Maria Prussak: The Diction of Modern Life
A review of the play Forefathers' Eve (Parts I, II, IV, and the poem "The Phantom") directed by Michał Zadara at the Polski Theater in Wrocław (premiere: 15.02.2014). The reviewer criticizes the actors' "modern diction," which determines the nature of the performance – it is slovenly and aggressive, changing the melody of the poetry into a chant. Prussak focuses on the postmodern blend of structures, which aims to modernize the Romantic irony. She also calls attention to how the creators of the play use new technology on stage. The questions Mickiewicz poses, in her opinion, are invalidated by the Wrocław performance, in that they are transferred into a world with an extremely different way of thinking.
Grzegorz Niziołek. Forefathers' Eve as Theater
At the beginning of his review of Forefathers' Eve (Parts I, II, IV, and the poem "The Phantom") directed by Michał Zadara at the Polski Theater in Wrocław (premiere: 15.02.2014), Grzegorz Niziołek gives a retrospective of the director's work. This allows him to analyze Forefathers' Eve in the context of the theatrical language that Zadara has developed. He also raises the subject of Mickiewicz's Forefathers' Eveas poetry and as a drama, and the public reception of this particular work. The reality on stage, which is set in the twenty-first century, he regards as a precise transposition, and not a banal modernization; the unusually long monologues (arising from the attempt to stage the drama in its entirety) translate, he believes, into a physiological experience for the viewer.
Gustaw on Earth. Bartosz Porczyk in Conversation with Monika Kwaśniewska
Bartosz Porczyk speaks of his role in Michał Zadara's Forefathers' Eve. The actor confesses that reading Part Four and learning the role of Gustaw by heart were in themselves major challenges. He speaks of the process of building a role based on such a careful reading of the text, culling the basic meaning and scenarios for theatrical movement out of it, and searching for ties between the various strands of the monologue. To his mind, Gustaw is a character full of unresolved contradictions, even in terms of the construction of the role. He is both a performer and a schizophrenic, a charismatic and repellent personality, and above all, alive and dead in both a literal and a metaphorical sense.
Dorota Jarząbek-Wasyl. In the National Tavern
A review of the play The Tovianists, Kings of the Clouds, directed by Wiktor Rubin, based on a text by Jolanta Janiczak (Stary Theater in Krakow, premiere: 14.03.2014). The author compares the world depicted in the Krakow production with the image of the Polish emigre community described by Cyprian Kamil Norwid. Jarząbek-Wasyl calls attention to aspects that depart from Norwid's concept. The critic believes that the creators of the play were deceived by the limitless capacity of the symbolic space, and the powerful impact of the opening of the performance diminishes with each passing minute. Consequently, Krakow's The Tovianists... is marked by a lack of both independence and originality.
Katarzyna Fazan. Non-Gustaws, non-Konrads: Swines, Boors…
Katarzyna Fazan writes of Jolanta Janiczak's The Tovianists, Kings of the Clouds, directed by Wiktor Rubin (premiere: 14.03.2014), appreciating the acting ensemble of the Stary Theater and the place the staging occupies in reflecting upon the post-Romantic paradigm. Quoting Maria Janion's work on the dialogue between history and the present, she takes the opposite stance, saying that graphomania as a strategic form can occupy an important place in today's theater that draws from the past. She also cites Gombrowicz as saying that "art is a person organizing himself," while noting that, in Rubin's play, both Mickiewicz and the other figures are people who are becoming disorganized. This is a "brilliantly performed and painfully conceived" disorganization, in her opinion, of the contemporary perception of historical biographies, and in effect, their "vulgarization."
Diana Taylor. The Archive and the Repertoire. Acts of Transfer: PerFORwhat Studies?
Diana Taylor calls attention to the necessity of including the traditions of Latin America and the whole Southern Hemisphere in considerations of performance, and postulates researching specific attributes of performances in new cultural conditions. She analyzes the very definition of performance, as well as its function, history, and ways of being understood. She backs up her discussion with some well-known theories (including those of Phelan, Butler, Debord, and Austin), while appreciating performance's connections with anthropology and theatrology. Later in the article, Taylor concentrates on the methodological consequences of shifting the center of gravity from the culture of writing to that of physicality, and analyzes the boundaries and relationships between a permanent archive and a fleeting repertoire of incarnated practices. She notes that we ought to pay more attention to the repertoire, and instead of strictly privileging texts and narratives, we ought to focus on scripts as well.
Małgorzata Sugiera. More Than a Turn: The Performative as the Foundation for Paradigm Shifts
Małgorzata Sugiera believes that in addressing the topic of man's first contact with the other, science fiction literature is a lens that focuses the current understanding of the human condition and its limitations. The author presents the essence of the performative turn by comparing Stanisław Lem's novel Eden (1958) and Peter Watts' Blindsight (2006). She also draws from the definition of the performative from the school competing with Richard Schechner's performance studies, suggested by Diana Taylor in The Archive and the Repertoire. Taylor perceives the performative as an attribute of human activity which establishes itself as an object unto itself.
Dorota Sajewska. Angels in Poland: A Fantasia on National Motifs
Who were the Polish women soldiers during World War I? Who remembers, or perhaps who does not remember the female knight Wanda Gertz? Dorota Sajewska confronts the myth of the Polish woman as a woman who can only wait for, then mourn the soldier, using the theories of Walter Benjamin, the film When Angels Fall byRoman Polański, and Polish paintings from the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. She proves that the marginalization of the roles of women in descriptions of armed conflicts in Poland, and their reduction to the role of nurses is a major falsification. This article also provides an answer to who played the roles of women in the field theaters.
Joanne Zerdy. Fashioning a Scottish Operative: Black Watch and Banal Theatrical Nationalism on Tour in the US
Zerdy's thoughts are focused on Black Watch – a stylized documentary performance by the Scottish National Theater, whose premiere took place in 2006. The play combines fragments of conversations between the author, Gregory Burke, and Black Watch soldiers returning from the war, with fictional scenes played out at the Camp Dogwood base in Iraq. According to the author of the text, the wide-spanning tour of the play through the United States creates a travelling national operative, building and questioning aspects of Scottishness in the play. Though these have a symbolic value, they also have material consequences that derive from the shared histories of Scotland and America and the future of Scottish cultural endeavors.
Roma Sendyka. Feast Your Eyes! Dark Tourism and Modernity
This article describes the phenomenon of "Thanatourism" – the practice of visiting places marked by suffering, the macabre, and death, such as cemeteries, battlefields, sites of catastrophes, political torture, or the homes of mass murderers. The author describes past attempts to classify this practice and evolution of the trend, as the term is applied by its scholars. She also poses questions concerning the various motivations of people who take part in these sorts of activities, and their significance in today's world, considering them from the perspective of political and media discourses. Sendyka attempts to set criteria for the process of isolating places determined by death from the geographical space.
Agnieszka Dauksza and Szymon Maliborski. Troubles with the Holocaust: On Dark Tourism from the Perspective of Late Witnesses
An article by Agnieszka Dauksza and Szymon Maliborski, creators of the Krakow Dreams of Amon Goeth project that took place in the framework of the Artboom Festival in Krakow in 2013. The analysis of this undertaking as an affective event is their point of departure to consider the phrase "troubles with the Holocaust" and the issue of "dark tourism." The artists speak of their experiences tied to work on the project in the villa once inhabited by Amon Goeth, commander of the concentration camp in Płaszów. Due to the unofficial function of the house, it avoided being transformed into a "tame" memory site, though resulting in its repression, turning it into a fetish, and giving it the status of a "cursed" site. At the same time, it is situated in the context of Thanatourism.
Iwona Kurz. The Unbearable Lightness of Representation
This article deals with the issue of the inevitable "effacement" of memory of war and the Holocaust in the context of the Polish education system and historical policy toward places of torture, as well as the representation of this process in culture (e.g. inMirosław Bałka's Winterreise) – particularly in our era of omnipresent social networking and the tools they use to express opinions and to evaluate. Focusing on the example of the Auschwitz Birkenau Museum, the author details various mechanisms that manipulate emotions and construct stereotypes.
Anna Sieroń. Collecting Experiences
Anna Sieroń examines strategies of constructing authenticity and experiences based on the "dark tourism" in Mexico and Columbia. The intensive growth of world tourism is a result of tourists' changing needs, which are decisive in discovering new realms for tourism – such as trips to places marked by death, and following in the footsteps of drug lords. Dark tourism, built around the principle of the reality show, is the point of departure for an analysis of the concept of authenticity. Reality tours, which allow us to see social problems "first hand," are one element of networks of cultural-economic exchange now being created. At the same time, the author believes that dark tourism harnesses the need to experience powerful emotions in a world increasingly seen as boring and predictable.
Joanna Jopek. Participations (II): The Paradoxes of Freedom
Joanna Jopek's article sums up the second edition of the Wielkopolska: Revolutions program, and is primarily an analysis of the participation strategies it used, the meetings between avant-garde artists and small communities, the statuses of host and guest, and the impact of the mainstream confronting the "periphery." The author is convinced that the Wielkopolska project is far from the superficial participation described by Markus Miessen in his book The Nightmare of Participation, which is quoted in this article. On the basis of two projects, Letters for Freedom and Conversation with a Medium, Jopek examines both the dramaturgical strategies applied and the artistic value, as well as the social function of the Wielkopolska curatorial program.
Rafał Kołsut. Here Is My Body, Here Is Your Blood
A review of the first episode of a theater series directed by Monika Strzępka, based on a text by Paweł Demirski, The Curse: Episodes from a Time of Hopelessness(Łaźnia Nowa Theater, IMKA, premiere: 15.03.2014). Kołsut takes a critical view of the dramaturgical structure of the play, pointing out the stilted pace of the narrative and the excessive duration, giving the viewer a sense of boredom and overappeasement. Another drawback is the low level of humor and its unexpected conservatism. The reviewer does appreciate, however, the splendid acting, particularly by Krzysztof Dracz and Paweł Tomaszewski. Particular recognition goes to the phenomenal creation of Dobromir Dymecki as the angry Jesus.
Anna Bajek. When Words Cease to Have Meaning
A review of the play The Silence of Job produced by Piotr Cieplak at the Narodowy Theater in Warsaw (premiere: 24.10.2014 ). The author states that, in drawing from the biblical story of Job, the director presents various standpoints toward suffering. This structured collection of statements and the fragments quoted from various, often journalistic sources, are a way to seek an interpretation of this character's attitude, through comparing it with diverse human experiences.
Marta Bryś. An Approach to Acropolis
A review of Acropolis, directed by Łukasz Twarkowski at the Stary Theater in Krakow (premiere: 30.11.2013). Stanisław Wyspiański's Acropolis has been dramaturgically reworked by Anka Herbut, showing itself to be a fully autonomous piece, facilitating the creation of a virtual, highly abstract space on stage, and one governed by its own rules. Marta Bryś looks at the set design and the construction of the play, which allow the drama to lock horns with the competing stage reality. At the same time, she points out another possible way of interpreting the performance, as a dialogue with the drama Acropolis as a reservoir of cultural cliches and the collective imagination.
Agata Łuksza. Slumbering Hearts
Ice, based on the novel by Vladimir Sorokin, and directed by Konstantin Bogomolov (Narodowy Theater in Warsaw, premiere: 25.01.2014), combines a critical assessment of Russian society in the early twenty-first century with a pessimistic and ironic vision of the history of the twentieth century. The reviewer feels that the play fails in terms of realizing its basic staging idea. The enormous trust that the director placed in the writer is visible in his showcasing of the text and his reduction of other means of expression. Agata Łuksza sees much untapped potential in the adaptation of this novel, which provides the opportunity to show the foreignness and inhumanity in "awoken" man-machines who are insensitive to hurt and suffering.
Paweł Schreiber. Cops and Robbers
A review of the komuna//warszawa play Terry Pratchett: Social Sciences – A Modern Chamber Opera (premiere: 16.02.2014). Paweł Schreiber examines the fictional character of Captain Vimes, head of the City Patrol of Ankh-Morpork, a metropolis from the Discworld novel series by Terry Pratchett. Komuna//warszawa has transformed the richly detailed plot of the series into an everyday game, in which the participants are the archetypes of the guardian of the law and the sowers of lawlessness. The reviewer calls attention to the originality of the form of the production, which uses the aesthetic of dance theater and opera to build an ambiguous image of the workings of the law and order in society in a thoughtful manner.
Ewa Fita. A Rollicking Tale of Sex and Demons
A review of Manuscript Found in the Saragossa directed by Paweł Świątek (Jan Kochanowski Theater in Opole, premiere: 08.02.2014). The creators of the Opole staging were intrigued by the bravado with which Jan Potocki wrote of religiousness, and sought to show the relationships between Catholic Europeans and other cultures and religions. The author believes, however, that it is not otherness, spirituality, and religiousness the play foregrounds, but eroticism and the body. She believes that the creators' line of interpretation has been so thoroughly concealed by effective stage solutions that the play primarily seems to be a rollicking tale of sex and demons.
Piotr Dobrowolski. Our Great Little Theater
A review of a modern version of Moliere's Misanthrope scripted by Julia Holewińska and Kuba Kowalski, who also directed the play (Polski Theater in Poznań, premiere: 14.02.2014). The creators of the performance retained the original title, the names of the protagonists, the order of the scenes, and even the significance of certain replicas of the dialogue, though they utterly changed the text, shifting the surroundings to the Polish theater community. Dobrowolski points out the universality of the world they present, as well as the aptness of many of their commentaries on problems in today's theater culture. He does opine, however, that some plots of the Poznań Misantrope are neither clear nor convincing.
Anna Teuwen. Of Household Imps and Cannibals
A review of Shakespeare's The Tempest directed by Maja Kleczewska for the Deutsches Spielhaus in Hamburg (premiere: 23.01.2014). Anna Teuwen points out the incoherence of the play's concept, hovering between an attempt to build deep psychological portraits of the characters, and references to current political events. The staging references both the protests in Hamburg in December 2013 against the expulsion of African refugees from Germany and German National Socialism, as well as policies toward Gastarbeiter. The author notes, however, that "what is meant to be critical in Kleczewska's work is inconsequential and seems forced." The concluding appearance of "a sort of unity" of the characters in the face of inevitable downfall is judged as interesting, however.
Florian Malzacher. Nature Theater of Oklahoma – The Story So Far... The Theater Games of Kelly Cooper and Pavol Liska with Control and Failure
The author describes the creative path of Kelly Cooper and Pavol Liska, beginning with their first artistic inspirations. He stresses that the projects by these artists are among the most significant theatrical works that have appeared in New York in recent years. According to Malzacher, the duo's work is a unique mix of conceptual rawness, an original amalgam of artistic strategies, and ecstatic theatrical art. The author also draws attention to their references to early American theater genres and their inspiration from Manhattan, thus calling Cooper and Liska's theater "thoroughly New York."
The Chance to Enter: Piotr Gruszczyński, Paweł Passini and Cezary Tomaszewski in Conversation with Łukasz Grabuś and Kazimierz Bardzik
A conversation to conclude an overview of opera performances, organized under the catchphrase "Opening Opera” (Pauza Cinema in Krakow, 8.05-13.05.2014). The artists spoke of the means, tools, and strategies that suit this medium, and the opportunities its language provides. They raised many key issues concerning the differences between operatic and dramatic theater, both from the perspective of the artists, who are increasingly hired in Poland to refresh, revive, and diversify the musical stages, and from the audience perspective.
Natalia Jakubowa. "Fathers" and "Guardians" Versus Daughters, Wives, Witches, and Apparitions
The author reviews the stagings presented at the Opernfestspiele at the Bavarian National Opera (22 June – 31 July 2013). The Munich festival functions as a rival to the Wagner ceremonies in Bayreuth, which, in the jubilee year of 2013, turned into a face-off (designed in the event's program) between two great opera reformers: Giuseppe Verdi and Richard Wagner. The author of the present text saw this polemic as clearly sketched out in Rigoletto, directed by Árpád Schilling, and Simon Boccanegra, directed by Dimitri Cherniakov. Apart from these two performances, Jakubowa analyzes Macbeth, directed by Martin Kušej, George Benjamin's Written on Skin – a contemporary opera directed by Katie Mitchell, and Boris Godunov inCalixto Bieito's rendition.
Marta Seredyńska. Can a Choreographer Also Be an Archeologist?
A review of the Body Archive performative project at the Castle Cultural Center in Poznań (September-December 2013). Following the archeological concept of Michel Foucault, the significance and perception of certain phenomena change depending on the time, politics, and social norms. According to Marta Seredyńska, the seven plays presented in the Body Archive project, in which contemporary choreographers attempt to reconstruct the works of their predecessors, fully realize this premise. The author provides very detailed descriptions of the following projects: a performative lecture, Urheben/Aufheben, by Martin Nachbar, drawing from Affectos Humanos by Dora Hoyer; The Tomaszewski Project byMikołaj Mikołajczyk; Birth Out by Kaya Kołodziejczyk, alluding to the work of Henryk Tomaszewski and Conrad Drzewiecki; and Whatever by Tomasz Bazan.
Tomasz Kowalski. I See, Therefore...?
Relating two successive editions of the Poznań #you are not indifferent to me series, Tomasz Kowalski analyzes the various ways of affecting the audience in the plays Disabled Theater (Theater HORA) and Theatre (Superamas Collective). The author of the article calls attention to the form of the two productions, which not only goes beyond the traditional boundaries of theater, but even tests the viewers' perception. At the same time, the network of ties between a play performed by the mentally impaired and absurdist theater of political fiction goes far beyond what we might call ordinary political theater.
Agnieszka Sosnowska. I Throw My Hands in the Air – If You Catch Them, They're Yours
The author describes a performance by the Brown Dance Company at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in late January/early February 2012, where Trisha Brown said farewell to the public; this was also a sort of homage to the artist. The program was made up of four choreographies, gathered to show the diversity of her work from 1966 to 2011. Sosnowska stresses Brown's major achievement in going beyond modern dance and creating a postmodern dance, and describes the circumstances in which the various choreographies were presented in New York.
Krzysztof Bielawski. Theatrical and Civic Metamorphoses in Ancient Greece in a Dionysian Context
An essay on the metamorphic nature of Dionysus as the patron of the theater. The author presents the two main lines of interpretation that dominate discussions on the subject of the ritual theories of the genesis of theater and its links with the cult of Dionysus: for the purposes of this text he calls them "mystery" (represented in Poland by Jan Kott) and "Roman" (represented by Mirosław Kocur). Bielawski emphasizes the metamorphic aspect of the god; he refers to theories of performative acts, indicating not only the symbolic, but also the causative nature of the changes brought about by Dionysus – in terms of social structure, organization of space and time, and stage transformations.
Agnieszka Wanicka. "My Tongue Comes Alive When I Meet a Person"
A review of a book by Zbigniew Osiński, Encounters with Jerzy Grotowski: Notes, Letters, and a Study (Gdańsk 2013). This book is principally a record how the theatrology connected to the work of Jerzy Grotowski was created and entered the spheres of university lessons and academic study in Poland and the world. The reviewer believes that its chief value is in its being a unique report of the lively relationship between a theater reformer and a scholar of his work, immortalized in the form of recollections and documents, presenting the stories of their private and telephone conversations, their meetings with the public, travels, and visits, full of seemingly trivial details of everyday life.
Monika Żółkoś. Tearing Apart the Picture
Monika Żółkoś reviews a book by Dorota Semenowicz, This Is Not a Picture: Romeo Castellucci and the Socìetas Raffaello Sanzio, released as part of the Ha!art Publishers theater series (Krakow 2013). Without attempting to synthesize Castellucci's entire oeuvre, the scholar establishes her own structure, distinguishing between his iconoclastic plays, his pre-tragic period, and his period of works with religious images. One of the main strands is an analysis of the iconography of Castellucci's theater and his visual understanding. Another important part of her study is the status of the viewer in the Socìetas Raffaello Sanzio Theater and the challenges placed before him or her. |