Mars: The Odyssey

During the XX International Festival of Plays Pleasant and Unpleasant in a deserted hall (former 7.15 Theatre) of Hotel Grand in Łódź on Saturday (29 March) we saw the first preview of „Mars: The Odyssey” directed by Paweł Miśkiewicz.

The inspiration for the play – a mission to Mars planned for 2023. The first group of astronauts will fly to Mars to set up the first permanent human colony there. The participants will never return to the Earth – it is a one way trip.

The mission becomes the metaphor for universal problems. The play tells about radical decision such as the mission to the Red Planet. A person who decides to take part in the mission irretrievably rejects a status quo and thinks of trying a brand new and unknown future. He starts to live in a dream and gives up his/her former life. Mars is a symbolic counterbalance to the Earth where the austronauts’ lives have been organized according to its rhythm. The astronauts stake everything on one card. Then there are questions connected with the mission to Mars: who are the people who decide to take this one way trip? Who is able to take such a radical decision? What are the consequences for the mission participants and for the whole mankind?

Does the mission really allow its participants to start their lives anew? Does the radical decision have any chance to become real while we are not able to solve any prosaic problems such as whether to have a cheese sandwich or a cottage cheese sandwich?   

   

After the show there was a meeting with the play’s creators. The meeting was moderated by Łukasz Drewniak. Paweł Miśkiewicz noted that „Mars: The Odyssey” is not a science-fiction story. Mars is only a parable of the reality, a forecast of the situation when the Earth becomes too small for mankind. This is the picture of a shrinking world where all people start using the same language (some lines of the play are in English).

Thank you for your presence and we invite you to another events of the Festival!