Out of the encounters with film and theatre people, which were part of Łukasz Maciejewski’s classes over the past two years, the meeting with Jan Frycz was the most intimate and emotional. Jan Frycz talked about his own career path and his observations, including sincere, but at times, bitter confessions and constatations.

‘I wonder what your motivation is. Why do you want to become actors? I always wanted to be an actor for one reason: the sense of freedom it gives. My beginnings happened in completely different times. Widespread indoctrination, constant investigation: Who’s the traitor? Who’s the righteous man? Everywhere limitations, everything forbidden. And then came acting which was a perfect refuge from all this into a completely different world.’ recalled Jan Frycz. The actor who is a graduate of the Cracow Drama School had his theatre and film debut while still a student of acting. ‘How did I succeed? I must have been self-conceited. I knew I was good at what I was doing. You yourselves have to be convinced about it too. It’s necessary.’

Talking about acting, Jan Frycz mentioned that the key word in the life of an actor should be ‘independence’ ‘You must make sure you are independent people. I really like that moment when I can turn a role down because I do not find the project interesting . Of course, in theatre or film we are a part of the whole puzzle. Acting is a profession full of contradictions though, so there are limits to our freedom: When I work, for example, with Jerzy Jarocki or Krzysztof Lupa, people I value and trust, then I give myself fully to them without arguing. In one of the scripts I remember writing on each page ‘Don’t argue!’. Frycz performed at the Słowacki Theatre in Cracow, the Polski Theatre in Warsaw, and the Stary Theatre in Cracow. Since 2006, he has been an actor at the National Theatre in Warsaw. The actor has worked with such directors as Jerzy Jarocki on Juliusz Słowacki’s ‘Salomea’s Silver Dream’, Jerzy Grzegorzewski (a play based on Adam Mickiewicz’ ‘Dziady’), Mikołaj Grabowski (William Shakespeare’s ‘King Lear’) and Krystian Lupa (Fiodor Dostojewski’s ‘Karamazov Brothers’ and Thomas Bernhard ‘Wycinka’ being staged now at the Polski Theatre in Wrocław).

‘Acting studies are a fantastic period in one’s life. This will never happen again. You have each other and each of you is a value in itself. In a few years’ time, it will turn out that only some of you succeeded, that you’ve lost contact with one another, and some of you were unable to face the pressure of the job. I have gone through all this. Enjoy what you have now.’ said Jan Frycz, the actor who has created many great theatre and film roles such as the General in the film ‘Nieruchomy poruszyciel’ by Łukasz Barczyk, the father in the film ‘Pręgi’ by Magdalena Piekorz and the Professor Zdzisław Dąbrowski in the film ‘Korowod’ by Jerzy Stuhr. The actor also gets involved in student film projects. He played the leading role in ‘Sanctuary’, Lodz Film School graduate, Nora McGettigan’s film debut. Today , 23rd January, is the day of the cinema premiere of Łukasz Barczyk’s film ‘Hiszpanka’, starring Jan Frycz as Ignacy Jan Paderewski.