The Last Days of Nicolae and Elena Ceausescu
Polski Theatre in Bydgoszcz
Directed by Wojciech Faruga
Stage design, costumes and lights: Wojciech Faruga
Script and dramaturgy: Julia Holewińska
Music: Radosław Duda
Vocal preparation: Natalia Kawałek
Choreography: Bartłomiej Gąsior
Produced by Bartłomiej Chmara, Daria Główczyńska and Magdalena Niedźwiecka Cast: Mirosław Guzowski, Damian Kwiatkowski, Karol Franek Nowiński, Michalina Rodak, Małgorzata Trofimiuk, Małgorzata Witkowska, Marcin Zawodziński
The performance uses aria „What Power Art Thou” from the opera „King Arthur” by Henry Purcell, arranged by Radosław Duda, and poem „God Abandons Antony” by Konstantinos Kavafis, translated by Zygmunt Kubiak.
In the new original text by Julia Holewińska, „The Last Days of Elena and Nicolae Ceau?escu”, the creators look at the twilight of the Romanian leaders’ dictatorship. The drama shows the fall of the overlords and traces the way they go from being gods to prisoners and eventually perish.
In December 1989, Nicolae Ceau?escu and his wife Elena saw what was happening on the streets and how the demonstrators were reacting to the sight of them. Still, they did not allow themselves to think that the public was turning against them. According to both of them, their situation resulted from a betrayal. Until the very last moment, the Ceauşescus rejected the accusation that they had driven the country into hunger and misery, pointing to the successes they had achieved instead. The performance’s creators are also interested in the fate and behaviour of those who accompanied the couple in their final hours.
Our ideas about war and the philosophical discourses of the second half of the 20th century have lost their meaning. Francis Fukuyama’s famous concept proclaiming the end of history today sounds like history’s giggle. Thirty-three years ago the world was focused on Romania and the fall of the governments of Nicolae and Elena Ceau?escu. The final days of their dictatorship and the subsequent televised execution reshaped the perception of the revolution as well as the undeniable nature of the event in the media.
Loud sound effects (such as gunshots) are used in the production.
Tickets
130 zloties, reduced: 70 zloties
Duration
1 hour 40 minutes (no intermission)
When we play
