2024/25 Season: Revealing the Artistic Plans
The 2024/2025 Season in Pantomime
A directorial debut, the "Villa" project, three premieres, and the return of the Pantomime Studio. The new season will begin with the finale of the third edition of the Directorial Debut Competition in Pantomime, where the Laureate—chosen by the audience—will stage a production with the Wrocław Mime Theatre team. Premieres will also be presented by Martyna Majewska, Cezary Tomaszewski, and Anna Obszańska.
“The 2024/2025 season is our opportunity to prove ourselves in working with young creators, to build dialogue, and to develop pantomime in contact with the needs and visions of the young generation of artists. The upcoming season is also a time for returns, nurturing those theatrical visions and languages that are closest to us as pantomime artists” – mówi Agnieszka Charkot, dyrektorka Pantomimy.
The new season began with workshop-artistic activities for the "Villa" project, directed and dramaturged by Zdenka Pszczołowska. Participants are working on a performance within the site-specific idea, a genre that involves deep thematic and spatial embedding in an existing scenography— in this case, a villa complex that houses the Wrocław Pantomime Theatre. A work presentation will be held on September 28th at Aleja Dębowa 16.
The Finale of the Directorial Debut Competition in Pantomime
The finale of the competition, open to beginner directors, will take place on October 12 and 13 at the Centrum Sztuk Performatywnych Instytutu Grotowskiego "Piekarnia".
Out of the 13 submissions received, the competition committee, comprising Agnieszka Charkot, Agnieszka Kulińska, Piotr Soroka and Krzysztof Kowalski, selected three finalists.
Selected projects in alphabetical order:
■ WHY DOES YOUR HEART SPEAK SO STRANGELY?, based on the concept by Wiktor Stypa,
Wiktor Stypa is a fifth-year directing student at the Theatre Academy in Warsaw.
"Why Does Your Heart Speak So Strangely?" is an original proposition and an attempt at a tender look at the figure of a former prisoner who, like Don Quixote, hides his loneliness and disorientation under the mask of fiction. In 2020, during the pandemic, the director received a letter. It seemed strange to him because it was sent by a man incarcerated in the Warsaw correctional facility in Olszynka Grochowska and addressed to a woman he called "Little Sister." Faced with this experience, the director asks: is perseverance and hard work enough to truly change something?
■ MOBY DICK, based on the concept by Jakub Zalasa,
Jakub Zalasa is a fifth-year directing student at the Theatre Academy in Cracow.
"Moby Dick" is the legendary novel by Herman Melville. It tells the story of Captain Ahab of the ship Pequod, who, driven by obsession, sets out on a journey to take revenge on the titular white whale. The director interprets this text not only through the lens of the universal truth embedded in the work but also proposes a "Moby Dick" based on a belief in the beauty of nature and interspecies communication.
■ THE VEGETARIAN, based on the concept by Patrycja Wysokińska.
Patrycja Wysokińska is a fifth-year directing student at the Theatre Academy in Warsaw.
"The Vegetarian" by Han Kang is a South Korean novel that tells the story of Yeong-hye, a woman who stops eating meat and wishes to become a tree. She faces oppression and violence, not only from society but also from her closest ones. The director treats vegetarianism not literally but as a condition of a human being who refuses what is abundantly available, imposed by society.
These three will compete for the audience's votes and the opportunity to realize their concept as a full-scale production on October 12th and 13th. Allowing the audience to vote is the first inclusive initiative of this kind in the Pantomime program, with the audience's opinion never having such a decisive role in shaping the institution's program before.
When: October 12th and 13th | 6:00 PM
Venue: Centrum Sztuk Performatywnych Piekarnia Instytutu Grotowskiego
Premieres
■ Martyna Majewska (November 2024) – Graduate of theater directing at AST in Wrocław. A director and screenwriter of films, music videos, and theater performances. Nominated for the Cultural Award of the Wrocław branch of "Gazeta Wyborcza" "Warto" in the categories of Theatre and Film. Director of such productions as: "BATORY_trans" (Wrocław Mime Theatre), "Wyzwolenie: królowe” (Capitol Music Tehatre in Wrocław, "Słaby rok” (a diploma performance of AST students in Wrocław) or „Niewolnica Isaura” (Jerzy Szaniawski Dramatic Theater in Wałbrzych).
■ Cezary Tomaszewski (May 2025) – Director, choreographer, performer, actor, and dancer. Has collaborated with, among others, Toxic Dreams, Joachim Robbrecht, Andrea Bold, Willi Dorner, Anna Tenta, Catherine Guerin. Nominated for the „Paszportu Polityki”. Creator of an original version of Franz Lehár's operetta „Wesoła Wdówka”praised by prestigious magazines Theater heute and Falter. Known to Wrocław audiences from productions such as: „Priscilla, Królowa Pustyni. Musical” (Teatr Muzyczny Capitol), „Gdyby Pina nie paliła, to by żyła” (Jerzy Szaniawski Dramatic Theater in Wałbrzych) oraz „Alpine Symphony. A spiritualist-mime thriller inspired by the figure of Wanda Rutkiewicz with music by Richard Strauss”. An artist with an unrestrained stage imagination and a love for camp aesthetics.
■ Anna Obszańska „Brave New World” (June 2025)
How is the body gradually deformed by technology? Huxley's vision allows creators to ask how the body will change in the future, in a world already striving to commodify, homogenize, and commercialize it. Rejecting imperfection, asymmetry, biological processes, and abjection inherent in human nature, bodies are formatted to fit a digital world view. The main character of the performance is the world created by Huxley, so iconically constant for the past hundred years. The cast, embodying specific functions, like cogs in a dystopian machine, will bring the eerie images of body training described in the novel to life. The first part of the performance reconstructs a London reminiscent of the novel's setting, with a collective anonymous protagonist representing its community. Huxley's urban image serves as a pretext for creators to present our reality. In the second part, according to the original course of action, specific character profiles emerge. The performance, entirely based on movement, without relying on words, examines how the body undergoes gradual transformation in the new world.
Education
From October, we will return with the Pantomime Studio, which will provide training in pantomime technique and contemporary techniques of body and movement work, as well as movement theater dramaturgy. Last year's edition, conducted by WTP actors and guest artists, showed how much interest there is in workshops combining pantomime and movement theater.
The course format will remain unchanged. Classes will be held on weekends once a month.
Pantomime in Lower Silesia
We continue the tradition of touring performances across Lower Silesia. Increasing access to culture in smaller centers is one of WMT's priorities, carrying a significant cultural and educational value for the entire region. A winter tour is planned with the performance "Queen. The Yard Fairy Tale," inspired by H. C. Andersen's "The Snow Queen," directed by Artur Borkowski. This activity will be funded through resources obtained under the National Reconstruction Plan (KPO).
Sensory Garden
In October, the Theater will start work on creating a Sensory Garden in the garden complex at its headquarters at 16 Dębowa Avenue. Combining visual arts with happenings and performances aims not only to expand the theater's activities with interdisciplinary artistic actions but also to strengthen the local connection with residents. This initiative will be funded through resources from the KPO.
Since 2021, the Wrocław Pantomime Theater has participated in the national "Culture for Climate" campaign. Searching for connections and coexistence at the intersection of nature and culture will be a pretext for artistic activities at the end of 2025.
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