"Uncle Vanya" to end the Festival
Thursday, 29 March was the last day of the 24th edition of the International Festival of Plays Pleasant and Unpleasant. On that day we presented “Uncle Vanya” by Anton Chekhov, directed by Ivan Vyrypaev. The spectacle produced by Polski Theatre in Warsaw received a long standing ovation. Thank you for that night and thank you for the whole month with the Festival, for our meetings, for taking part in spectacles and in discussions. It was a beautiful and memorable time!
“Uncle Vanya” was the last presentation of the 24th edition of the International Festival of Plays Pleasant and Unpleasant the topic of which was “It is dangerous to quit the stage”. After the spectacle there was a meeting with its creators. The discussion was moderated by Łukasz Drewniak. The play’s director Ivan Vyrypaev emphasized that his idea was to put the spectacles within the frames of a “closed masterpiece” that is a closed reality of Chekhov’s drama. He wanted neither to update nor change the original text. He produced “Uncle Vanya” without shortcuts, word by word. Treating the text as a sacred script he told a story that had happened in the Voynitsky’s rural estate, between the arrival and departure of professor Serebryakov and his beautiful wife Helen. The director noticed also that he had not wanted the actors to identify with the play’s characters and their emotions. He wanted the actors to personify them in such a way that the Chekhov’s drama – which had been written in a particular context and in a specific historical time – could sound in full.
During the meeting the spectators thanked Ms Ewa Pilawska, the festival’s artistic director, for this year’s edition of the Festival and gave her a bunch of beautiful flowers. See the photos of the last evening of the Festival!
The Arnold Szyfman Polish Theatre in Warsaw
Anton Chekhov
Uncle Vanya
Translation: Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz
Director: Ivan Vyrypaev
Set design: Anna Met
Costumes: Katarzyna Lewińska
Lightning director: Sergei Vasilev
Cast: Teresa Budzisz-Krzyżanowska, Magdalena Różczka, Ewelina Pankowska, Anna Nehrebecka, Dariusz Chojnacki, Marcin Jędrzejewski, Szymon Kuśmider, Andrzej Seweryn, Maciej Stuhr
Photo Kasia Chmura-Cegiełkowska
