The 33rd Warsaw Theatre Meetings

The 33rd Warsaw Theatre Meetings

18 April - 1 May 2013

Performances directed by Mikołaj Grabowski, Jan Klata, Paweł Łysak and Mariusz Grzegorzek, plays written by Shakespeare, Chekhov and Sophocles. Famous shows from Teatr Polski in Wrocław and Teatr Zagłębia in Sosnowiec, a story about a cabaret in a concentration camp, the provocative „Queen’s Peacock” by Dorota Masłowska from Stary Teatr in Cracow, and finally a revue directed by Monika Strzępka about a sneaky attempt of privatizing a well-known maternity clinic – these are just some of the attractions of this year’s edition of Warsaw Theatre Meetings. Performances targeted at younger spectators will accompany performances for adults just like in previous years.   

Shows for adults will be performed with English supertitles or with handed out synopses.

Jacek Rakowiecki, theatre and film reviewer, is the curator of the "adult" edition, while Marek Waszkiel, a puppeteer, pedagogue and expert on theatre for children selected the performances for the younger spectators.

As much as 19 shows will be presented in venues of Teatr Dramatyczny, in Teatr Studio and Teatr Polski.

The 33rd Warsaw Theatre Meetings and the little Warsaw Theatre Meetings are organized by Teatr Dramatyczny in Warsaw, the City of Warsaw and the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage.

Tickets are available in the box office of Teatr Dramatyczny (22-632 03 70, 22-656 68 44, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. ) and on the web portal e-Bilet.pl


DESCRIPTIONS OF PERFORMANCES

THE 33rd WARSAW THEATRE MEETINGS

Dwanaście stacji /Twelve stations
Written by Tomasz Różycki
Adapted and directed by Mikołaj Grabowski
Performed by Teatr im. Jana Kochanowskiego in Opole
The Kościelskich Award-winning Twelve stations is a poem by Tomasz Różycki. It depicts a story of a family displaced from their homeland around Lvov to the region of the city Opole. "I was enraptured by this text, because it belongs to the Polish-nobility-tale tradition. I have been ῾practicing᾿ this kind of story-telling for 30 years now, or even more", says the author of the adaptation and the director Mikołaj Grabowski.

"Różycki’s face is uncanny, while he brilliantly finds himself not only in the role of the guide and demiurge of the world on stage, but also in the character who draws out from himself the subject, place of action and the following details. You sense pain and intentness in him, once in a while cut with the blade of irony or the absurd. Różycki laughs at himself in moments of acting out the verses, of presenting his world, of creating the language. But this laughter simultaneously  hurts him and makes him go on speaking",  wrote Łukasz Drewniak in "Przekrój" (Review).

Film director: Michał Grabowski
Stage designer: Jacek Ukleja
Music: Radosław Wocial
Cast: Kornelia Angowska, Zofia Bielewicz, Grażyna Misiorowska, Ewa Wyszomirska, Adam Ciołek, Grzegorz Minkiewicz, Andrzej Czernik, Jacek Dzisiewicz, Waldemar Kotas, Maciej Namysło, Łukasz Schmidt, Michał Świtała, Zdzisław Łęcki. 
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Running time: 2 hrs / no interval
18 & 19 Apr, 7:00 pm
Teatr Dramatyczny, Scena im. G. Holoubka
Tickets 100/80/70/60/50/40 PLN
Concessions 90/80/60/50/40/30 PLN
Entry ticket 20 PLN


A mi osztályunk / Our class
Written by Tadeusz Słobodzianek
Directed by Gábor Máté
Performed by Teatr im. Józsefa Katony in Budapest
The Literary Nike Award-winning play Our Class by Tadeusz Słobodzianek is the biggest success of recent Polish playwriting. Successfully performed at Scena na Woli im. T. Łomnickiego it has a dozen stagings to its credit: in London, Washington, Toronto, Minnesotta, Philadelphia, Tokyo, Prague, Barcelona, Rome and Budapest. The very last one, regarded as the last season’s best show in Hungary, has been invited to the 33rd Warsaw Theatre Meetings as a guest of honour.

"I see many common factors in Polish and Hungarian histories, especially the horrors of twentieth-century-Eastern and Central Europe present in the play. It raises extremely drastic issues, those which were swept under the rug during the socialist era. It is extremely difficult – when a country needs to face its long concealed history, especially when people who witnessed those events or even took part in them are still alive", said the director Gábor Máté.

"Emanating a fantastic atmosphere, the production horrifies, enraptures and provokes thought. And when are we going to be able to face the events of the forties which led to genocide? It is high time to write our own Our class", one can read on the Hungarian web portal FeHér ElepHánt .

Translated from Polish to Hungarian by Patrycja Paszt

Stage designer: Balázs Cziegler
Costumes designer: Anni Füzér
Movement director: Péter Takátsy
Music: László Sáry
Cast: Hanna Pálos, Réka Pelsőczy, Erika Bodnár, Viktor Dénes, Péter Takátsy, Zoltán Rajkai, János Bán, László Szacsvay, Dénes Ujlaki, Péter Haumann
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Running time: 2hrs / no interval
19 & 20 Apr, 7.00pm
Scena na Woli im. T. Łomnickiego

Performed in Hungarian with Polish supertitles.

Tickets 80/70/60/50 PLN
Concessions 70/60/50/40 PLN
Entry ticket 20 PLN


Król Ryszard III/ King Richard III
by William Shakespeare
Director and stage designer: Grzegorz Wiśniewski
Performed by Teatr im. Stefana Jaracza in Łódź
Following their collaboration on the script for the acclaimed staging of Luchino Visconti’s film Twilight of the Gods at Teatr Wybrzeże in Gdańsk, the director Grzegorz Wiśniewski and the dramaturge Jakub Roszkowski worked together on this play in which Shakespeare uncovers the mechanisms of power. The first mentioned show brought Grzegorz Wiśniewski the title of the best director of 2012 and the Konrad Swinarski Award, and King Richard III, which will be presented in Warsaw, brought him - among other awards - the Golden Yorick Award in The Contest for the Best Production of William Shakespeare's Dramatic Works in the Artistic Season of 2011-2012. The director usually looks at the dark side of human nature, he examines the motivations driving people, and this time it is the case as well.

"King Richard III is a show built very coherently, with ironclad logic. Extraordinarily intent in its severe form, the show allows us to follow the story of the descendants of king Richard Plantagenet very clearly. The actors have created great roles (especially Richard and lord Buckingham, as well as Rivers - Marcin Włodarski and the murderer of Tyrrel - Tomasz Schuchardt, and Queen Margaret - Matylda Paszczenko) not just by explaining the characters’ actions through being caught in the current of history, but by giving them individual goals and motivations. Hovering over the whole is an atmosphere of terror leading to inevitable disaster, which keeps us in suspense and does not allow us to forget even for a while that history repeats itself" - wrote Karolina Matuszewska from Nowa Siła Krytyczna  (New Critical Power) in her review.

Music compilation: Rafał Kowalczyk
Costumes designer: Barbara Guzik
Cast: Marek Kałużyński, Hubert Jarczak, Przemysław Kozłowski, Milena Lisiecka, Paweł Paczesny, Matylda Paszczenko, Tomasz Schuchardt, Michał Staszczak, Zofia Uzelac, Justyna Wasilewska, Andrzej Wichrowski, Antoni Kowarski, Marcin Włodarski
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Running time: 2 hrs 20 mins / including an interval
20 April, 6.00 pm & 9.30 pm
Teatr Polski
Tickets: 100/80/70/60/50/40 PLN
Concessions 90/80/60/50/40/30 PLN
Entry ticket 20 PLN


Wiśniowy sad / The Cherry Orchard
by Anton Chekhov
Directed by Paweł Łysak
Performed by Teatr Polski im. Hieronima Konieczki in Bydgoszcz
Paweł Łysak takes the most outstanding of Anton Chekhov’s works to look at the contemporary crisis and the turning-point atmosphere, and pose a question concerning the currently predominant models of life.

"The set design by Barbara Hanicka - this is the discovery of the production from the theatre in Bydgoszcz, I guess the best set design I have seen in months. Two walls with many doors converging upstage, above them lamps casting a dim light. Habitation like a sign, a maze of many rooms like in Serebryakovs' house in Uncle Vanya. But in Hanicka’s set design this kind of acting space means that order is just a sham, the symptoms of decay become more visible when you look closer. The process is unstoppable. Thanks to Łysak’s production we can hear Chekhov’s wonderful text anew and see the relationships between the protagonists with full acuteness” - Jacek Wakar wrote in "Dziennik Gazeta Prawna" (The Daily Juristic Newspaper).

Stage designer: Barbara Hanicka
Lighting designer: Wojciech Puś
Choreographer: Dominika Knapik
Music: Stefan Węgłowski
Violinist: Tomasz Sroczyński
Cast: Anita Sokołowska, Julia Wyszyńska, Joanna Drozda, Michał Jarmicki, Piotr Stramowski, Michał Czachor, Paweł Gilewski, Magdalena Łaska, Jakub Ulewicz, Małgorzata Trofimiuk, Marian Jaskulski, Marcin Zawodziński and others.
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Running time: 2hrs 15 mins / including an interval
20 Apr, 6.00 pm & 21 Apr, 7.30 pm
Teatr Dramatyczny, Scena im. G. Holoubka
Tickets 100/80/70/60/50/40 PLN
Concessions 90/80/60/50/40/30 PLN
Entry ticket 20 PLN

Pieśni Leara / Songs of Lear
directed by Grzegorz Braal
Performed by Teatr "Pieśni Kozła" in Wrocław
This performance-concert-oratorio performed by an international cast consists of 11 dramatized songs based on Shakespeare’s King Lear. The premiere took place at the Fringe Festival in Edinburgh in August 2012. There the performance was honoured with three prestigious awards: Fringe First, Herald Archangel and Musical Theatre Matters Award. It also was placed first in the ranking of all theatre performances presented in Edinburgh led by "The List".

"The show Lear’s Songs enraptures with its means of expression, its music and emotionality (...) If this review was a song, it would be a hallelujah of gratitude" - wrote the reviewer in "The Herald". And "The Scotsman" added: "There is surely no other show like this one (...) the song cycle inspired by Shakespeare’s King Lear is visceral, theatrical and astonishing... The choreography is flawless, but the voices are always foregrounded, their ability to capture raw emotion is as strong as their impeccable musicianship. They are faithful to Shakespeare, yet also do something entirely new".

Composers: Jean-Claude Acquaviva, Maciej Rychły
Singing coach: Kacper Kuszewski
Cast: Anna Zubrzycki, Anu Salonen, Monika Dryl, Julianna Bloodgood, Emma Bonnici, Kacper Kuszewski, Rafał Habel, Gabriel Gawin, Ewan Downie/ Paolo Garghentino, Ian Morgan i Maciej Rychły.
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Running time: 1 hr 10 mins / no interval
21 Apr, 5.00 pm & 9.00 pm
Scena na Woli im. T. Łomnickiego

Performed in English with Polish supertitles.

Tickets 80/70/60/50 PLN
Concessions 70/60/50/40 PLN
Entry ticket 20 PLN


Paw królowej / The Queen’s Peacock
written by Dorota Masłowska
Directed by Paweł Świątek
Performed by Narodowy Stary Teatr im. Heleny Modrzejewskiej in Cracow
Following her famous Literary Nike Award-winning novel entitled Wojna polsko-ruska pod flagą biało-czerwoną / Snow White and Russian Red, Dorota Masłowska’s second novel is a story about Polish show-business written in the rythm of hip-hop numbers. It concerns Warsaw, or rather ῾warszawka᾿, that is a group of people who always appear there where one should, they look like one should and they pursue success. The young director Paweł Świątek examines the new protagonists from our times who are formed by gadgets and he ironically asks what it means "to be somebody".

"Queen’s Peacock is attractive, funny, at first glance it gives the impression of a light, abstract clownery, but under its merry surface there lies a gloomy conclusion.  Gogol was right. We still laugh at somebody else’s stupidity, not suspecting that it is also ours", wrote Łukasz Maciejewski in “Teatr” (Theatre).

Adapted and dramatised by Mateusz Pakuła
Stage designer: Marcin Chlanda
Cast: Wiktor Loga-Skarczewski, Szymon Czacki, Paulina Puślednik, Małgorzata Zawadzka
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Running time: 1 hr 40 mins /no interval
23 & 24 Apr, 5.30 pm
Teatr Studio, Duża Scena
Tickets 80/70/60/50 PLN
Concessions 70/60/50/40 PLN
Entry ticket 20 PLN


Filoktet / Philoctetes
by Sophocles
Director, stage designer and music compilation: Barbara Wysocka
Performed by Teatr Polski in Wrocław
Should a man condemned to 10  years of exile, of imprisonment and humiliation forgive his oppressors for his nation's sake? What does a higher good mean then? Can it eventually become a justification for mass murder? These are the questions posed by the director Barbara Wysocka in her staging of Sophocles’ tragedy. She won The Passport of "Polityka" (Politics) three years ago in the category of classical music.

"It is impossible for the acting not to move you. The way the roles are built is the most interesting proof of how precisely the artists have approached the performance. The actors as if have hidden behind the characters creating separate entities with gestures, facial expressions and intonations. And though we watch entities artistically perfect (i.e. Marcin Czernik as Philoctetes and Adam Szczyszczaj as Neoptolomeus), we sense at the same time their connection - one would like to say - with the full-blooded matter of life", noted Katarzyna Lisowska on the web portal kontrast-wroclaw.   

Translated by Robert R. Chodkowski
Cast: Marcin Czarnik, Adam Szczyszczaj, Wiesław Cichy, Rafał Kronenberger
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Running time: 1 hr 20 mins / no interval
23 Apr, 5.00 pm & 9.00 pm
 Teatr Dramatyczny, Scena im. G. Holoubka
Tickets 100/80/70/60/50/40 PLN
Concessions 90/80/60/50/40/30 PLN
Entry Ticket 20 PLN


Komedia obozowa / Camp Comedy
Written by Roy Kift
Directed by Łukasz Czuj
Performed by Teatr im. Heleny Modrzejewskiej in Legnica
A story based on facts, written by the British playwright Roy Kift, about a cabaret functioning in the concentration camp for Jews in Czech Terezina. The leading German actor and director Kurt Gerron is the main character, Bertold Brecht's favourite actor, known from the film "The Blue Angel" starring Marlena Dietrich. In Terezina he was forced to run a cabaret "Merry-go-round" and had to make a documentary film about how well the Jews lived in the camp. Soon after this, considered a traitor, he was taken to Auschwitz and gassed a day before the gas chambers were closed. "The subject is difficult. However I hope that we will accustom the audience to it. In the same way the cabaret made the ghetto prisoners in Terezina accustomed to oppression. We will use authentic music created in the ghetto", says the author of the show Łukasz Czuj.

"In The Camp Comedy the intoxicating power of art is most moving, it affects the haggard, fainting from hunger and exhaustion prisoners like adrenalin, taking them up for a short time. The actors (especially the actresses) from the theatre in Legnica sing remarkably in this performance, perfectly rendering the courage of the desperate who laugh in their executioners’ faces", wrote Magdalena Piekarska  in „Gazeta Wyborcza”.

Translated by Soren Gauder
Songs translated by Adam Wiedmann
Stage designer: Michał Urban
Costume designer: Elżbieta Rokita
Choreographer: Paulina Andrzejewska
Singing coaches: Vera and Jarosław Lawkow
Cast: Joanna Gonschorek, Rafał Cieluch, Paweł Wolak, Katarzyna Dworak, Ewa Galusińska, Anita Poddębniak, Zuza Motorniuk, Małgorzata Urbaniak, Robert Gularczyk, Mateusz Krzyk, Paweł Palcat, Bogdan Grzeszczak, Magdalena Skiba, Gabriela Fabian, Magdalena Biegańska.
Mucisians: Łukasz Matuszyk (accordion), Dariusz Bafeltowski (guitar), Robert Kamalski (clarinet)

Running time: 1 hr 40 mins / including an interval
24 Apr, 6.00 pm & 9.00 pm
Scena na Woli im. T Łomnickiego
Tickets 80/70/60/50 PLN
Concessions 70/60/50/40 PLN
Entry ticket 20 PLN


Położnice szpitala św. Zofii/ Women in Labour From St. Sophie's Hospital
written by Paweł Demirski
Directed by Monika Strzępka
Performed by Teatr Rozrywki in Chorzów
A crammed maternity ward. Thanks to the resourceful Head of the Ward the hospital is at the top of the ranking „Rodzić po ludzku” / To labour humanly. High ratings, good evaluations and favourable statistics are supposed to be the door to the longed-for privatization of the hospital. It seems that success is for the asking. The plans are confounded by an emissary from the ministry.

"The two creatives working together for many years have recently become parents. In their new production they have cumulated their traumatic experiences at the labour unit, the fury, shame and helplessness towards the suffering of their own child. They curse everyone who have the nerve to procreate, be in labour and bring up children. Creating a grotesque vision of a night at a state hospital maternity ward, they ask naively and confrontationally: ‘Why all this?’", appraised Joanna Derkaczew in "Gazeta Wyborcza".

Music: Jan Suświłło
Choreography: Rafał Urbacki
Stage designer: Maciej Chojnacki
Cast: Barbara Ducka, Barbara Duszczak, Jolanta Gabor, Ewa Grysko, Katarzyna Hołub, Marta Kloc, Emilia Majcherczyk, Izabella Malik, Małgorzata Mazurkiewicz, Małgorzata Ochabowicz, Elżbieta Okupska (guest appearance), Weronika Ratajczak, Estera Sławińska-Dziurosz, Sonia Sosna-Kostrzewa, Ewelina Stepanczenko-Stolorz, Anna Surma, Alona Szostak, Marta Tadla, Elżbieta Wacławek-Czmok, Dagmara Żuchnicka, Emanuela Żukowska, Kamil Baron, Piotr Brodziński, Marek Chudziński, Sebastian Chwastecki, Jarosław Czarnecki, Bartosz Figurski (guest appearance), Rafał Gajewski, Kryspin Hermański, Bartosz Jaśkowski, Jacenty Jędrusik, Jakub Jóźwik, Mikołaj Karczewski (guest appearance), Dominik Koralewski, Bartłomiej Kuciel, Dariusz Niebudek (guest appearance), Wojciech Stolorz, Rafał Szatan, Marcin Wawrzynowicz, Krzysztof Włosiński.
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Running time: 3 hrs / including an interval
25 & 26 Apr, 7.00 pm
Teatr Dramatyczny, Scena im. G. Holoubka
Tickets 100/80/70/60/50/40 PLN
Concessions 90/80/60/50/40/30 PLN
Entry ticket 20 PLN


Korzeniec
written by Zbigniew Białas
Directed by Remigiusz Brzyk
Performed by Teatr Zagłębia in Sosnowiec
The year 1913 in Sosnowiec - soon the I World War will burst and the political map of Europe will change. Meanwhile the editor of the local newspaper Walerian Monsiorski tries to solve the mystery of a tiler's death named Alojzy Korzeniec. The play is a detective black comedy set in a multicultural city being under the rule of imperial Russia with a variety of vivid characters - real and fictitious inhabitants of Sosnowiec.

"Not for the first time Brzyk brings out old facts, looking at them kindly though not uncritically (...) The creators of the show wanted the past events to be as vivid for contemporaries as tales concerning the founding of Thebes were vivid for the Greeks. Judging by the reactions from the full audience, they have succeeded", notes Magdalena Legendź in Teatr online.

Adapted and dramatized by Tomasz Śpiewak
Stage designers: Brzyk & Śpiewak
Costumes and associate stage designer: Iga Słupska (ASP), Dagmara Walkowicz (ASP), Szymon Szewczyk (ASP)
Music: Jacek Grudzień
Cast: Maria Bieńkowska, Ewa Kopczyńska, Edyta Ostojak (PWST), Michał Bałaga, Aleksander Blitek, Piotr Bułka, Przemysław Kania, Krzysztof Korzeniowski, Grzegorz Kwas, Wojciech Leśniak, Tomasz Muszyński, Jarosław Tyran
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Running time: 3 hrs / including an interval
27 Apr, 8.00 pm & 28 Apr, 6.00 pm
Teatr Dramatyczny, Scena im. G. Holoubka
Tickets 100/80/70/60/50/40 PLN
Concessions 90/80/60/50/40/30 PLN
Entry ticket 20 PLN


Posprzątane / The Clean House
written by Sarah Ruhl
Director, stage designer and music compilation: Mariusz Grzegorzek
Performed by Teatr im. Stefana Jaracza in Łódź
A multilayered tragicomedy about  unfulfilled expectations, loneliness and death. Playing with the text of the Pulitzer Award-winner American playwright Sarah Ruhl, Mariusz Grzegorzek creates a blend of humour, bitterness and irony. Here are four women: Lane, a doctor, her unsettled sister Virginia who fanatically favours order, a young girl employed as a cleaner by Lane and the cancer-afflicted lover of Lane's husband.  With each minute, in a closed, white space designed by the director, these four different personalities uncover their obsessions, weaknesses and potentials.

"Playing with conventions, evoking certain emotions and then deprecating them, the director constantly puts the spectator's sensitivity and habits to the test, deprives the audience of the comfortable role of an observer. This lost sense of safety comes from the sense of being observed by the vigilant director's eye which never sleeps. This is tiring and fascinating at the same time. In addition subsequent events are shown through the emotionality of each of the women. To achieve full happiness a suitable cast was needed. And the cast did not fail. The trio: Marieta Żukowska, Gabriela Muskała and Justyna Wasilewska present great class. The actresses build complex characters with an embodied pathos in them, which originates in the spiritual sphere. They make them farcically funny, but simultaneously very human and movingly true", notes Łukasz Kaczyński in "Polska Dziennik Łódzki" (Poland Newspaper of Łódź).

Translated by Małgorzata Semil
Cast: Marieta Żukowska/ Urszula Gryczewska, Justyna Wasilewska, Gabriela Muskała, Agnieszka Kowalska, Mariusz Witkowski, Sylwia Pycio, Kasper Górczak.
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Runnung time: 3 hrs / including an interval
26 & 27 Apr, 7.00 pm
Scena na Woli im. T. Łomnickiego
Tickets 80/70/60/50 PLN
Concessions 70/60/50/40 PLN
Entry ticket 20 PLN
 

A ja, Hanna /And I, Hanna
based on Treny / Laments written by Jan Kochanowski
directed by Tomasz Hynek
Performed by Teatr im. Jana Kochanowskiego in Opole
The work of an outstanding Polish renaissance poet in the rhythm of contemporary rock music.  Thanks to Grażyna Rogowska who plays the sister of Orszulka, Tomasz Hynek’s show becomes a story about the suffering and despair of a rejected child.

"Tomasz Hynek and Grażyna Rogowska combined the poet's texts, building with precision a coherent and moving alternative story about the death of Orszulka. This time it is told not from the despairing father’s point of view, but by the other still living sister who cannot find herself in the grief-stricken house, reaching out to her parents in vain - they ignore her immersed in their pain. The deceased Orszulka sucked all love from them, not leaving a space for the other child (...) Rogowska sings Treny/ Laments with a rock edge filling the songs with a full panoply of emotions - from pining to jealousy, from pleading for a bit of attention to rebellion, from grief for the deceased sister to a fierce fight for her own space", wrote Magda Piekarska in "Gazeta Wyborcza".

Stage and lighting designer: Justyna Łagowska
Multimedia: Bartek Zapart
Cast: Grażyna Rogowska
Musicians: Waldemar Orłowski (guitar), Grzegorz Zioła (bass), Marcin Śnigurowicz (percussion), Łukasz Ludwig (keyboard)

running time 1 hr 10 mins / no interval
28 Apr, 7.00 pm
Scena na Woli im. T. Łomnickiego
Tickets  80/70/60/50 PLN
Concessions 70/60/50/40 PLN
Entry ticket 20 PLN


Frankenstein
A musical based on Mary Shelley's novel
Directed by Wojciech Kościelniak
Performed by Teatr Muzyczny Capital in Wrocław
It is a musical dramatization of the story of Doctor Frankenstein and the Monster from Mary Shelley’s novel from 1818. Kościelniak’s production refers to the visual style of the most famous filming of the book directed by James Whale in 1931. "Frankenstein is essentially a playful mix of horror, German expressionism, old cinema and the comics stereotype. A dialogue with kitsch, banality and narrative gimmicks. A game of death and murder. Accustoming to death and disarming it, but sometimes holding it in high regard as well", tells the director of the show.

"The director managed to tell this gruesome fable using a light and unpretentious tone. You might even say that he leads quite a sneaky game creating a safe perspective for the spectators, and then putting a handful of quite serious thoughts under their noses (...) The title character is brilliantly played by Mariusz Kiljan (...) He sings like Nick Cave, dances like Fred Astaire or Gene Kelly", wrote Jolanta Kowalska in "Teatr" (Theatre). 

Music: Piotr Dziubek
Stage designer: Damian Styrna
Costumes designer: Katarzyna Paciorek
Choreographers: Beata Owczarek & Janusz Skubaczewski
Cast: Mariusz Kiljan/Mariusz Ostrowski, Cezary Studniak, Agnieszka Oryńska-Lesicka/Helena Sujecka, Mikołaj Woubishet, Justyna Szafran/ Małgorzata Szeptycka, Andrzej Gałła, Magdalena Wojnarowska, Bartosz Picher, Adrian Kąca, Justyna Antoniak/Ewa Szlempo, Elżbieta Kłosińska, Tomasz Sztonyk, Tomasz Leszczyńki, Ewelina Adamska-Porczyk, Piotr Małecki, Tomasz Sztonyk, Małgorzata Fijałkowska, Piotr Gajda, Maciej Maciejewski, Bożena Bukowska, Dominika Józefowiak, Maja Lewicka, Katarzyna Małecka, Michał Guzenda, Jan Nykiel, Michał Pietrzak, Michał Szymański, EmoseUhunmwangho, Michał Szymański.
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Running time: 2 hr 50 mins / including an interval
30 Apr, 4.00 pm & 8.00 pm
Teatr Dramatyczny, Scena im. G. Holoubka
Tickets  100/80/70/60/50/40 PLN
Concessions 90/80/60/50/40/30 PLN
Entry ticket 20 PLN


Titus Andronicus
by William Shakespeare
Directed, adapted and music compiled by Jan Klata
Performed by Teatr Polski in Wrocław & Staatsshauspiel in Drezno
This full of cruelty and eroticism play was Shakespeare’s biggest financial success.  In Poland it is his most rarely staged play. In Jan Klata’s view, who prepared his spectacular show with a Polish and German cast, it is primarily about the burden of war crimes. "In our production Polish actors will be playing the Goths, that is a barbaric nation who later became the Germans, and the Romans will be played by German actors. We will show a true clash of civilizations on stage. It turns out that  the story about man’s capability of being cruel and alien to others is exceptionally contemporary, communicable, and seasoned with humour and irony in addition. Prejudices, xenophobia, stereotypes splendidly become visible in context of the tragic and grotesque Polish-German history", says Jan Klata.

"Jan Klata’s cast manages to create a multilayered show, a theatrical equivalent of a great novel. The most piteous story about a man who did not understand soon enough that the world is changing, that old rules are being replaced by a new lack of order, weaves itself through the show like a bright thread, comprehensible to anyone who does not know Shakespeare's original text. The arriving home victorious commander rejects the offer of taking over the throne in the name of decency of the old order. He is not an imperial descendant after all. But he does not realize that he is triggering off an apocalypse", wrote on his blog Grzegorz Chojnowski.

Stage and lighting designer: Justyna Łagowska
Costume designers: Justyna Łagowska & Mateusz Stępniak
Choreographer: Macko Prusak
Cast: Wolfgang Michalek, Paulina Chapko, Robert Holler, Torsten Ranft, Stefko Hanushevsky, Matthias Luckey, Sascha Gopel, Ewa Skibińska, Wojciech Ziemiański, Marcin Pempuś, Michał Majnicz, Michał Mrozek.
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Running time: 2 hrs 30 mins / no interval
1 May, 8.00 pm
Teatr Dramatyczny, Scena im. G.Holoubka
Tickets 100/80/70/60/50/40 PLN
Concessions 90/80/60/50/4030 PLN
Entry ticket 20 PLN


DESCRIPTIONS OF PERFORMANCES
LITTLE WARSAW THEATRE MEETINGS


Pręcik / Little Rod
written by Malina Prześluga
Director and stage designer: Zbigniew Lisowski
Performed by Teatr Baj Pomorski in Toruń
This play is a moving story about the power of love and friendship, about the birth of a bond and about affection towards the other. The playful staging combines elements of the theatre of the absurd and of the theatre of objects. The action unfolds around one plot - the protagonists’ drive for the Girl’s recovery and her coming home. The story is told from the point of view of every-day, ordinary objects which lead their unordinary lives.

"The stylistic unity proposed by Zbigniew Lisowski is one of the assets of the performance, as well as his consistent leading of the scenic action in subordination to the motif of the road (the objects set on a journey to the hospital). It is fortunate that the premiere of this play by Malina Prześluga took place in Teatr Baj Pomorski in Toruń where there is an experienced team of actors able to create excellent roles on stage and under the remarkable direction of Zbigniew Lisowski, intuitive on the one hand, but deeply thought over on the other", wrote Ilona Słojewska on the web portal TeatrdlaWas.

Music: Rafał Skonieczny i Mateusz Jagielski
Cast: Edyta Łukaszewicz-Lisowska, Dominika Miękus, Edyta Soboczyńska, Krzysztof Grzęda Krzysztof Parda, Jacek Pysiak, Mirosław Szczepański
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Running time: 1 hr
19 Apr, 1.00 pm & 5.30 pm
Teatr Studio, Duża Scena
Tickets: 30 PLN
Concession: 25 PLN
Group ticket: 20 PLN

Suitable for children 7+


“Słoń i kwiat” / The elephant and the flower
based on stories by Brian Patten
Directed and adapted by Robert Jarosz
Performed by Grupa Coincidentia & Białostocki Teatr Lalek
In a jungle which was almost a forest which was almost a wood which was almost a garden extraordinary things happened. The flower ran, the hyena told stories, the sparrow recited poems, the monkeys helped the sun rise, the pig stood always sideways to everyone, the butterfly asked foolish questions, earth-worms were passionate about theatre and "plimkiplumki" fulfilled dreams. One day, a leaf floating along the river brought to the jungle the tiniest elephant on earth.

"Extraordinarily vivid and hot-tempered protagonists present a very wise story about exploring and discovering the unknown, about naming and finding oneself in the surrounding, incomprehensible reality. This process interchanges with the need for acceptance for disparity and diversity, as well as for establishing one’s own, individual rules that will govern the world. The story is told very wittily with a softly philosophical undercurrent and a fair dosage of the absurd", wrote Anna Kopeć about the show in "Kurier Poranny" (The Morning Courier).

Translated by Piotr Sommer
Stage designer: Pavel Hubicka
Music: Piotr Klimek
Multimedia: Krzysztof Kiziewicz
Cast: Dagmara Sowa, Paweł Chomczyk, Michał Jarmoszuk
Live music: Robert Jurčo
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Running time: 1 hr
20 Apr, 3.00 pm & 21 Apr, noon
Teatr Studio, Scena Malarnia
Tickets 30 PLN
Concession 25 PLN
Group ticket 20 PLN

Suitable for children 6+


Nusia i wilki  / Nusia and the Wolves
written by Pija Lindenbaum
Script and director: Robert Jarosz
Performed by Opolski Teatr Lalki i Aktora im. Alojzego Smolki
A story about a very extraordinary girl called Nusia who is afraid of everything - she fears to jump in case she breaks her leg or even touch a worm in case it bites her. At the same time she is oblivious to the fact that she has just got lost in the woods, what's more, her taming of the wolves goes on fine. Thanks to the set in the form of an installation the young spectators are drawn into interaction with the characters.
 
"The end of the year is approaching - time for all sorts of summing-ups and rankings. A moment when finally the term ῾best performance of 2012᾿ makes sense and has meaning. And so: on the top of my list is Niusia i wilki directed by Robert Jarosz - a valued and frequently award-winning young creative, mainly known as a playwright. The show was made in the Opolski Teatr Lalki i Aktora - a place which is considered one of the most interesting artistic institutions targeting its repertoire at children. This show, modern in form and rich in content, gains even more when looked at from the level of its educational potential. I do not mean didacticism though, because the show is free from it. I rather mean the abundance of elements that can be developed in work - theatrical as well - with children", praised the show Justyna Czarnota on the web portal kulturaenter.

Translated by Katarzyna Skalska
Stage designer: Marika Wojciechowska
Music: Wojciech Morawski
Cast: Anna Jarota, Zygmunt Babiak, Łukasz Bugowski, Jan Chraboł, Wojciech Morawski
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Running time: 1 hr
25 Apr, 1.00 pm & 6.00 pm
Scena na Woli im. T. Łomnickiego
Tickets: 30 PLN
Concession: 25 PLN
Group ticket: 20 PLN

Suitable for chidren 4+.


Złoty Klucz / Golden Key
written by Jan Ośnica
Directed by Janusz Rykiel-Krystianowski
Performed by Teatr Lalek Banialuka in Bielsko-Biała
The main character Duda asks Saint Peter, whom he met by chance, why - in spite of his honesty, diligence and sincerity - he is not doing fine. The rushed and preoccupied with many things saint answers evasively: "You are not doing fine, because... you do not hustle". Duda takes this answer as a consent for leading a dishonest life and starts immediately to steal, deceive and lie. His impudence increases with each fraud until he dares to make a fool of death itself. How is it going to end?
 
Stage designer: Julia Skuratova
Music: Robert Łuczak
Cast: Katarzyna Pohl, Lucyna Sypniewska, Ziemowit Ptaszkowski, Radosław Sadowski, Ryszard Sypniewski, Tomasz Sylwestrzak,  Piotr Tomaszewski
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Running time: 1 hr
27 Apr, 4.00 pm & 6.00 pm
Teatr Dramatyczny, Mała Scena
Tickets: 30 PLN
Concessions: 25 PLN
Group ticket: 20 PLN

Suitable for spectators 10+.


"Na Warmii... dawno, dawno temu" / In Warmia... long, long ago
based on fables written down by Maria Zientara Malewska
Adapted and directed by Zbigniew Głowacki
Performed by Olsztyński Teatr Lalek

It is a theatrical journey with its source in the theatre-like children᾿s play and in the bit forgotten art of story-telling. Here sincerity and naivety are the wings of imagination which take the younger spectator to a fairy-tale-like past. And who performs the main role? Simple rag dolls, wooden houses, fences and trees.

Stage designer: Ireneusz Salwa
Music: Bogdan Szczepański
Cast: Katarzyna Pohl, Lucyna Sypniewska, Ziemowit Ptaszkowski, Radosław Sadowski, Ryszard Sypniewski, Tomasz Sylwestrzak,  Piotr Tomaszewski
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Running time: 40 mins
28 Apr, 3.00 pm & 5.30 pm
Teatr Dramatyczny, Mała Scena
Tickets: 30 PLN
Concession: 25 PLN
Group ticket: 20 PLN

Suitable for spectators 4+.




PROGRAMME

18 Apr  7:00 pm  Twelve stations /Teatr im. Jana Kochanowskiego in Opole/
19 Apr  1:00pm  Little Rod /Teatr Baj Pomorski in Toruń/
19 Apr  5:30pm  Little Rod /Teatr Baj Pomorski in Toruń/
19 Apr  7:00pm  Twelve stations /Teatr im. Jana Kochanowskiego in Opole/
19 Apr  7:00pm  Our class /Teatr Katona in Budapest/
20 Apr  3:00pm  The Elephant and the Flower /Grupa Coincidentia & Białostocki Teatr Lalek/
20 Apr  6:00pm  King Richard III /Teatr im. Stefana Jaracza in Łódź
20 Apr  7:00pm  Our class /Teatr Katona in Budapest/
20 Apr  6:00pm  The Cherry Orchard /Teatr Polski im. Hieronima Konieczki in  Bydgoszcz/
20 Apr  9:30pm  King Richard III /Teatr im. Stefana Jaracza in Łódź/
21 Apr 12:00  The Elephant and the Flower /Grupa Coincidentia & Białostocki Teatr Lalek/
21 Apr  5:00pm  Lear’s Songs /Teatr Pieśń Kozła/
21 Apr  7:30pm  The Cherry Orchard /Teatr Polski im. Hieronima Konieczki in Bydgoszcz/
21 Apr  9:00pm  Lear’s Songs /Teatr Pieśń Kozła/
22 Apr  7:00pm  Literary Awards Presentation
23 Apr  5:00pm  Philoctetes /Teatr Polski in Wrocław/
23 Apr  5:30pm  Queen’s Peacock /Narodowy Teatr Stary in Cracow/
23 Apr  9:00pm  Philoctetes /Teatr Polski in Wrocław/
24 Apr  5:30pm  Queen’s Peacock /Narodowy Teatr Stary in Cracow/
24 Apr  6:00pm  Camp Comedy /Tear im. Heleny Modrzejewskiej in Legnica/
24 Apr  9:00pm  Camp Comedy /Tear im. Heleny Modrzejewskiej in Legnica/
25 Apr  1:00pm Nusia and the Wolves /Opolski Teatr Lalki i Aktora im. Alojzego Smolki/
25 Apr  6:00pm Nusia and the Wolves /Opolski Teatr Lalki i Aktora im. Alojzego Smolki/
25 Apr 7:00pm Women in Labour from St. Sophie’s Hospital /Teatr Rozrywki in Chorzów/
 26 Apr 7:00pm Women in Labour from St. Sophie’s Hospital /Teatr Rozrywki in Chorzów/
26 Apr  7:00pm  The Clean House /Teatr im. Stefana Jaracza in Łódź/
27 Apr  4:00pm  The Golden Key /Teatr Lalek Banialuka in Bielsko-Biała/
27 Apr  6:00pm  The Golden Key /Teatr Lalek Banialuka in Bielsko-Biała/
27 Apr  7:00pm  The Clean House /Teatr im. Stefana Jaracza in Łódź/
27 Apr  8:00pm Korzeniec /Teatr Zagłębia in Sosnowiec/
28 Apr  3:00pm In Warmia… long, long ago /Olsztyński Teatr Lalek/
28  Apr  5:30pm In Warmia… long, long ago /Olsztyński Teatr Lalek/
28 Apr  6:00pm Korzeniec /Teatr Zagłębia in Sosnowiec/
28 Apr  7:00pm And I, Hanna /Teatr im. Jana Kochanowskiego in Opole/
30 Apr  4:00pm Frankenstein /Teatr Muzyczny Capitol in Wrocław/
30 Apr  8:00pm Frankenstein /Teatr Muzyczny Capitol in Wrocław/
1 May  8:00pm Titus Andronicus /Teatr Polski in Wrocławiu/ Staatsschauspiel in Drezno/

ACCOMPANYING EVENTS

There is going to be a presentation of the City of Warsaw Literary Award on the 22nd of April at 7.30 pm at Teatr Dramatyczny.

The City of Warsaw Literary Award is a continuation of a commendable tradition  of bestowing an award of the same name in the years 1926-38. Its first winner was Adam Mickiewicz's son - Władysław, the last one (before the II World War) was Leopold Staff (1938). Such remarkable artists like Wacław Berent (1929), Tadeusz Boy-Żeleński (1933), Pola Gojawiczyńska (1935), Maria Kuncewiczowa (1937) were also presented with this award. After the war there were similar awards but there was no consistency in their names or in the rules of granting them. There are several names worth mentioning from the period after the war: Miron Białoszewski, Kazimierz Brandys, Ernest Bryll, Juliusz Wiktor Gomulicki, Hanna Januszewska or Jerzy Waldorff.

Cabaret at The End of the World prepared a special programme  on the occasion of the Warsaw Theatre Meetings at Scena Przodownik. (22, 23, 24, 25, 26 Apr)  

Black humour, pure nonsense, absurd sketches, lyrical songs, actors᾿ improvisations and clownery. We break taboos, we discover new issues to mock at. This is a literary cabaret where professional actors perform. Every month the cabaret presents a new programme focused around various themes like the celebrities, carnival, depression, childhood, addictions, travels, Mother Day, beauty.

Meetings with spectators will be held by Jacek Rakowiecki, the curator of the 33rd Warsaw Theatre Meetings, and Marek Waszkiel will be holding meetings concerning the little Warsaw Theatre Meetings.

CURATORS OF THE WARSAW THEATRE MEETINGS

Jacek Rakowiecki,, the curator of the "adult" Warsaw Theatre Meetings - editor, theatre and film reviewer, political commentator. His writing debut took place in the underground book and press circulation at the end of the seventies. He was the managing editor of "Tygodnik Powszechny" (Universal Weekly) and of "Gazeta Wyborcza", associate editor-in-chief of "Rzeczpospolita" (Republic), chief editor of "Viva!", "Przekrój" (Review), of the theatrical monthly "Foyer", and recently - of the monthly "Film". Journalism lecturer at Collegium Civitas and author of the blog "Filmowisko".

Marek Waszkiel, the curator of the little Warsaw Theatre Meetings – pedagogue, historian of puppet theatre, author and adviser of puppet matters around the world; he has delivered lectures and presented papers (more than 120 on the whole) on world puppetry at conferences, open meetings with spectators and workshops in several dozens countries; attended almost 300 theatre festivals on all continents (as a juror, guest, observer, participant); has had more than 400 publications (of books, essays, reviews, various notes, also editorial volumes).



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