2014/2015 season in Powszechny Theatre – 334 spectacles and more than 100,000 spectators!
We have just finished 2014/2015 season on Powszechny Theatre in Łódź. As usual, we were the only Łódź theatre to play that long. What was the season like? During 11 months (from September till July) we presented 334 spectacles which were attended by 107,374 spectators. The City subsidies amounted to 3,950,000 zloties for 2015 and one milion zloties for the XXI Festival. Our incomes and funds raised by the Theatre in the season amounted to 3,267,809 zloties.
We produced 12 pre-views on our two stages:
- Hotel Minister by Ray Cooney (directed by Giovanny Castellanos)
- Oś directed by Filip Gieldon (premiere)
- Song Factory by Maciej Karpiński and Maciej Wojtyszko (directed by Maciej and Adam Wojtyszko) – premiere
- Stop Motion (Stopklatka) by Malina Prześluga (directed by Jakub Zubrzycki) – premiere
- Brunch (Brancz) by Juliusz Machulski (directed by Michał Siegoczyński) – premiere
- Heaven Eyes by David Almond (directed by Andrzej Jakubas) – Polish premiere
including 5 pre-views of the Reading Theatre for people with poor eyesight and blind (all of them were directed by Ewa Pilawska on a voluntary basis):
- Kindly Leave The Stage by John Chapman
- Don't Tax Me Too Much Darling (Cher tresor) by Francis Veber
- Brave Knight (Rycerz niezłomny albo niewola księżniczki Parekselencji) by Maciej Wojtyszko (on the request of the spectators the spectacle was presented twice)
- The Mating Game by Robin Hawdon
- Heaven Eyes by David Almond.
The 21st edition of International Festival of Plays Pleasant and Unpleasant took place in March and April. We could see 10 performances presenting the spectrum of Polish and European theatre, discussion on the condition of an artist, an academic session showing the works of Kantor as related to the world avant-garde and the exhibition dedicated to Swinarski. During the XXI edition of the International Festival of Plays Pleasant and Unpleasant with always more than full audience (the attendance during this edition amounted to 124,9%) artists and the spectators discussed about who a contemporary artist is. They were trying to find answers to questions raised by Ewa Pilawska, the artistic director of the Festival.
According to our principle „Theatre close to the public” we continued our initiatives: Spectacle for the unemployed, Spectacle for pensioners and Child in a Situation. Heaven Eyes – the Polish premiere – was produced within the last project. We also realised more than 160 free workshops, lessons and meetings within the project Theatrical education. We continued our series Masters of Łódź Theatres. For one week we hosted Logos Theatre and its Christian Culture Festival.
This season we introduced some new initiatives. One of them is Yoga in Theatre – meetings run by purna yoga teacher Monika Dąbrowska. We also started workshops Open stage. Theatrical critics in practice – obligatory classes for University of Łódź students who meet with famous critics: Aneta Kyzioł, Jacek Wakar, Dominika Łarionow and Łukasz Drewniak. In July we organised Holidays with culture for young people – theatrical workshops, meetings with a psychologist and presentations of our spectacle „Stop Motion”. The project that was co-financed by the City of Łódź turned out to be very popular and it showed that it is really worth playing during holidays for young spectators who need theatre and want to come to the theatre in order to discuss difficult problems that need some deep reflections.
This season we also introduced another facilitation for our spectators – mobile application of Powszechny Theatre in Łódź. Now it is easier to find information on our shows as well buy tickets – you can do it by using your smartphone or tablet.
This year we have been celebrating our 70th anniversary. Thank you for being with us during this exceptional season. We play for you.
We wish you good holidays!
Ewa Pilawska and the team of Powszechny Theatre in Łódź
