First presentation of „Meczycho” („The Match”) by Juliusz Machulski
Juliusz Machulski, the master of comedy, is back in Powszechny Theatre in Łódź! We have just premiered his play „Meczycho” („The Match”), directed by Tomasz Karolak. It is the fifth comedy written by Juliusz Machulski especially for our theatre; as Ewa Pilawska, creator of Polish Comedy Centre says, „his intelligence and sense of humor shape our perspective, teaching us detachment, empathy, and respect for opposing views. One could even say that Juliusz Machulski uses comedy to provide us with a sort of national therapy”.
First presentation of „The Match” which took place on 26 June 2026 ends the 32nd edition of International Festival of Plays Pleasant and Unpleasant. Thank you for the night, thank all of you for being with us! Yesterday the incredible heat and technology were not on our side but we managed to play „The Match” with a great pleasure.
In „The Match” the family meeting of grandparents and parents of their daughter and granddaughter, 18-year-old Nela (who during the event introduces them to Aleks – her girlfriend) sparks a series of conversations and topics from the past… The backdrop of the plot is a football match. And „football is the most important thing out of all unimportant things” – as Machulski notices, referring to words attributed to Albert Camus. However „The Match” is just a pretext to talk about the most important things, contrasted with stereotypical thinking, xenophobia, and homophobia.
- Football in this performance is just a pretext to tell a story about people. This is a story about a multi-generational family where emotions, conflicts, prejudices and love come to the surface while watching a match. It is a play about football, but it is really a spectacle about ourselves – Tomasz Karolak, director of the spectacle, says.
- Juliusz Machulski, like no other Polish author, has a unique ability to tackle difficult topics with brilliance, intelligence, and a sense of humor – he does it in such a way that we start to see ourselves and our weaknesses in a different light, in a completely different way. That is the strength of Juliusz Machulski’s work: he reminds us that we need distance like the air we breathe – Ewa Pilawska emphasizes.
After the spectacle there was a meeting where the creators talked about the process of making the spectacle. Ewa Pilawska reminded of the origins of Juliusz Machulski’s theatrical adventure with our theatre. It began with the „Comedywriting” competition in 2008, to which the director of Powszechny Theatre in Łódź invited the creator to participate. Machulski received then an award for his play „Next-ex” which soon after premiered on our stage directed by Justyna Celeda (it also premiered in TVP Theatre). Then followed first presentations of other Machulski’s plays: „Matka brata mojego syna” („Mother of My Son’s Brother”) directed by Adam Wojtyszko (2010), „Brancz” directed by Michał Siegoczyński (2015) – both were also presented in TVP Theatre. In 2022 we saw first presentation of „sad” comedy „Atrament. Wczoraj. Żyrafa” („Ink. Yesterday. Giraffe”) directed by Paweł Szkotak. „Meczycho” („The Match”) is his fifth play written especially for our theatre.
Tomasz Karolak talked about the process of working on the text and putting it in quotation marks, about introducing the match metaphor in order to build the structure of the performance, among others through movement direction (Maciej Zakliczyński was responsible for that). The actors spoke about their previous experiences with Machulski’s plays — for many of them it was another production based on the author’s comedies.
Another spectacles will be presented on 27, 28 and 30 June, 2, 3, 4 and 5 July and next season. See you!
Juliusz Machulski
„Meczycho” (The Match”)
Directed by Tomasz Karolak
Stage design: Wojciech Stefaniak
Costumes: Anna Poniewierska
Stage movement direction: Maciej Zakliczyński
Music: Dominik Strycharski
Cast: Karolina Kleniewska/Aleksandra Bogulewska, Karolina Łukaszewicz, Paulina Nadel, Zofia Plewińska, Artur Zawadzki, Dymitr Hołówko, Filip Jacak
Stage manager/prompter: Izabela Papierska
Poster for the spectacle: Maria Machulska
Photos by Joanna Głodek
