Polish actor-puppeteer, stage director and managing director of puppet theatre. Andrzej Dziedziul began his career in 1957 in Poznań at Teatr Animacji w Poznaniu (Poznan Theatre of Animation) where he qualified as an actor-puppeteer. In following seasons he performed in the puppet theatres of Słupsk and Opole – Opolski Teatr Lalki i Aktora im. Alojzego Smolki (Alojzy Smolka Puppet and Actor Theatre of Opole). In 1963, he became a member of the Wrocławski Teatr Lalek (Wrocław Puppet Theatre), remaining there ten years, where he inspired creativity and research into new means of expression.

Andrzej Dziedziul began his career in stage directing in 1965, concentrating on his original solo productions for adult audiences presented on the Mała Scena (Little Stage) of the Wroclaw theatre he had launched. He restaged the great myths of world literature (Faust, Hamlet, Don Quixote), in which he imbued a dimension comprehensible to contemporary audiences, that were presented in original stagings: he combined the performance of the human actor with that of the puppet, used non-conventional puppets and objects, and greatly exploited the stage space.  

Among his shows of note are: Wielki książę (The Great Prince, 1967) based on William Shakespeare’s Hamlet; Stan losów Fausta (Faust’s State of Destiny, 1968) based on Christopher Marlowe and Goethe; Kto zabił Don Kichota? (Who Killed Don Quixote?, 1969) based on Cervantes; Dramat układasz (You Compose the Drama, 1971), based on the Nie-Boska komedia (Undivine Comedy) by Zygmunt Krasiński; Glątwa (The Hangover, 1973) from the texts of Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz and Witkiewicz senior.

Andrzej Dziedziul performed his solo-monodramas in theatres in many countries in Europe, notably in Germany, Italy and France. At the turn of 1960 and 1970 he taught young puppeteers at the Wydział Lalkarski we Wrocławiu (Faculty of Puppet Theatre in Wroclaw). In 1976, he established the Teatr Animacji (Theatre of Animation) in Jelenia Góra, one of the youngest State puppet theatres in Poland which he headed (also performing and directing) until 1980. Andrzej Dziedziul spent the 1980s in Sweden where he continued his theatre career until his death, working with, among others, Vojo Stankovski and the Tottem theatre in Uppsala (until 1984) and the Retablo theatre that he created in Stockholm in 1984.

(See Poland.)