"Under the Influence" at the Festival

On Saturday, 23 March, at the EXPO-Łódź Hall we presented „Under the Influence” directed by Maja Kleczewska. The spectacle produced by The Stanisław Wyspiański Śląski Theatre in Katowice was given a long standing ovation. Thank you for being with us that night! 

„Under the Influence” is inspired by motives from the John Cassavetes’s script „A Woman Under the Influence”. In the Kleczewska’s spectacle it is a film about theatre produced in front of the audience. Two parallel worlds interpenetrate, complement each other or make their own alternative stories. Throughout the whole play we accompany Mabel, the main character who does not seem to be suited for categories of normality and correctness. And then – what is normality? Who sets the social norms? Who decides on them? 

Mable, a wife and mother of three children, lives in a society that stigmatizes her behaviour. Thought to be sick, strange and requiring treatment she is the only person who is able to show her emotions, to speak about her feelings, to feel empathy, to love. Should the courage of speaking openly about your feeling result in social ostracism? Are dissimilarity or imperfection tantamount to being somebody inferior to others or somebody dangerous?

After the spectacle there was a meeting with its creators. The meeting was moderated by Łukasz Maciejewski. Sandra Korzeniak told about her difficult role of Mabel as well as about the connection of the film and the play and their mutual dependency. The creators underlined that the spectacle’s aim was to ask difficult and uncomfortable questions to everybody who thought to have a right to judge others according to his/her own criteria.       

EXPO-Łódź Hall is the partner of the 25th edition of International Festival of Plays Pleasant and Unpleasant.

The Stanisław Wyspiański Śląski Theatre in Katowice
Maja Kleczewska, Łukasz Chotkowski
„Under the Influence”
Director: Maja Kleczewska
Dramaturgy: Łukasz Chotkowski
Stage script: Łukasz Chotkowski, Maja Kleczewska
Set design: Marcel Sławiński, Katarzyna Sobańska (MIKSS)
Costumes: Konrad Parol
Music: Cezary Duchnowski
Cast: Sandra Korzeniak, Piotr Bułka, Anna Kadulska, Ewa Leśniak, Andrzej Dopierała, Antoni Gryzik, Wiesław Kupczak, Arkadiusz Machel, Marek Rachoń, Artur Święs, Andrzej Warcaba, Zbigniew Wróbel and Mateusz Znaniecki
with: Kamil Suszyk, Kaśka Dudek, Mariusz Konieczny, Sebastian Krysiak, Piotr Stanusz, Liwia Dziurosz, Igor Karaszewski/Franciszek Wardas, Julia Tudzierz, Filip Moczek, Franciszek Moczek, Aniela Tudzierz, Karolina Cieślar, Magdalena Dymsza, Patrycja Góra, Paweł Kempa, Wiktoria Łuczak, Małgorzata Szpiech, Aleksandra Szokiel, Cecylia Wadas. 

Photo Kasia Chmura