We have started rehearsals for the premiere of "CHOPIN" (working title) directed by Jędrzej Piaskowski.
Rehearsals have begun for a new premiere at the Wrocław Pantomime Theatre, "CHOPIN" (working title), a directorial and dramaturgical duo project by Jędrzej Piaskowski and Hubert Sulima. The premiere is scheduled for May 17 at the TVP3 Wrocław Studio S1.
Fryderyk Chopin - an icon of Polish national identity, a source of pride, the subject of numerous studies, practically a cult figure and pop culture celebrity known from alcohol bottles and chocolate packaging. To this day, he remains - alongside John Paul II, Lech Wałęsa or Robert Lewandowski - one of the most famous Poles in the world. His music is considered not only a product of genius but also an expression of what is Polish, patriotic, national, "ours".
We seem to know everything about Chopin, but that's not true. A cursory look beyond the official, school narrative of his life and work reveals many secrets and paradoxes. Uncomfortable topics, therefore suppressed. Not fitting into the stereotypical stories of longing for the homeland, storks over flowered meadows enchanted in mazurkas, or about "Szopen" - a romantic heartbreaker of women. There's a lot in Chopin's closets. This includes the matter of love letters written by the composer to Tytus Woyciechowski, a friend from his youth, which often opened with the romantic phrase: "My dearest life!" and concluded with a farewell: "I hug you warmly, 'right on the lips' if you allow?"
Dramaturg Hubert Sulima about the concept of the spectacle's creation: "So, it will be a multiple portrait, arising from relationships, reflecting in each other. The spectacle will be a space for confessions about matters that have never been spoken, but also for fulfilling dreams that we have suppressed within ourselves and that never spoken out. Dark, beautiful, dangerous. We are looking for images that will liberate the viewers, inspire them to look into their own 'basements' and to expand their freedom."
However, the Piaskowski/Sulima spectacle will not just be an alternative, queer biography of Chopin. It will serve the creators as a starting point to examine what could not find a place in official Polish culture or in the public sphere for centuries. Everything that did not fit into canons, norms, or ideologies and therefore remained unspoken and unfulfilled. Chopin's music will become a portal to the nooks and crannies of reality and the margins of imagination, but also to search for consolation, comfort, and escape. The performance is also intended to be a contribution to the discussion on the complex, non-obvious nature and sources of creativity, including that considered "national."
I intend to use the potential of the Pantomime team in a total way. At least that's my plan and desire for now, and what will come of it - we'll see. I'm certainly interested in the personalities of our actors and actresses, I don't expect them to conform to a single, cohesive, choreographed to the millimeter aesthetics or poetics, or to imitate some already existing way of doing movement theater. I'm rather interested in how their individualities will resonate with the topics we have prepared for them. From these individual vibrations, I will try to piece together a whole, in which their individual potentials can develop and justify themselves. - adds director Jędrzej Piaskowski.
Creators:
Director: Jędrzej Piaskowski
Dramaturgy, text: Hubert Sulima
Set design: Anna Maria Karczmarska, Mikołaj Małek
Costumes: Rafał Domagała
Music: Jacek Sotomski
Lighting: Klaudyna Schubert
Cast: Sara Celler-Jezierska (guest), Agnieszka Dziewa, Agnieszka Kulińska, Karolina Paczkowska, Jan Kochanowski, Eloy Moreno Gallego, Jakub Pewiński.
On-show technical stage management:
technical manager: Krzysztof Kowalski
lights: Bogumił Palewicz
sound: Przemysław Cieśla
wardrobe mistress: Edyta Krysiewicz
stage manager: Katarzyna Radomska
