2014 in Powszechny Theatre: a recapitulation
There are two moments in theatrical life to do a recapitulation: the end of the season and the end of the calendar year. A recapitulation at the end of the season (we generally do it in July) means also a beginning of a holiday rest; a recapitulation at the end of the calendar year is usually done in the middle of the most intensive work period in our Theatre - works on new previews, new projects, preparations to the XXI International Festival of Plays Pleasant and Unpleasant. Figures concerning 2014 are very inspiring for us and they mobilize us to take up new challenges.
In 2014 we played almost 330 shows which were seen by 74,400 spectators. We prepared 13 previews out of which 7 were the previews of the Reading Theatre for people with poor eyesight and blind. We organized more than 150 theatre education meetings.
Our income amounted to 2,700,700 zloties. The organizer’s subsidy for the theatre amounted to 3,700,000 zloties (Festival subsidy – 1,000,000 zloties).
According to the article “Map of public theatre (5)” published by “Teatr” (November 2014) Powszechny Theatre in 2013 had the smallest subsidy and it was the most frequently visited dramatic theatre in Łódź (74,140 spectators). We are very pleased that in 2014 you visited our Theatre also in great numbers and we thank you very much for that.
“In the field of ideas everything depends on enthusiasm. In a real world it is perseverance that matters” – wrote Goethe. That is why we could say that in a theatre everything depends on being persistent madcaps. 2014 was a difficult year for Powszechny Theatre. It would be very hard to achieve success without passion. In a theatre success may be achieved as a mutual work of the creators, the team and the spectators.
Thank you for our mutual year when we tried to reach a possibly widest audience. We added new projects to our initiatives. In 2015 we plan another new projects – we will inform you about them soon.
Below you will find selected pictures of some theatrical events in Powszechny Theatre in 2014.
February: the 36th preview of Reading Theatre for people with poor eyesight and blind – Robin Hawdon’s “A night in Provence”. Reading Theatre for people with poor eyesight and blind is the only initiative of this kind in Poland. Set design and costumes are symbolic, sound is the most important part of the show. Stage directions are also read. All plays within this project have been directed by Ewa Pilawska on a voluntary basis.
March: Inauguration of XX Festival of Plays Pleasant and Unpleasant.
March: representative of the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage decorated Ewa Pilawska with the Bronze Medal for Merit to Culture – Gloria Artis and the audience gave our director standing ovation.
March: “The Bat” from TR Warsaw was the first show of the Festival. It was directed by famous Hungarian director Kornél Mundruczó. “The Bat”, based on the operetta “The Bat” (Die Fledermaus) by Johann Strauss Son, is an ironic tale about modern man’s condition and his desire to decide about our own existence.
During XX Festival of Plays Pleasant and Unpleasant Powszechny Theatre presented two previews. “Release carp” was one of them. The play was directed by Krystyna Meissner – theatre director, creator and organizer of international theatre festivals “Kontakt” in Toruń and “Dialog” in Wrocław. The play was written by Piotr Bulak for the “Comedywriting” project.
March: on our Big Stage National Old Theatre from Cracow presented “Battle of Warsaw 1920” directed by Monika Strzępka. The play was voted by the audience as the best performance of the Festival.
March: opening of the exhibition „Master – Student. Świerzy – Pągowski”. The exhibition in Andel’s Hotel in Łódź was a part of the XX International Festival of Plays Pleasant and Unpleasant. Waldemar Świerzy was a co-author of 1950’s artistic phenomena called the Polish poster school. Andrzej Pągowski, his best known student, continues the best traditions of Polish poster.
March: panel discussion “Masters”. The participants of the discussion were: Krystian Lupa – theatre director and playwright, Anna R. Burzyńska – academic teacher at Jagiellonian University, theatre critic of „Tygodnik Powszechny”, „Didaskalia” and „Teatr”, Paweł Sztarbowski – theatre critic and deputy director of Polish Theatre in Bydgoszcz and Aneta Kyzioł – journalist from cultural department in „Polityka”. The discussion was moderated by Jacek Żakowski, director of the Journalism Programme at Collegium Civitas in Warsaw. During the discussion Krystian Lupa said that masters are very important for the artists. An artist should have his own master because his artistic identity is forming through getting to know the best works.
March: „Waiting Room. 0”, presented by Polish Theatre in Wrocław and directed by Krystian Lupa. The action is set in a waiting room of a deserted railway station. Some passengers got off the night express train because someone announced a need to change. They found themselves in a shared, timeless, undefined and undetermined space. There are people of different characters and types there, people waiting to leave the place. They have to survive in the waiting room and to confront other members of the temporary microcommunity.
March: a preview of the play that was specially prepared for the XX International Festival of Plays Pleasant and Unpleasant. It was „Dog’s Cage. A View Down. A View Up” by DAKH Theatre from Kiev. The play was based on fragments from various plays which described present situation in Ukraine. It did not narrow the play’s strength because of its universal character. It raised questions on freedom, truth, sense and reasons for suffering.
March: first preview of “Mars: The Odysssey”, a play prepared by Powszechny Theatre in Łódź. It tells a story of an expedition to Mars that is planned for 2023. The show took place in the former hall of the 7.15 Theatre which is located in Grand Hotel. Paweł Miśkiewicz (director) and his team have been still working on the idea of the flight to Mars. We invite you to a new edition of the play in January.
April: The empress of Russia and the last king of Poland – both without their regalia and court ceremonial but with human features, frustrations and weaknesses. This was the main subject of “Tsarina Katherine”, produced by the Żeromski Theatre in Kielce and directed by Wiktor Rubin. Marta Ścisłowicz for the role of Tsarina Katherine in “Tsarina Katherine” was voted by the audience as the best actress of the XX Festival of Plays Pleasant and Unpleasant
April: “Constellations” produced by Polonia Theatre from Warsaw and directed by Adam Sajnuk was the last show of the XX International Festival of Plays Pleasant and Unpleasant. It is the best known play of a young British playwright, Nick Payne. It won the Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Play and has been in the repertoire of London’s Royal Court Theatre since January 2012. For the role of Roland in “Constellations” Grzegorz Małecki was voted by the audience as the best actor of the XX Festival of Plays Pleasant and Unpleasant
April: „Winter Trip”, a co-production of Polski Theatre in Bydgoszcz and Powszechny Theatre in Łódź (directed by Maja Kleczewska) was presented during Warsaw Theatre Meetings. After the show there was a discussion moderated by Zdzisław Pietrasik. On May 25 “Winter Trip” was presented on International Theatre Festival „Kontakt”.
April: 37th preview of Reading Theatre for people with poor eyesight and blind – David Almond’s “My Dad’s a Birdman”
May: „Double Double” by Eric Elice and Roger Reese – the 38th preview of Reading Theatre for people with poor eyesight and blind
May: preview of “The Truth” by young French playwright Florian Zeller (directed by Maciej Sławiński). Barbara Grzegorzewska who translated the play from French into Polish was present during the preview
May: First meeting of the series “Masters of Łódź Theatre”. Barbara Połomska, Janusz Kubicki and Michał Szewczyk told about their homes, their decision to become actors and about theatre school. It was part of the project “Seniors’ week in Powszechny Theatre”. The meeting was conducted by Małgorzata Warzecha from Radio Łódź
June: Powszechny Theatre presented “Tu-wim” on the Sibiu International Theatre Festival (Sibfest) – one of the most important theatre festivals in Europe
June: first preview of the tale „My Dad’s a Birdman” (directed by Andrzej Jakubas) – another part of the educational action of Powszechny Theatre called „Child in a situation”. The aim of the action is to point out a difficult situation of children facing important challenges in their lives
June: “Promise at Dawn” by Romain Gary, the 39th preview of Reading Theatre for people with poor eyesight and blind. It is a warm story for two actors telling about the love of a mother and her only child. She devoted her whole life to him in order he could become somebody, a great man. A great creation of Barbara Połomska, film and theatre actress.
June: preview of “Carbon Monoxide” by Aleksandra Listwan. The monodrama is inspired by the actress’s meetings with women who, at first glance (according to common social criteria), can be described as strange
July: „Winter Trip” – a co-production of Powszechny Theatre in Łódź and Polski Theatre in Bydgoszcz (directed by Maja Kleczewska) was presented during the Open’er Festival in Gdynia. The festival has widened its formula in recent years to present also the most important theatrical and visual art events
September: “March Polonia” was presented in the Helena Modrzejewska Theatre in Legnica as a part of director Jacek Głomb jubilee (20 seasons in the Legnica theatre)
September: second meeting of the series “Masters of Łódź Theatre”
October: preview of „Hotel Minister” – a classical farce by Ray Cooney directed by Giovanny Castellanos
October: on the International Day of the Blind the jubilee 40th preview of the Reading Theatre for people with poor eyesight and blind - John Chapman’s „Kindly Leave the Stage”
October: inauguration of our new educational-social project – „Matinées in Powszechny”
November: third meeting of the series “Masters of Łódź Theatre”, with Barbara Połomska and Michał Szewczyk (Janusz Kubicki was absent because of an illness)
November: the first workshop from our new educational project „How to bite Tu-wim”. The project is addressed to grammar and secondary schools’ students. The participants not only learn facts and interesting details of the life of the poet but they have the opportunity of translating his works into theatrical language with the help of the actors playing in „Tu-wim”
December: the 41st preview of the Reading Theatre for people with poor eyesight and blind - „Don’t Tax Me Too Much Darling”, the latest comedy by Francis Veber, French film director, screenwriter, producer and theatre playwright.
December: the 42nd preview of the Reading Theatre for people with poor eyesight and blind - a play by Maciej Wojtyszko “Rycerz Niezłomny, albo niewola Księżniczki Parekselencji”, prepared specially for our youngest spectators. After the spectacle Mr Henryk Ługowski, president of the Łódź branch of Polish Union of the Blind thanked the theatre for our initiative. He underlined that Powszechny Theatre is the only theatre in Poland that prepares its shows for spectators with poor eyesight and blind. – I wish you would do it till the end of the world and one day more! – he said.
New Year’s Eve: on our two stages we presented two plays for almost 700 spectators: “Hotel Minister” and “Tu-wim”
