BIO

Polish theater director, playwright, from 2013 to 2017 director of the Helena Modrzejewska National Old Theater in Krakow, columnist for Tygodnik Powszechny. In February 2025 nominated as director of the National Theater in Warsaw.

He studied directing at the State Higher School of Theater in Warsaw and at the Stanislaw Wyspianski Academy of Theater Arts in Krakow. He was an assistant to Jerzy Grzegorzewski, Jerzy Jarocki and Krystian Lupa. To his credit, he has more than 30 productions staged in Polish and foreign theaters. In 2013-2017 he was the director of the Helena Modrzejewska National Old Theater in Krakow.

His directorial debut was Nikolai Gogol’s “The Inspector” (Jerzy Szaniawski Theater in Walbrzych, 2003). His position as a director, however, was confirmed by his original staging of William Shakespeare’s “Hamlet,” titled “H.” (Wybrzeze Theater in Gdansk, 2004). Among the plays directed by Jan Klata, the most acclaimed were: “A Mechanical Orange” based on the novel by Anthony Burgess (Wrocław Contemporary Theater, 2005), ‘Transfer!’ (Wrocław Contemporary Theater, 2006), ‘Shoemakers at the Gates’ based on Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz (TR Warsaw, 2007), ‘The Danton Case’ by Stanisława Przybyszewska (Polish Theater in Wrocław, 2008) or the adaptation of ‘Trilogy’ by Henryk Sienkiewicz’s “Trilogy” (National Old Theater in Cracow, 2009). For his staging of William Shakespeare’s “King Lear” (2013), Jan Klata won the prestigious Golden Yorick award given to the best Polish interpretation of Shakespearean works. He is also the winner of the Polityka Passport and the Konrad Swinarski Award – given by the editors of the monthly theater magazine – for the best director of the season.