Nastasja Filipowna

photo: Wojciech Plewinski

Late at night, without a word to anyone, we gathered in the rehearsal hall. Nowicki, Radziwillowicz, Krystyna Zachwatowicz, Maciek Karpinski and myself. We had to find out the truth: whether we have anything to say about Dostoyevsky's novel The Idiot. These few hours I remember like a miraculous dream. The actors had already memorized large parts of text and understood their characters well, so they could start the improvisation. I hate directors who continually interrupt the actors to voice their often unnecessary remarks. If I was an actor I would surely have killed several such directors by now. But I wanted to take part in this rehearsal in some way. In front of us Radziwillowicz and Nowicki went on improvising, and I, utterly delighted, signalled them with a small silver bell when, in my opinion, they were moving in the right direction (...) It was a beautiful, inspired night.

Andrzej Wajda,
cit. cf: "Dostojewski - teatr sumienia", Warszawa 1991, p.83.