It was founded in 1955 by the renowned theatre director, professional painter and assemblage artist, avantgarde set designer and art theorist Tadeusz Kantor, with artwork in the collections of the National Museum in Kraków and Warsaw.

The greatest popularity and recognition Cricot 2 received for its original production of the Dead Class (Umarła klasa) of 1975;[2] a new theatrical format invented by Kantor.

It was dubbed the "Theatre of Death", a kind of spiritualist séance, evoking sensory images, words and sounds deformed by the passing of time.

Kantor created his own unique visual canon and theatrical ambience impossible to repeat or continue after his death in 1990.

Soon thereafter, his last production called Dziś są moje urodziny (Today is my Birthday) has been completed and performed by the actors without his presence and the company ceased operations, even though the discussions whether or not to continue without him were split.