Barbara Wysocka studied acting and theatre directing at the Ludwik Solti Academy for the Dramatic Arts in Kraków, Poland. Earlier she studied the violin at the Hochschule für Musik wein Freiburg, Germany.
From 2004 to 2014 she worked with Stary Theatre in Kraków. Her award-winning creations include Judyta in Ksiądz Marek (Father Marek) by Słowacki, Agnieszka in Ósmy dzień tygodnia (The Eighth Day of the Week) by Hłasko, Kassandra in Odprawa posłów greckich (The Dismissal of the Greek Envoys) by Kochanowski, Aleksandra Billewiczówna in Trylogia (Trilogy) after Sienkiewicz. At the Stary she also performed in Fedra (Phaedera; 2006), Ifigenia nowa tragedia (Iphigénie: A New Tragedy) after Racine (2008), and Utopia będzie zaraz (2010). Other performances include Kamień i popioły (Cendres de cailloux) by Daniel Danis and The Geat Gatsby after F. Scott Fitzgerald at the Polski in Bydgoszcz (2004), Wesele (The Wedding) by Wyspiański at Scena STU (2006), Księga Rodzaju 2 (Genesis 2) at the Współczesny in Wrocław (2007), Oresteia at the Teatr Wielki – Polish National Opera (2010), Fantasy by Słowacki (2015) and Julius Caesar by Shakespeare (2016) at the Powszechny, Warsaw. She also performed at Berlin's Maxim Gorki Theater (Ozonkinder, 2007) and Schaubühne am Lehniner Platz (Speeddating, 2007). She acted in the following films: Am Ende kommen Touristen, Nachmieter, Polnische Ostern, and Fremde Farben.
She directed: Wyspiański’s Klątwa (The Curse; Stary Theatre, Kraków, 2007), Handke’s Kaspar (Współczesny Theatre, Wrocław, 2009), Bohomolec’s Pijacy (The Drunkards; Stary Theatre, Kraków, 2009), Glass’s The Fall of the House of Usher (Teatr Wielki – Polish National Opera, 2009), Müller’s Wolokolamsker chause (Polski Theatre, Wrocław, 2010), Dostoyevsky’s A Gentle Creature (Polski Theatre, Bydgoszcz, 2010), Büchner’s Lenz (National Theatre, Warsaw, 2011), Medeamaterial composed by Dusapin to a libretto by Müller (Teatr Wielki – Polish National Opera, 2012), Sophocles’ Philoctetes (Polski Theare, Wrocław, 2012), Woyzeck/Wozzeck after Büchner and Berg (Kammerspiele, Munich, 2012), her original Szapocznikow. Stan nieważkości/No gravity produced by Centrala, the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, and the Polski Theatre in Wrocław (2014), Knapik’s opera Moby Dick (Teatr Wielki – Polish National Opera, 2014), Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor (Bayerische Staatsoper, Munich, 2015), and Julius Caesar (Powszechny Theatre, Warsaw, 2016).
She is a member of the artistic collective Centrala. Their piece Chopin bez fortepianu (Chopin Without The Piano), featuring Barbara Wysocka reciting text in place of the piano part in Chopin’s piano concertos, was awarded the grand prix of the Kontrapunkt Festival in Szczecin, Poland in April 2014.
(photo: Konrad Pustola)
