Network. He also lectures in the Directing Department of the Aleksander Zelwerowicz National Academy of Dramatic Arts in Warsaw. Since September 1, 2025, he has been the director of the National Theatre.

Phot. Natan Berkowicz

Klata is a graduate of the Stefan Batory High School in Warsaw (1992). He studied at the Faculty of Law and Administration at the University of Warsaw (1992–1995) and in the Directing Department of the Aleksander Zelwerowicz State Drama School in Warsaw (1993–1995, currently know Aleksander Zelwerowicz National Academy of Dramatic Arts in Warsaw). He then attended the Drama Directing Department at the Ludwik Solski State Drama School in Krakow (2017, currently know Stanisław Wyspiański National Academy of Theatre Arts in Krakow). Since 2020, he has collaborated regularly with the National Academy of Dramatic Arts in Warsaw, and he has been lecturing in its Directing Department since 2025. He has also given guest lectures at, among other institutions, the Thomas Bernhard Institute at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, the Film and Television Department of the Academy of Performing Arts (FAMU) in Prague, the Leoš Janáček Academy of Performing Arts (JAMU) in Brno, and the Eugeniusz Geppert Academy of Fine Arts in Wrocław.

During his studies, he was an assistant to Jerzy Grzegorzewski while working on La Bohème, based on Stanisław Wyspiański’s interpretation (at the Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz Studio Theatre in Warsaw, 1995). He then assisted Jerzy Jarocki with the play Grzebanie (at the Helena Modrzejewska Stary Theatre in Krakow, 1996), and Krystian Lupa while working on Cherry and Olive Platonov, based on the work by Anton Chekhov (at the PWST theatre in Krakow, 1996). He made his directorial debut in 2003 with Nikolai Gogol's The Inspector General at the Jerzy Szaniawski Dramatic Theatre in Wałbrzych (a television version was aired in 2005). He has directed over sixty performances on Polish and international stages. At the Wałbrzych theatre he also put on ...Fizdejko's Daughter based on a work by Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz (2004). At the Polish Theatre in Wrocław he directed: his own drama, The Smile of a Grapefruit (2003, the work was included in an anthology of the latest Polish drama The Porn Generation and Other Tasteless Theatre Works, published in 2003), The Danton Case by Stanisława Przybyszewska (2008; with a television version in 2009), Madness by Małgorzata Sikorska-Miszczuk (2009), The Promised Land by Władysław Reymont (2009; a co-production with the Festival of Four Cultures in Łódź and the Hebbel am Ufer Theatre in Berlin), Kazimierz and Karolina by Ödön von Horváth (2010), A Piece about Mother and the Fatherland by Bożena Keff (2011), Titus Andronicus by William Shakespeare (2012; a co-production with Staatsschauspiel Dresden), and Tadeusz Miciński's Polish Thermopylae (2014). At the Edmund Wierciński Contemporary Theatre in Wrocław he staged the following: The Dungeons of the Vatican by André Gide (2004), A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess (2005; a co-production with the Wrocław Pantomime Theatre), and Transfer! (2006). He directed, too, at the Wybrzeże Theatre in Gdańsk, where he put on: H. based on Shakespeare's Hamlet (2004; a television version was broadcast in 2006), a performance of Fanta$y by Juliusz Słowacki (2005), Euripides' Trojan Women (2018; in 2019, Olga Śmiechowicz's book Trojan Women by Jan Klata was published), Jean Genet's The Balcony (2021), Noises Off by Michael Frayn (2022), and Wyspiański's Liberation (2023). At the Helena Modrzejewska National Stary Theatre in Kraków he staged: The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch by Philip K. Dick (2006), Oresteia by Aeschylus (2007), Trilogy based on Henryk Sienkiewicz (2009), The Wedding of Count Orgaz based on Roman Jaworski (2010), the play Coprophagi, or the Hated but Indispensable based on Joseph Conrad (2011), The Road to Damascus by August Strindberg (2013), Oedipus Rex (2013), Ubu Roi by Alfred Jarry (2014), King Lear by Shakespeare (2014), An Enemy of the People by Henryk Ibsen (2015), and Wyspiański's Wedding (2017). At TR Warszawa he presented a performance based on his own text Weź, przestań (“Leave off”, 2006) and Szewców u bram (“Shoemakers at the Gates”) based on Witkiewicz's work (2007). At the Warsaw Uprising Museum he directed Triumph of the Will based on his own script (2007). At the Hieronim Konieczka Theatre in Bydgoszcz he presented 365 Days/365 Plays by Susan-Lori Parks (2008) and Chevau-légers by Artur Pałyga (2011). At the Capitol Musical Theatre in Wrocław he produced Jerry Springer – The Opera by Richard Thomas (2012), staged the Polish premiere of Lazarus by David Bowie and Enda Walsh (2020), and directed Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet (2024). At the Polish Theatre in Poznań he prepared The Great Fryderyk by Adolf Nowaczyński (2018), at the New Proxima Theatre in Kraków he directed The Debt based on a work by David Graeber (2019), at the New Theatre in Warsaw he put on Mother Joan of the Angels based on Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz (2019), at the Izabella Cywińska New Theatre in Poznań he staged Red Noses by Peter Barnes (2021) and A Midsummer Night's Dream (2023), at the Juliusz Słowacki Theatre in Kraków he presented Act of Killing (2023) and The Republic / Der Staat by Plato (2024; a co-production with Nationaltheater Mannheim), at the Stanisław Wyspiański Silesian Theatre in Katowice he staged Animal Farm based on the book by George Orwell (2024), and at the Stefan Jaracz Theatre in Olsztyn he put on The Teutonic Knights based on the novel by Henryk Sienkiewicz (2025). He also directed the gala concert of the 41st Stage Song Review in Wrocław (2021).  

He has collaborated with numerous European theatres. At the Schauspielhaus Graz he staged Shakespeare's Richard III (2006), and at the Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus he directed Mark Ravenhill's Shoot/Get Treasure/Repeat (2010). He worked at the Schauspielhaus Bochum, where he produced: America based on Franz Kafka’s work (2011), The Robbers by Friedrich Schiller (2012), Shakespeare's Hamlet (2013), and Crime and Punishment based on Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s novel (2016). At the Anton Chekhov Moscow Art Theatre he put on Shakespeare's Macbeth (2016). In Divadlo pod Palmovkou in Prague he directed Shakespeare's Measure for Measure (2018) and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's Faust (2019), while in Slovenské národné divadlo in Bratislava he staged Friedrich Dürrenmatt's The Physicists (2019), in Klaipėdos dramos teatras he put on Boris Godunov by Alexander Pushkin (2021), and in Göteborgs Stadsteater he presented the play Marat/Sade by Peter Weiss (2022).

Shows he has directed have been performed at many Polish and foreign festivals, including at: the International Theatre Festival “Kontakt” in Toruń, the International Theatre Festival “Dialog” in Wrocław, the International Theatre Festival “DIVINE COMEDY” in Krakow, the Shakespeare Festival in Gdańsk, the “Polish Classics” Opole Theatre Confrontations, Kalisz Theatre Encounters, the Festival of Acting Art, Warsaw Theatre Encounters, Rzeszów Theatre Encounters, the National “Interpretations” Festival of Directing Art in Katowice, the International Festival of Pleasant and Unpleasant Plays in Łódź, the International Theatre Festival “Without Borders” in Cieszyn, the Festival of Premieres in Bydgoszcz, and the “Reality Presented” Festival of Contemporary Drama in Zabrze. He has been a guest at: the Polish Express Festival at the Hebbel am Ufer Theater in Berlin (in 2005 staging ...Fizdejko's Daughter; 2006 – The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch, 2010 – The Promised Land), the Union of European Theatres Festival in Düsseldorf (2006 – The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch), the International Theatre Festival Reflex at the Tamási Áron Theater in Sfântu Gheorghe in Romania (2007 – Oresteia). Oresteia was also put on at Hebbel am Ufer in Berlin (2007) and on the stage of the Divadlo J.K. Dyla in Pilsen (2007). During the Festival d’Automne in Paris in 2009, Transfer! and The Danton Case were shown. The Danton Case was also presented at: New European Theatre Festival in Moscow (2008), International Theatre Festival Divadelná Nitra (2008), Festival Internacional de Buenos Aires [FIBA] (2009), Vilnius International Theatre Festival Sirenos’2009 (2009), Ulster Bank Dublin Theatre Festival (2010), and at the Teatro Español in Madrid (2010). A Piece about Mother and the Fatherland was staged at: the International Festival of Performing Arts Ex Ponto in Ljubljana (2011), the International Small Scene Theatre Festival in Rijeka (2012), the International Platonov Arts Festival in Voronezh (2012), Theaterfestival Basel (2012), Sibiu International Theatre Festival (2013), Divadlo International Theatre Festival in Pilsen (2013), International Theatre Forum “TEART” in Minsk (2013), as well as during the Jewish Music and Theatre Week in Dresden (2013), Mt. Fuji World Theatre Festival Shizuoka (2013), and Contemporary Music & Performing Arts Season at the LG Arts Center in Seoul (2014). The Pilsen Festival also presented Hamlet from the Schauspielhaus Bochum in 2014 and The Trojan Women in 2023. The Road to Damascus was shown at the Sibiu Festival in 2014. King Lear was featured at the Festival Internationale del Teatro in Venice (2016) and was also presented at the Beijing People’s Art Theatre (2016). An Enemy of the People was shown at the Wuzhen Theatre Festival in China (2016), and The Trojan Women at the Olympics Theatre in Budapest (2023).

Jan Klata has won a host of awards. He received the magazine Polityka’s “Passport” in the "Theatre" category in 2005 "for his innovative and bold interpretation of classics, for his passion and persistence in researching national myths and diagnosing the reality of life in Poland" (2006). He was honoured with the Konrad Swinarski Award for directing The Danton Case (2008), the Award of the Minister of Culture and National Heritage (2009), the 17th European Theatre Award “New Theatrical Realities” (Premio Europa per il Teatro) (2018), the Neptune Award, and the Mayor of Gdańsk’s Award for "leaving a lasting mark on the city's history and espousing the values ​​of freedom and solidarity" (2018).

Klata also received a directing award for his attempt to develop a separate theatrical language in the play Dungeons of the Vatican at the 3rd Festival of Premieres in Bydgoszcz (2004). The Government Inspector was awarded the main prize, the "Broken Barrier", at the 15th "Without Borders" International Theatre Festival in Cieszyn (2004), and it was given the directing award of one juror (Mikołaj Grabowski) at the 7th "Interpretacje" National Festival of the Art of Directing in Katowice (2005). A Clockwork Orange was awarded the Wrocław Theatre Award (2005). His play H. received the audience award for best performance of the 2004/2005 season at the Wybrzeże Theatre Festival in Gdańsk (2005), and for directing this play Klata won an individual award in the Theatrum Gedanense Foundation Competition for the best staging of a dramatic Shakespeare work in Poland in the 2004/2005 season (2005). The play also received an award in the "Television Theatre" category (television production: Katarzyna Adamik) at the 1st Prix Visionica Festival in Wrocław (2007). For the ...Fizdejko's Daughter, Klata was awarded the prize for best young artist at the 15th International "Kontakt" Festival in Toruń (2005) and the prize for directing and musical arrangement at the 30th Opole Theatre Confrontations (2005). The performance also received the main prize, the "Broken Barrier", and a cash prize from the Ministry of Culture, at the 16th "Without Borders" International Theatre Festival in Cieszyn (2005). Transfer! won the Wrocław Theatre Award (2007), as well as the Grand Prix and the youth plebiscite award in the "curtain (of history)" category at the 6th Festival of Previews in Bydgoszcz (2007), the Marshal's Office Award for the best performance of 2006 (2007) and the Title of Best Performance in the audience plebiscite at the 13th National Festival of Pleasant and Unpleasant Plays in Łódź (2007). For directing The Danton Case, Klata, in addition to the Konrad Swinarski Award (2008), was also honoured with the award for best directing at the DIVINE COMEDY International Theatre Festival in Kraków (2008), the Konrad Laurel at the 11th "Interpretacje" National Festival of the Art of Directing in Katowice, where the performance also received the Audience Award (2008). The play also received: the Wrocław Theatre Award (2008), the Grand Prix at the 33rd "Polish Classics" Opole Theatre Confrontations (2008), the Award of the Chapter of the Powszechny Theatre Lodge in Łódź at the 15th International Festival of Pleasant and Unpleasant Plays in Łódź (2009), the Award for best performance that popularises an old work of Polish literature at the 4th National Competition for the Theatre Staging of Old Works of European Literature (2009), the Award of the Marshal of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship to celebrate International Theatre Day for the best performance of 2008 (2009) as well as the Grand Prix, and Klata won the directing award at the 19th International "Kontakt" Festival in Toruń (2009). Szajba, meanwhile, won the Journalists' Award and the 2nd Jury Prize at the 4th R@port Festival of Polish Contemporary Arts in Gdynia (2009). Trilogy received the Grand Prix at the 34th "Polish Classics" Opole Theatre Confrontations (2009). The Promised Land was awarded the Main Prize "for an emotionally and artistically moving expedition to the sources of the ‘promised land’ of Polish capitalism" at the 35th "Polish Classics" Opole Theatre Confrontations (2010). A Piece about Mother and the Fatherland received the award for best performance at the 17th International Festival of Pleasant and Unpleasant Plays in Łódź (2011) and the award of the Marshal of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship for the "best performance of the year" (2012). For putting on this performance, Klata received awards for best directing: at the 17th National Competition for the Staging of Polish Contemporary Art (2011), at the 11th "Reality Presented" Festival of Contemporary Drama in Zabrze (2011), and at the DIVINE COMEDY International Theatre Festival in Krakow (2011). His Titus Andronicus received a distinction in the Competition for the best staging of a dramatic Shakespeare work (2013). The Wedding, meanwhile, received the Audience Award for best performance at the 24th International Festival of Pleasant and Unpleasant Plays in Łódź (2018), and at the 43rd “Living Classic” Opole Theatre Confrontations the play won a raft of awards, including: the Wojciech Bogusławski Main Prize, the Award for the play’s ensemble cast, the Directing Award for Klata, the Journalists' Main Prize for Klata and the cast (2018). The Wedding also won the O!Lśnienie, ONET’s cultural award in the "Theatre" category (2018). Klata also received the Czech Theatre Critics' Award (Ceny divadelní kritiky) for the best staging of 2018 for Measure for Measure (2019).

  • THE POLISH THERMOPYLAE

    In his first play at the National Theatre, director Jan Klata has opted for Tadeusz Miciński's The Polish Thermopylae. Opening Night: 22 November 2025

  • INFINITY JEST

    Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace directed by Kamil Białaszek | Opening Night: 13 December 2025 

  • CHARLATANS

    “When I’m not acting, life is black and white,” says the heroine of Pablo Remón’s play. Charlatans directed by Grzegorz Małecki, Polish preview: 13 June 2025.

  • HAMLET

    Jan Englert crowns his twenty-eight seasons of artistic work at the National Theatre with a performance of Hamlet.

  • HEAVEN AND HELL

    Although Maria Wojtyszko's play touches upon the painful subject of losing loved ones, Jakub Krofta's deft staging provides light entertainment for the whole family. 

  • OTHER DELIGHTS

    This adaptation of the novel Other Delights is the second staging of one of Jerzy Pilch's works at the National Theatre, following The Holy Father's Skis.  

  • FAUST

    Faust is a story based on an ancient legend of a scholar who yearns so much for just a moment of happiness that he makes a pact with the devil. 

  • A DREAM PLAY

    After the well-received Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Sławomir Narloch returned to the National Theatre with another premiere – A Dream Play by Strindberg.

     

  • KING LEAR

    King Lear may be Shakespeare's boldest examination of human nature. Jan Englert will play the title role in the National Theatre's production.

  • WAITING FOR GODOT

    "What do we do now? Wait. [...] We're waiting for Godot". Piotr Cieplak directs Waiting for Godot by Beckett. Is this a classic yet? Does it still have its avant-garde power?

  • FREDRO: THE JUBILEE YEAR

    To celebrate 230 years since Aleksander Fredro's birth, the National Theatre invites you to an evening dedicated to the life and works of Poland’s greatest comedy writer. 

  • TALES FROM THE VIENNA WOODS

    Małgorzata Bogajewska directs for the second time at the National Theatre. This time she draws on Ödön von Horváth's 1931 drama.

  • THE THEATRE MAKER

    The play by Thomas Bernhard, one of the most outstanding playwrights of the second half of the 20th century. In the title role – Jerzy Radziwiłowicz. 

  • ALICE'S WONDERLAND

    Have you ever quarreled with the Time or visited a forest where things have no names? Alice’s Wonderland is a musical performance based on the famous novel by Lewis Carroll. 

  • THE MISANTHROPE

    Jan Englert stages a classic play by Molière. What is Alcest's misanthropy: an uncompromising commitment to the truth or a doomed uprising against social conventions?

  • THE DECALOGUE

    A meditation upon the moral foundations of the present – an iconic work of Polish cinema, rethought thirty-five years after its creation by Krzysztof Kieślowski and Krzysztof Piesiewicz. 

  • MARY STUART

    Grzegorz Wiśniewski returns to the classic drama about human passions interwoven in a ruthless machinery of history and intrigue.

  • MÜNCHHAUSEN FOR ADULTS

    Baron von Münchhausen lived in the 18th century and told incredible stories about himself. Maciej Wojtyszko directs his own play about the famous adventurer and mystifier.

  • Solidarity with Ukraine | Солідарні з Україною

    The ensemble of the National Theatre stands in solidarity with the Ukrainians who are fighting for the independence of their homeland.

  • PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK

    1900. On a hot, stormy day, Mrs Appleyard's boarding school residents go on a picnic near Hanging Rock. The new theatrical version of the Australian prose classics. 

  • SNAKE SKIN

    Artur Urbański directs his own play which main character is Ruth Berlau, one of Bertolt Brecht's closest associates and life companions.

  • AUTUMN SONATA

    A story about the need for love and acceptance, about an inherited emotional coldness, about the psychological costs of creativity. A theatrical version of a film script by Ingmar Bergman. 

  • MOTHER JOAN OF THE ANGELS

    A performance about the need to experience something that surpasses us. In the title role of the prioress – Małgorzata Kożuchowska. 

  • HOW TO BE LOVED

    This is the performance about love and moral responsibility for another person as well as the mechanisms controlling human memory. The dramatisation of the story by Kazimierz Brandys.


  • LUNGS

    Briliant, full of humour and touching love story of a young couple. Breakups and comebacks, passion and sex, the first important decisions and the search for meaning in a complex, modern world.


  • UHLANS

    The Museum of All-Time Polish Uhlans. Exhibits of the national exacerbation. A serious comedy in three acts about the entanglement in myths of Polishness. 


  • THE IMAGE MAKERS

    The truth about the essence of creation and responsibility in art. Director Viktor Sjöström is working on the film The Phantom Carriage, based on the novel by Nobel Prize winner Selma Lagerlöf. 

  • FOREFATHER'S EVE

    Mickiewicz's poetic drama interpreted by Lithuanian Master Eimuntas Nekrošius — theatre visionary known for his unique theatrical language.


  • KORDIAN

    The Polish nation's tragic choice: to die heroically in the name of a noble idea or live a life "making shoes for dogs"? — the alternative presented to Kordian in two parables.

  • FLEA THE SWINDLER

    Tremendous fun and great laughs – not just for kids. The antics of the Flea are directed by Anna Seniuk with the music composed by Maciej Małecki.


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