"Ashes And Diamonds - the Riddle of Immortality" at the Festival

On Saturday, 30 March, we presented „Ashes And Diamonds – the Riddle of Immortality” directed by Marcin Liber, produced by The Modjeska Theatre in Legnica. The play by Małgorzata Sikorska-Miszczuk, inspired by Andrzej Wajda’s film and Jerzy Andrzejewski’s novel, tells about current situation in Poland while pointing out that there are more and more social divisions in our relations. 

The play is set immediately after WW2 but the conflicts have not finished. “Ashes And Diamonds…” shows that Polish-Polish war never stops. The participants of the ball in Banquet Hall of the Metropol Hotel do not know what to do with independence that they have just gained. Can it be changed soon? Does the spectacle by Liber only show a particular weak historical moment of 1945  or is it a timeless diagnosis of Polish society and its state of mind?

Łukasz Drewniak who moderated the meeting with the show’s creators pointed out that Marcin Liber in his spectacles often referred to other cultural texts, spectacles, films, works of other artists – theatre included. The creators said that “Ashes And Diamons…” was a tribute to great Polish filmmakers (Wajda, Kawalerowicz, Toeplitz) who consequently in their films laid the mental foundations for the feeling of freedom and the birth of Solidarity. 

Małgorzata Sikorska-Miszczuk
„Ashes and Diamonds – the Riddle of Immortality”
Inspired by Andrzej Wajda’s film and Jerzy Andrzejewski’s novel
Director: Marcin Liber
Set design: Mirek Kaczmarek
Costumes: Grupa Mixer
Music (live, compositions and arrangements): Olga Mysłowska, Filip Kaniecki
Cast: Albert Pyśk, Magda Biegańska, Magda Skiba, Mateusz Krzyk, Wiesław Cichy, Anita Poddębniak, Paweł Wolak, Paweł Palcat, Robert Gulaczyk, Bogdan Grzeszczak, Joanna Gonschorek, Bartosz Bulanda, Mariusz Sikorski, Olga Mysłowska, Rafał Cieluch

Photo: Kasia Chmura