First preview of "Ferragosto" at the 25th Festival

During the 25th edition of International Festival of Plays Pleasant and Unpleasant we premiered „Ferragosto” - a play by Radosław Paczocha directed by Adam Orzechowski. The first preview of the Powszechny Theatre production took place on Sunday, 17 March, on our Small Stage.  The play tells the story of Gustaw Herling-Grudziński – on outstanding Polish writer, essayist, journalist and literary critic, soldier and prisoner of Soviet labour camps (gulag), who was a political emigre for the whole period of communism in Poland. Thank you for being with us that night! We invite you to the next spectacles of „Ferragosto” in March, April, May, June and July! 

The title of the play by Radosław Paczocha refers to the August 15th Italian holiday. It is a free day for all Italians. The cities become deserted because its inhabitants leeave looking for some shelter from the heat. Herling-Grudziński described the day as unbearable from a psychological point of view. „Ferragosto” tells the writer’s story during and after WWII. The past and history become a nightmare, imaginings, returning phantoms. – The play’s characters either come from Herling’s books or they are his relatives, members of family. We have confined the writer to his study and we present his relations with other people within this small area. History and private life intepenetrate each other in the spectacle – says Afdam Orzechowski, director of „Ferragosto”.  - It is not a puff piece, it is the spectacle  about an intelligent, suffering man who does not accept any arrangements, a tough but talented true man – stresses Orzechowski.    

After the show there was a meeting with the play’s creators. It was moderated by Łukasz Drewniak. Both the author and the director pointed out that „Ferragosto” had something in common with their spectacle „Broniewski” (it had been presented during the 21st edition of the Festival) – the play also presented an outstanding, talented and complicated man. – The difference between Broniewski and Herling-Grudziński was in their moral attitude and the inflexibility of their principles – said the creators.                

„Ferragosto” premiered under the honorary patronage of Ministry of Culture and National Heritage.

Radosław Paczocha
„Ferragosto“
Director: Adam Orzechowski
Music: Marcin Nenko
Set design and costumes: Magdalena Gajewska
Cast: Przemysław Chojęta, Jarosław Dziedzic, Karolina Krawczyńska, Diana Krupa, Michał Lacheta, Karolina Łukaszewicz, Paulina Nadel, Angelika Olszewska, Arkadiusz Wójcik, Magdalena Zając-Zawadzka, Artur Zawadzki