We Know the Finalists of the Directorial Debut Competition

Thirteen applications were submitted to the competition. One application contained a formal error. Twelve applications were qualified for substantive evaluation.

Students and graduates of directing who are under 35 years of age were eligible to submit their original concepts for a stage production. Initially, the competition committee reviewed the applications, and then conducted interviews with the authors of the selected ideas.

The competition committee included representatives from the Wrocław Mime Theatre:

  • Agnieszka Charkot – Director of the Wrocław Pantomime Theatre named after Henryk Tomaszewski,
  • Piotr Soroka – Program Specialist at the Wrocław Pantomime Theatre named after Henryk Tomaszewski,
  • Agnieszka Kulińska – Representative of the Artistic Team at the Wrocław Pantomime Theatre named after Henryk Tomaszewski,
  • Krzysztof Kowalski – Technical Director of the Wrocław Pantomime Theatre named after Henryk Tomaszewski.

Three projects were selected for the second stage of the competition:

  1. WHY DOES YOUR HEART SPEAK SO STRANGELY? based on the concept by Wiktor Stypa

"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?

  1. MOBY DICK based on the concept by Jakub Zalasa

"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.

  1. THE VEGETARIAN based on the concept by Patrycja Wysokińska

"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.

Now, the selected three will prepare fragments of their performances in the form of selected scenes lasting from 15 to 30 minutes, which will be presented to the public on October 12 and 13 on the stage at the Centrum Sztuk Performatywnych Instytutu Grotowskiego. After each presentation, the audience will have the opportunity to ask questions to the creators during a discussion moderated by representatives of the Theatre. It is the audience who will decide, through voting, which presentation they liked the most and which will be directed to full-scale production, premiering between December 2, 2024, and March 1, 2025.

Tickets priced at 10 PLN per person for the final of the Directorial Debut Competition on October 12 and 13 (6:00 PM) can be purchased at www.bilety.pantomima.wroc.pl.

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