„Heart Of Darkness” at the 27th Festival

On Sunday, 24 October 2021, we presented “Heart Of Darkness”, directed by Paweł Łysak and produced by The Zygmunt Huebner Powszechny Theatre in Warsaw. The spectacle’s creators took us into a journey with the use of sound, multimedia and technological theatrical intrumentarium. All spectators had special headphones. Due to great interest we managed to organize additional show. Thank you for the afternoon and the night!

“A dark and scandalous masterpiece” – this is how “Heart of Darkness”, written by Joseph Conrad in 1899, has been described. A cruise from Europe into the depths of the African river Congo is at the same time a journey into European violence. The story of Kurtz’s outpost and his crimes committed in the name of civilization's development is a story of a patriarchal order built on the exploitation of people, the environment and resources.

The spectacle is based on Joseph Conrad’s novella and it tells about evil that is stuck in a man. Director Paweł Łysak and dramaturgist Paweł Sztarbowski read Conrad very critically and ask questions on modern colonialism. Does it still exist? Does a patriarchal system based on the exploitation of people and nature still rule the world? Do not we see that in the name of civilization development every day we silently agree to committing crimes?

After the spectacle Łukasz Maciejewski run a meeting with its creators. They talked about the novella and its author – Joseph Conrad is nowadays accused of racism. They also underlined that societies were clearly divided according to dichotomy “woman – man”, “civilization – wildness”. Dominik Strycharski said that work on the spectacle was very interesting for him because he had attended all rehearsals and music and sound were equally important part of the show.               

 

The Zygmunt Huebner Powszechny Theatre in Warsaw
“Heart of Darkness”
based on Joseph Conrad’s novella
Directed by Paweł Łysak
Dramaturgy: Paweł Sztarbowski
Music: Dominik Strycharski
Lighting director: Jacqueline Sobiszewski
Sound director: Kuba Sosulski
Video – Karol Rakowski
Stage design consultations: Robert Rumas
Cast:  Michał Czachor, Oksana Czerkaszyna, Mamadou Góo Bâ, Oskar Stoczyński

Photos: Katarzyna Bąba