Modrzejewska i Rapacki

Helena Modjeska and Wincenty Rapacki – eminent representatives of the 19th-century ‘age of stars’ – met on provincial stages at the beginning of their acting careers. In 1863, they performed in thirty plays together, including Mazepa by J. Słowacki, Barbara Radziwiłłówna by A. Feliński, and Hernani by V. Hugo, in Stanisławów and Czerniowce. Some of these creations, such as Adrianna Lecouvreur and Michonnet in the play by E. Scribe and E. Legouvé, were enthusiastically received and the actors brought them to Krakow (since 1865), which testifies to their talents and the meticulous preparation of the parts. In Krakow, they appeared together in about forty performances (vaudevilles, operettas, comedies, tragedies, and melodramas) mainly of French origin as well as historical dramas on Polish themes. Owing to the theater director S. Koźmian and Rapacki, most prominent in this repertoire were parts in Shakespeare’s tragedies and comedies. These creations (among others, Julia and Friar Laurence in Romeo and Juliet, Desdemona and Iago in Othello, Cleopatra and Enobarbus in Antony and Cleopatra, and Viola and Malvolio in Twelfth Night) made Modjeska famous as a preeminent Shakespearean actress and she was partnered in the Warsaw Government Theaters by the most esteemed artists (J. Królikowski, B. Leszczyński, B. Ładnowski and W. Rapacki)