Dorota Krzywicka-Kaindel. Beauty and Bitterness
Dorota Krzywicka-Kaindel reviews Francuzi (The French) directed by Krzysztof Warlikowski (premiere at the Ruhrtreinnale: 21 Aug 2015). The author gives a detailed description of selected scenes of the performance, empahsising the precision of their dramaturgy and praising the acting, stage design and music. She also points out that Francuzi is a statement about the dilution of the quality of art, standing against the impoverishment of culture. She claims that the performance is very distinctive and has a strong impact on the audience.
Katarzyna Fazan. Stage Design Exhibitions 2015: a Choreography of Bodies, Voices and Objects
Katarzyna Fazan's article is an account of the Prague Quadriennale, whose subject this year was Shared Space: Music, Weather, Politics (Prague, 18-28 Jun 2015). The author remarks on the organisational matters, and describes the exhibition venues as well as the structure of the event. She gives more extensive accounts of selected artistic proposals, i.a. the film installation Glastonbury: Land and Legend, the Polish and Slovak exhibition, Olivier Frljić's and Igor Paušk's performance Danton's Death, and the project Is There Life on the Stage. She also devotes some attention to objects and props which constituted a separate current within the PQ, showing object-based narrative.
Magda Szcześniak. Tender Relationships, Perverse Reading – an Introduction to Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick's Theories
Magda Szcześniak introduces to the reader a very colourful figure, one of the most important researchers in the fields of queer studies and affective theory: Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, the author of, among others, Epistemology of the Closet, Melanie Klein and the Difference Affect, Touching Feeling. Affect, Pedagogy, Performativity, Paranoid reading and Reparative Reading, or, You're So Paranoid, You Probably Think This Essay Is About You. Szcześniak mentions the most important phenomena absorbing the American scholar: the problem of closeness, queer, feminism, masculinity, performativity, affects etc. Interestingly, Sedgwick not only researched her theories, but also incorporated them into her writing and pedagogical practice. As a result, a strongly affective, bodily bond appears between the author and the reader.
Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick. Around the Performative: Peripeformative Vicinities in Nineteenth-century Narrative
Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick's article is devoted to an analysis of particular linguistic structures which the scholar calls „periperformative utterances”. They are sentences or sets of sentences which refer to Austin's performative utterances (often describing or negating them), even though they themselves do not belong to the category. The author mentions numerous examples taken from nineteenth-century narratives (by Dickens, James, Eliot and others), particularly focusing on utterances which undermine or transform the marital vows taken by the characters of the novels.
Agnieszka Dauksza. Periperformativity as a Device. The Grassroots Methods of Witold Gombrowicz
The author attempts a reading of Witold Gombrowicz's work through the concept of periperformativity presented by Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick. In particular, she examines two works: Virginity and Ivona, Princess of Burgundia. Dauksza analyses how and to what purpose Gombrowicz employs the agency of the periperformative acts, and what the textual consequences of this are. The analysis becomes an opportunity to reflect on the qualities and functions of periperformativity. It also allows to realise anew the subversive and affective potential of Gombrowicz's work and draw attention to the scale of social criticism conducted by this writer.
Monika Kwaśniewska. The Intensity of Periperformance. Derek Jarman's The Angelic Conversation
Kwaśniewska analyses the political potential of Derek Jarman's film based on Shakespeare's Sonnets. She notices that the film, showing love between two men, is not directly or declaratively engaged in the struggle for equal rights for sexual minorities. Jarman has inscribed homosexual love into a sophisticated artistic, philosophical and existential discourse. However, Kwaśniewska claims that the film is not ideologically neutral. It is determined by the affective potential contained in it, working both within the work and in its relationship with the viewer. According to the author, a subtle, intimate, intense way of showing the relationship between the protagonists, defying conventions and stereotypes, can be much more efficient in influencing the judgments and attitudes of the viewers than an overt political declaration.
Hélène Cixous, Ariane Mnouchkine. Enter a Modern Hecuba
The conversation between Hélène Cixous and Ariane Mnouchkine revolves around subjects connected to the working methods used by Théâtre du Soleil, especially in terms of dealing with the text. Out of the conversation emerges an image of Mnouchkine's directorial style, the evolution of the role Cixious (the author of the texts) has played in the ensemble and the character of the relationship between the two artists. Talking about the benefits of cooperation, the two women emphasise the importance of building a close link between the author of the text and the creative team, which proves beneficial to both sides. Describing the way of working on a Théâtre du Soleil performance, they pay special attention to the meaning of the category of character and the relationship between the actor and the character enacted on stage.
Magdalena Hasiuk. “We Are All Authors”
Magdalena Hasiuk's article sketches the history of Théâtre du Soleil over the fifty years of its existence. The author describes the rules determining the work of the ensemble and its main ideological assumptions. However, she particularly focuses on the role of the founder and leader of the Théâtre du Soleil – Ariane Mnouchkine. Hasiuk describes how Mnouchkine's position evolved, linking her tasks with the methods used by the ensemble in its work with text, as well as the artistic dialogue with Hélène Cixous, initiated by the director. One of the most important categories in the description of the work of Théâtre du Soleil is the notion of collective creation, whose character has changed over the years of the ensemble's existence.
Magdalena Hasiuk. A Panorama of the Downfall
Magdalena Hasiuk reviews the Théâtre du Soleil performance Macbeth. William Shakespeare's Tragedy as (presently) staged at Théâtre du Soleil (prem.: 30 Apr 2014). The author pays particular attention to the spectacular aspect of the performance, describing the multiplicity of the means of stage expression employed in it. The images built on the stage create parallels to the history of Macbeth's downfall. Hasiuk also describes the role of the actors in the meticulously structured onstage world. She particularly emphasises the title role performed by Serge Nicolaï, who expresses the metamorphoses and paradoxes shaping Macbeth through his body.
“A Careless Jump into the Void“ - Judit Jancso and Sylvain Jailloux (actors of Théâtre du Soleil) in conversation with Magdalena Hasiuk
Magdalena Hasiuk's conversation with actors of Théâtre du Soleil focuses on the working methods of Ariane Mnouchkine's ensemble. Judit Jancso and Sylvain Jailloux talk about the circumstances in which they joined the group and the way in which Mnouchkine's style of work changed over the years. They devote much attention to the work on Macbeth. They also tell about the emotion accompanying them in the course of the creative process and the ways of employing them in the creation of a performance.
Helga Finter. Aesthetic Experience as Critical Practice
Applied theatre studies in Giessen 1991-2008
The text is a reflection summing up nearly two decades of postmodern theatre. The author, a professor of applied theatre studies in Giessen who has educated not only numerous critics and scholars, but also theatre practitioners, thinks that the main reason for the revolution in theatre are the modern media. She also notices the influence of the television on the shaping of stage language: a departure from orthodox interpretation of the dramatic text and substituting it with numerous scenarios inspired with materials other than theatrical plays. Finter refers to numerous examples and presents certain theses concerning the future.
Agata Dąbek. 10.000 Characters for ATW
Agata Dąbek reviews the book Byle dalej. Autobiografia mówiona i materiały (trans. Mateusz Borowski, Anna R. Burzyńska, Małgorzata Leyko, Małgorzata Sugiera, Spector Books Leipzig, Instytut Teatralny im. Zbigniewa Raszewskiego, Warszawa 2014), an extended autobiographical tale by Andrzej Wirth. The book, edited by Thomas Irmer, is built around the rules of complex storytelling: it combines a long interview with countless interpolations and fragments of publications, essays and articles written by other authors. The book becomes a polylogue, confronting various points of view. According to Dąbek, it would be difficult to imagine a more faithful image of the professor, founder of the Institute of Applied Theatre Studies in Giessen.
Olga Katafiasz. That's Us, Everybody
Olga Katafiasz analyses two performances directed by Michał Zadara at Teatr Powszechny in Warsaw, based on Juliusz Słowacki's plays. Reviewing the diptych consisting of Fantazy (prem.: 19 Jun 2015) and Lilla Weneda (prem.: 29 Aug 2015), the author focuses above all on examining the narrative strategies referring to film, its different genres and stages of chronological development. Katafiasz notices, among other things, references to silent cinema or the poetics of Quentin Tarantino's work. The review also discusses the problem of adapting historical drama and contemporisation.
Joanna Targoń. After the Premiere
A short comment by Joanna Targoń after the premiere of Fantazy, directed by Michał Zadara (Teatr Powszechny, Warsaw, prem. 19 Jun 2015). The author criticises the performance for the poor use it makes of the research on the life of nineteenth-century aristocracy conducted by the costume designer and stage designer. She points out a number of mistakes and shortcomings in the visual sphere of the performance. She also claims that the director has proved unable to prepare the actors to deliver Słowacki's text properly.
Monika Kwaśniewska. A Piece of Death Is Rolling in my Eye Like a Tear
A review of Hamlet directed by Krzysztof Garbaczewski (Stary Teatr, Cracow, prem. 13 Jun 2015). Kwaśniewska notes that by cutting and editing, transferring text from character to character, multiplicating the figure of Hamlet and adding plotlines and characters absent from the play, the creators of this staging of Shakespeare's text the flavour of an unpredictable event. Tracing the different strands of the show and referring them to contexts from the interpretative and theatrical tradition of Hamlet suggested in the performance, the author notices that Garbaczewski's principal guide is Stanisław Wyspiański. However, in this reading, inspired by the Hamlet Study, the director lacks precision in naming the themes he regards as crucial. As a result, he leaves Hamlet in a state of chaos – both fascinating and irritating.
Waldemar Wasztyl. When I’m Sixty Four
Waldemar Wasztyl writes about Maciej Korbowa i Bellatrix (Maciej Korbowa and Bellatrix)based on the work of Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz, and directed by Krystian Lupa (part 1 and 2 of the performance) and Tomasz Węgorzewski (part 3). The performance, shown for the first time on Apr 28, 015 at the Łaźnia Nowa Theatre in Cracow, is actually a reconstruction of the Ludwik Solski Academy for the Dramatic Arts diploma from 1993. The author juxtaposes it with its original sources: the 1993 diploma performance and the premiere directed by Lupa in 1986 in Zielona Góra. The review also contains references to the whole of Lupa's work, as well as remarks concerning the functioning of video cameras and film in his performances, especially in Maciej Korbowa i Bellatrix.
Maksymilian Wroniszewski. Dressed in the Costume of Etiquette
Maksymilian Wroniszewski reviews Portrait of a Lady directed by Ewelina Marciniak (Teatr Wybrzeże, prem. 17 May 2015). The author praises the production for the bold rewriting of the original novel and the well-conceived decisions concerning the adaptation. Giving detailed descriptions of selected scenes from the performance, the author points out how the stage and costume design influence the meanings of the whole. Even though he considers Portrait of a Lady to be a success and a show that is excellent on almost every level, he also accuses the director of treating the subject superficially.
Karolina Leszczyńska. TR Laboratory
The article is an account of the project “Teren TR” (“TR Terrain” - TR Warsaw 7-26 Jun 2015), whose aim was to allow young creators to become noticed in the world of the theatre and theatre experiments (e.g. through connecting theatre with other branches of art). The author analyses and interprets three out of five performances: Ewelina płacze (Evelyn is crying) by Anna Karasińska, Grind/r by Piotr Trojan and #Jaś #i #Małgosia (#Hansel #and #Gretel) by Michał Szymonik and Elżbieta Depta. She also points out the games with illusion and reality, manifested distance from the topic and metatextual commentary. Leszczyńska notices that the high quality of the performances that reached the finals is determined by formal experiments and allusions to contemporary reality. However, she also claims that the performances were conceived with a particular festival in mind, and outside of this context their formal innovation can be less attractive.
Katarzyna Waligóra. The Sensitivity of a Child
Katarzyna Waligóra reviews Potlatch directed by Iga Gańczarczyk – the result of working with children aged 7-14 (Bunkier Sztuki Galery, prem. 28 Aug 2015). The author praises the performance for its skilful balancing of the intention to deal with important subjects (economics, the financial crisis, futurology), entering the present social discourse, and activating the element of theatricality and play. According to Waligóra, in the performance the children show their sensitivity and ability of creating valid (though slightly naïve) diagnoses of relationships between power, money and liberty.
Agata Chałupnik. Fredro. Nobody Knows Him (2nd edition)
Agata Chałupnik continues her reflection on the project “Fredro. Nobody knows me” ogranised in the 2014/15 season by the Zbigniew Raszewski Theatre Institute (the first part appeared in “Didaskalia” no. 126). The author emphasises the fact that the principal aim of the project was to “broaden the Fredro canon and refresh the theatrical language usually employed in staging Fredro, to step beyond the stereotype we are fed in schools”. This time Chałupnik focuses on the analysis of Nowy Don Kiszot (The New Don Quixote) directed by Katarzyna Raduszyńska, Rewolwer (The Revolver) directed by Barbara Wysocka, Ciotunia (The Auntie) directed by Weronika Szczawińska and Pan Jowialski (Mister Jowialski) directed by Wojtek Klemm.
Beata Kustra. The Beatnik, the Hipster
Writing about Howl (Teatr Łaźnia Nowa, prem. 11 Jun 2015) directed by Maciej Podstawny, Beata Kustra focuses above all on the facts about the Beat Generation referred to by the director. The author praises him for a solid account of the main assumptions of the movement and notices the association between the beatniks and contemporary hipsters, emphasised in the performance According to Kustra, the actors try on the ideas of Beat Generation and check whether they are still relevant. Balancing between the notions of “hipsters” and “beatniks” becomes the key point of the review.
Monika Pasiecznik. Cult, Culture, Popculture
Monika Pasiecznik reviews the operas Requiem dla ikony (Requiem for an icon) and Voyager directed by Michał Borczuch (Teatr Wielki – Opera Narodowa, prem. 22 May 2015) created as part of Project “P”. The author notes that Głowicka's and Kupczak's music is colourful, but conventional in terms of dramaturgy. She criticises the director for a staging that is too simple and too static, focused on a literal presentation of the contents of the operas. Pasiecznik also sums up the whole project, showing the points at which it led to mistakes and failed performances. However, she emphasises that it was an experiment which can – after a thorough analysis – lead to interesting conclusions. She also points out the publicity which it brought to the opera and the renewed animation of discussions concerning musical ventures.
Jolanta Łada-Zielke. Indigo Love and Triangles
Jolanta Łada-Zielke reviews Tristan and Isolde directed by Katharina Wagner, shown during the Bayreuth festival (prem.: 25 Jul 2015). The author recalls the biographical context of the creation of Richard Wagner's opera. She presents the outline of the plot, pointing out the differences between the opera and the legend. She also describes Katharina Wagner's staging devices, emphasising the skilful use of colour and light.
Monika Pasiecznik. Madness in the Modern Age
The author presents a critical analysis of the opera performance la bianca notte/die helle nacht by Beato Furrer, shown at the Staatsoper Hamburg (prem.: 10 May 2015). The work of the Swedish composer, created within the current of „Künstler-Oper”, tells the story of the life of a quirky Italian poet from the turn of the twentieth century, Dino Campana, which, as Pasiecznik notes, was “oscillating between numerous voyages (he was building his own myth of a nomad poet) and stays at psychiatric hospitals”. The main plotline dealing with the mad artist has not been used in an original way, and the performance itself is not exceptional in comparison to other excellent operas by Furrer. The article ends with a remark concerning the change of management at the Staatsoper Hamburg and the hopes associated with it.
Ewa Guderian-Czaplińska. „A Brighter Way to Southampton”
Ewa Guderian-Czaplińska writes about the exhibition Let's Dance (Art Station Gallery, Stary Browar Poznań, 20 Jun – 18 Oct 2015), curated by Joanna Leśniarowska, Tomasz Plata and Agnieszka Sosnowska. Its point of departure is the analysis of the recording of a spontaneous dance of Aaron Taylor-Johnson to the R.E.M. song ÜBerlin, which, according to the author, perfectly illustrates the title of the exhibition. However, the thematic range of the exposition at Stary Browar is very broad and alongside works energetically showing the “liberating power of dance”, there are also those which question it. For some, visiting the exhibition can also become a sentimental journey leading from the classics of modern dance through pop music videos to the so-called “Internet hits”.
Tomasz Fryzeł. A Church Human or Divine?
In the account of the International Modern Dance Festival KRoki in Cracow (17-25 May 2015) Tomasz Fryzeł focuses on three performances: Mistral by Susanne Linke and Koffi Kôko, Tyran(s) by the group Dame de Pic, Eyes in the colours of the rain by the RootlesRoot Dance Company and What the body does not remember by the group Ultima Vez. The author points out that the performances shown during the festival used multiple voices to comment on the questions of the sacred and lay character of art and the subject of power and domination in interpersonal relationships. He also emphasises the fact that most performances were based on intense encounters between strong artistic personalities.
Thomas Irmer. Apocalypse Baal
Thomas Irmer reviews Frank Castorf's performance Baal (Residenztheater, Munich, prem.: 15 Jan 2015). The author focuses on describing the montage in which the director links Brecht's play with Coppola's film Apocalypse Now. He closely examines the staging devices which have led to the creation of a performance which Irmer considers to be one of Castorf's strongest. The author also descries the conflict between the director and the playwright's heirs. The text ends with the comment of Rudolf C. Hemke (lawyer, dramaturg and administrative director of the theatre) who claims that legal norms should be rethought in the context of the changing staging practices.
Grzegorz Stępniak. That’s So Gay
Grzegorz Stępniak reviews Dynasty by the Pink Mama Theater group (prem.: 20 Feb 2015 at Dampfzentrale Bern, Switzerland). The point of departure for the review of the performance (presented in June at Małopolski Ogród Sztuki) is the mention of the cult Eighties television series telling the story of the Carrington family. Despite significant differences between the series and the performance, which is a singular adaptation of Euripides' The Bacchae, Stępniak points out certain similarities. In this context, the author's critical remarks concerning the camp or queer character of Pink Mama Theater's work are particularly interesting: it is theatre that wants to be subversive, but in fact perpetuates stereotypes.
Thomas Irmer. Extremism from the Inside
Thomas Irmer reviews Milo Rau's performance Civil Wars (prem.: 27 Aug 2014, shown during F.I.N.D. at the Schaubühne in Berlin: 17-19 Apr 2015) dealing with Muslism brought up in Europe who decided to become terrorists. The author describes the performance in the context of Milo Rau's directorial style. He points out that some questions posed in the show remain unanswered. However, he admits that the director has worked out a very consistent creative style, whose main feature is not agitprop or making statements, but presenting a new perspective on the subject and emphasising points that have been unclear or avoided.
Tomasz Kowalski. Looking for a New Order
The article is an account of the 25th edition of the Malta Festival in Poznań, whose title was “New world order”. Describing selected performances shown within the main current of Malta and outside it, the author follows the elements of the status quo pointed out by the artists as requiring improvement or crucial reevaluation. He also claims that this year's program lacked a performance that could trigger a heated debate about the future and the new order, the search for which became the main focus of the festival.
Katarzyna Tórz. Festival. Exercises in Exception
Santarcangelo Festival Internazionale del Teatro in Piazza (10-19 Jul 2015) is one of the most important independent theatre festivals in Italy. This year's edition focused predominantly on two problems: “The first was the question of art – its agency and […] the resulting ethical and political responsibility of the creators and viewers. The second theme was the mutual relationship between the body and the archive”. Tórz concentrates on five artistic events of the festival: Tino Sehgal's triptych Untitled (2000), a project by Milo Rau and his International Institute for Political Murder entitled Breivik's Statement, Arkadi Zaides' Archive, Silvia Calderoni's monodrama MDLSX and Markus Öhrn's performance Azdora.
Maryla Zielińska. The Bicycle is a World…
The bicycle becomes the theme of two books reviewed by Maryla Zielińska, which have one thing in common: a love of the two wheels. The first one is the memoir of a bicycle journey written post factum by Piotr Cieplak. Zielińska notices, that the description of the voyage in O niewiedzy w praktyce, czyli droga do Portugalii (Ignorance in Practice, or the Road to Portugal, Fundacja Teatr Nie-Taki, Wrocław 2014) is merely a pretext for Cieplak's existential reflections and reevaluations. The second book reviewed here, Jakub Papuczys' Tour de France jako przedstawienie kulturowe (The Tour de France as a Cultural Performance, Wydawnictwo UJ, Kraków 2015) is, according to he author, an interesting proposal, analysing and interpreting the bicycle race through the focus of performance studies, which allows to understand the phenomenon of the Tour de France.
Katarzyna Niedurny. Tales of the Lens
Katarzyna Niedurny reviews the albums Staniewski – Gardzienice – Antyk (Staniewski – Gardzienice – Antiquity, Wydawnictwo Czarne, Wołowiec 2015) and Mariusz Treliński. Więcej niż życie (Mariusz Treliński – More than Life, Teatr Wielki – Opera Narodowa, Warsaw 2015) containing theatre photographs by Krzysztof Bieliński. The author examines the photographer's approach to the world shown on the stage, the inner logic of the two albums and the ideas determining the creation and selection of photographs. Niedurny points out the link between the photos and both the particular style of Bieliński's work and the onstage images created by the directors.
Friederike Felbeck. Links between Theatrical Cultures
Friederike Felbeck writes about the book The Politics of Interweaving Performance Cultures: Beyond Postcolonialism published in 2014 in New York. The book (created by an international research college based at the Freie Universität in Berlin) is in fact a collection of twelve different essays dealing with complex questions of intercultural exchange. It was edited by Erika Fischer-Lichte, Torsten Jost and Saskya Iris Jain. The authors include Margaret Werry, Helen Gilbert, Brian Singleton, Natascha Siouzouli, Khalid Amine and Marvin Carlson. |