„Honour Row” directed by Krystyna Janda opened the 27th International Festival of Plays Pleasant and Unpleasant
On Saturday, 2 October, we inaugurated the 27th International Festival of Plays Pleasant and Unpleasant. It was opened by “Honour Row”, presented by Polonia Theatre in Warsaw. The main theme of this year’s edition of the Festival is “Artist in a crisis”. Thank you for being with us on that exceptional night!
During the meeting after the show its creators called “Honour Row” a spectacle “funny but unpleasant”. The main character of the play by Jarosław Mikołajewski is an outstanding poetess. As an artist she feels and sees more, she notices those aspects of life that remain unnoticeable by most people…
The problem is that her sensitiveness is not accompanied by skill of solving simple, everyday-life problems. She cannot find herself in cruel reality with rules set by economy. She realizes that when she is gone her husband will not have enough money for her burial. The only way out is the ceremony paid by the state. But there is one condition – it should be organized on the Honour Row…
And here starts a journey to different places and different people who have the power to decide whether the poetess is worthy the state ceremony. The journey both literal and metaphorical – it puts questions on our dignity, on sense of self-esteem, on relations with the world, on the art’s role. How can you convince others you are man of worth, a distinguished creator, and how can you do it without being embarrassed and ashamed? How can you put up with a sense of helplessness that the artist’s work, however appreciated, does not give elementary material safety? Is it worth to devote your life to ideas and imponderables? Should the artist have his own ethos and never give it up? Can he have a crisis? And finally – what are we able to do in the name of love and give to our loved ones?
After the spectacle Łukasz Drewniak moderated the meeting with its creators. What is the artist’s and the poet’s mission? Is he appreciated and understood by his contemporaries? Is he in a crisis? And if so – is it the crisis of the artist or the reality in which he is working? There are some of the subjects from the discussion.
Polonia Theatre, Warsaw
„Honour Row”
By Jarosław Mikołajewski
Director: Krystyna Janda
Stage design and costumes: Zuzanna Markiewicz
Lighting director: Katarzyna Łuszczyk
Video: Andrzej Wolf
Music „Szalej, nalej” song: Janusz Bogacki
„Szalej, nalej” song performed by Lidia Stanisławska
Assistant to the stage designer: Małgorzata Domańska
Produced by: Rafał Rossa
Projection: Radosław Grabski
Light: Rafał Piotrowski
Sound: Michał Cacko
Cast: Krystyna Janda, Olgierd Łukaszewicz, Emilia Krakowska, Dorota Landowska, Grzegorz Warchoł
