Our reader, who uses the nickname Stańczyk on the forum, asked us to publicize the matter. In an email to the editorial office, he wrote:
The renovation of Bolesławiec’s theatre is nearing completion. It is very good that the county and city authorities were able to cooperate on this matter. I hope that soon we will all be able to admire the building in all its glory and then attend subsequent performances.
I only have reservations about the name. “Old Theatre” smacks somewhat of plagiarism. We have the Old Theatre in Kraków, and I do not think it is even appropriate, in the case of the theatre in our city, to refer to that name. It is a bit like the proverb: “They shoe the horse, and the frog sticks out its leg.” The name “Old Theatre” also has no historical justification. Before the war, the building was simply called the Municipal Theatre.
There is, however, a name that would suit our theatre much better. It should be called the “Crooked Theatre.” And there is no malice in this proposal. It refers exclusively to the appearance of the building itself. It really is crooked. The northern, lower part of the building, on the courthouse side, is visibly deflected from the central section. This can be seen with the naked eye from the lines of the rustication and the pilasters that lean away from the vertical.
This probably happened either during construction or because the foundations beneath this section later subsided on one side. This was probably also the original cause of, and contributed to the worsening of, some internal damage, which eventually made it necessary to close the theatre and carry out a major renovation. I only hope that this condition of the building was taken into account during the design and construction stages.
If it is going to remain this way, perhaps it would be worth using its distinctive “beauty” to promote the city and naming it accordingly. It would probably be the only Crooked Theatre in the country—and perhaps in Europe or the world. It is not, of course, the Leaning Tower of Pisa, but it is something. Another tourist and cultural curiosity of our city.
“Why ‘crooked’ in particular?” asks county head Cezary Przybylski, smiling. “Our theatre is not crooked as far as I am concerned; besides, that is precisely why we are renovating it—to remove all the shortcomings of this building. It seems to me that there is no point in forcing a new name for the building. Besides, the name ‘Old Theatre’ immediately suggests that it is an institution with traditions, and that is also very important.”
(information: ii)