Plays
The Witcher, or a Turbo-Pole
Ziemowit Szczerek
The Witcher awaited for generations is coming. The Messiah, the Saviour, the superhero, in whose veins Polish and Slavic blood flows. It is in him that all hopes are vested, and he is the only one wandering through the existing and non-existent lands, meeting real monsters or peculiar and perverted figures on his way, and he is the one to finally impose order.
Before Sunrise (Vor Sonnenaufgang)
Ewald Palmetshofer
At first glance, everything looks great: the company of Egon Krause thrives, his son-in-law Hoffmann managing it successfully. His elder daughter Martha is expecting her first child, and his younger daughter Helene comes from the city to celebrate the childbirth together with her family. Loth, a friend of Thomas from his youth, also appears suddenly. But the truth is different: Egon Krause is an alcoholic, Martha suffers from depression, Helene is in debt, and Hoffmann and Loth discover that they have been separated by an ideological gap, because Hoffmann has moved from leftist idealism to the position of the far right. Palmetshofer looks carefully at the present day using the story from 130 years ago. Based on a drama by Gerhadt Hauptmann with the same title, he talks about welfare traps, threats to the democratic system and lack of understanding between people close to each other. And also about blows of fate, which happen as before.
Mister Karl (Der Herr Karl)
Helmut Qualtinger, Carl Merz
Written in 1961 and broadcast on Austrian television, this monoplay is one of the first Austrian dramatic texts devoted to the settlements of the Austrians' war engagement in Nazism. In the narrative structure adopted here, the main character, instead of hiding his past, proudly talks about wartime experiences and deeds, creating himself as a clever man who managed to deceive history. With time, the absurdity of the logic he has proposed begins to evoke an increasing anger of the recipient, and in the post-war years it would meet with even greater irritation because a lot of Austrians found their own stories in this story.
Essays, Studies
An Utopia realised
Jolanta Kowalska
If the Zbigniew Raszewski Theatre Institute did not exist, it would have to be invented. Today, it is difficult to imagine the functioning of Polish theatre without this institution, which – thanks to its far-reaching projects – manages both its history and everyday life, and sets out routes for the future.
The greatest invention of humanity
An interview with Dorota Buchwald, Director of the Zbigniew Raszewski Theatre Institute in Warsaw, and laureate of this year's Konstanty Puzyna Prize.
A Polish ghost story
Natalia Lemann
In his work, Ziemowit Szczerek passionately subjects the concept of national identity to the exorcisms, deconstructing all manifestations of nationalism. He brings a national ghoul, dressed in fancy new clothes, to light and allows him to bustle in a maddening mulch dance.
His name is Geralt. Geralt the Witcher
Kamil M. Śmiałkowski
The Witcher. The most recognized Polish cultural brand in the world. Or perhaps an entertaining brand. Or maybe it cannot be separated in the twenty-first century? Geralt the Witcher, a character created in the story by Andrzej Sapkowski published in 1986, has been a great cultural phenomenon in recent years. He is the protagonist of not only prose, but also computer games, comics, cinema, musical and television series.
Pagans, or the amazing Slavdom
Ewa Narożniak
It may come as a surprise that in Poland and abroad, at least since the nineties of the last century, pagan or neo-pagan religions, sometimes called natural religions, have been developing quite dynamically. Regardless of whether we are referring to rationalistic, occult, nationalistic or postmodernist neo-paganism, it is certain that this phenomenon attracts attention not only of religious scholars and cultural researchers, but it also enjoys wider interest, which is best evidenced by the accompanying television journalism.
Self-portrait with a dead stork
Jakub Papuczys and Katarzyna Waligóra
The Enemy of the People and The Wedding – two performances with important roles of Juliusz Chrząstowski avoid a diagnosis of real political dilemmas, escaping into the discourse of common concern. Playing on the audience heartstrings in order to create the atmosphere of naive unity they are devastatingly effective in the way of communicating with viewers. Critics and viewers commonly recognize Chrząstowski's monologues as voices carrying an important message, the benchmark of success being the degree of identification with the words uttered on the stage.
What do we owe to Thomas Bernhard?
A conversation of Agata Barełkowska-Wittchen, Jacek St. Buras and Sława Lisiecka on Thomas Bernhard’s translations and Polish reception of the work of this Austrian writer.
A Man of His Times
Monika Wąsik
The rhetoric of insults against artists who foul their own nest has had a long tradition in Austria. It is much longer than we would think, when we recall the premieres of Thomas Bernhard's dramas and throwing dung by the maddening patriots in front of the Burgtheater. The literary strategies of raising the national conscience, which are a violation of the social agreement on silence about Nazi crimes and more or less spectacular reactions against these practices, seem to have lost their distinctive nature.
Columns
Marek Beylin, Tadeusz Nyczek, Piotr Morawski
Varia
Contexts: Ida Ślęzak on the Situationists on the margin of Clare Finburgh Delijani’s essay Déborder le cadre: L’internationale situationniste, le théâtre et le performance i Elargir la part non médiocre de la vie. La Situation construite et le théâtre contemporain, „Théâtre/Public” nr 231, 2019.
Notes on plays: Paweł Mossakowski Córeczki; Christian Lollike Familien der kunne tale om alt. Playbill