Dzieło teatralne w refleksji historyków teatru. Od badania artefaktów do wyzwań performatywnych

The article is an attempt to view theatre history studies from a methodological stance, at the same time posing some key questions of this field of research: inwhat way do theatre historians describe their object of study and what instruments do they use to get their findings? It seems that there are several basic strategies,which have been adopted both in older and contemporary research. Some ofthem exhibit numerous connexions with the newest methodological views, which constitute a challenge for the humanities and give a chance to renew the discourse.An important impulse in this respect comes from the most outstanding theatre historians, like Prof. Julian Lewański, whose works read anew may be a source of numerous methodological inspirations.