Tadeusz Kantor was a Polish painter and director , stage designer, art theoretician and playwright; in the years 1942–1944 he managed the clandestine Independent Theatre, from 1955 the Cricot 2 Theatre , where until 1975 he staged adaptations of Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz's dramas , then his own performances Umarła klasa (The Dead Class) (1975), Wielopole, Wielopole (1980), Niech sczeną Artysty (Let the Artists Die ) (1985), I Will Never Return Here (1988), Today is My Birthday (1991).