He studied physics at the
Jagiellonian University in
Kraków, between 1963 and 1969 he studied graphics at the
Kraków Academy of Fine Arts, also film directing at the
National Higher School of Film in
Łódź and finally, theatre directing at the
Ludwik Solski Academy for the Dramatic Arts. After graduation, he worked at the
Cyprian Kamil Norwid Theatre in
Jelenia Góra. In
Łódź, he started to collaborate with
Konrad Swinarski, and was influenced by the works of
Tadeusz Kantor. In 1976, he made his debut as a director by staging
Sławomir Mrożek's play
The Slaughterhouse at the
Juliusz Słowacki Theatre in Kraków where he worked for many years. In this period, he explored in his works the spiritual condition of man in the era of deep cultural transformation. In 1986, he became the director of the
National Stary Theatre in Kraków. Lupa is renowned for his specific methods of working with the text and actors in a very organic way also known as "laboratory rehearsals". He is known to translate and adapt the texts which he stages, at the same time designing the scenery and directing these productions. Occasionally, he appears on stage himself as the narrator. During his career he made a lot of notable productions based on texts of
Robert Musil,
Thomas Bernhard,
Fyodor Dostoyevsky,
Rainer Maria Rilke,
Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz,
Maxim Gorky or
Witold Gombrowicz. and
Austrian Decoration for Science and Art. In 2014, he received the
Nestroy Theatre Prize for the staging of Thomas Bernhard's 1986 novel
Woodcutters. He also received two nominations to Poland's top literary prize, the
Nike Award, in 2002 for
Labirynt and in 2004 for
Podglądania. In 2016, he received the
Golden Cross of the Stage Award in Lithuanina for staging
Thomas Bernhard's play 'Heldenplatz' (Heroes' Square) in
Lithuanian National Drama Theatre. In 2017, he became a member of the
Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences. The same year, he created an adapted stage play,
Mo Fei, combining several works by author
Shi Tiesheng.
Mo Fei premiered as the original play in the
Tianjin Grand Theatre during the Lin Zhaohua Theatre Invitational Exhibition.
Controversy In June 2023, his play
The Emigrants, based on the
novel by
W.G. Sebald, was cancelled by the Comédie de Genève and
Festival d'Avignon as the director faced allegations of verbally abusing a number of team members involved in the project. The reason behind the cancellation was cited as "differences over the work philosophy". Lupa later apologized for his behaviour but at the same time noted the lack of efforts to discuss the matter and reach a compromise. == Europe Theatre Prize ==