Insides Warsaws theatres

«This past March saw the 49th anniversary of the annual "Day of Theatre" in the whole of Europę. To celebrate, Teatr Studio opened its doors to hołd a special banquet, in what has become a growing trend in the theatre: opening itself up to unique day-time and evening events. This literał opening up can also be seen as metaphoric, with the space widening its repertoire to include a new showcase of musical, artistic and dramatic talent.

"Showcase" is a word with no real equivalent in Polish but this year, especially with the current Warsaw Theatre Festival, it is re-occurring among theatre directors and audiences alike with growing frequency. It's significance can be seen in the recent "Dni Otwarte" ("Open Days") in the Theatre, intended to launch the space as a reformed artistic centrę, which, in light of recent performances, will be one which transcends linguistic boundaries.

In planning to challenge the "ambivalent" symbol that is the Pałac Kultury, inside which the theatre is housed, Grzegorz Bral [photo]is keen to encourage guest artists to really make the theatre a creative space thafs going to offer something special in terms of artistic collaboration. Indeed, perhaps the crowning glory of the recent open days was Bral's own production of "Macbeth," which retained Shakespeare's English in order to ambitiously experiment with the potential musicality of the Bard's language.

This production, now sixyears from its premier at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival where it won the award for Best International Performance, is a cornerstone of Bral's dramaturgical practice with his own troupe "Teatr Pieśń Kozła" (Song of the Goat Theatre). A growingly influential company, with members comprised from Finland, the United Kingdom and Poland, its very different means of performance proved to be a breath of fresh air for the current Polish theatre scene.

Bral also heads the "Brave Festiyal," an extremely admirable project, which attempts to preserve the dramatic practices of subaltern cultures by having intemational invitees showcase their works during the Wrocław-based spectacle. In view of these "Dni Otwarte" and the futurę productions set to premier in May, as well as the recharged work of its new Artistic Director, this is most definitely a theatre well worth sitting down and taking notę of.

NEW ENGLISH REPERTOIRES

In an attempt to play up to its English-speaking audiences, several major theatres in Warsaw will cater to English-speaking audiences with subtitled performances. Teatr Dramatyczny's May programme includes two new theatrical offerings by acclaimed Polish director, Krystian Lupa, authorand long-standing creator of many a stage and screen production. His "Persona. Marylin," about Hollywood icon Marilyn Monroe, and "The Flesh of Simone," about the "flesh and thought" of French philosopher, Simone Weil, are part of a trilogy of shows that focus on people who helped shape the cultural landscape ofthetwentieth century. From media icons to literary heroines, Madame Bovary, "a hysterical woman in love," is also set for a subtitled revival. The production will be gracing the TD's great stage in this new initiative to bring morę non-Polish-speaking visitors to the theatre.

According to Katarzyna Szustow, Head of Communications at Teatr Dramatyczny, this is an innovation that the theatre intends to continue, with regards to their futurę performances. "Warsaw is a cosmopolitan city," Szustow claims "[and we at TD] are very open to accommodating foreign viewers. We are currently trying to ensure that as many of our shows as possible are staged with English subtitles". Info: www.teatrdramatyczny.pl

Theatre in English this month

Teatr dramatyczny

20.05 "Persona. Marylin"

by Krystian Lupa 22.05 TTie Flesh of Simone"

by Krystian Lupa 14.05 "Madame Bovary" by Radosław Rychcik

Nowy Teatr will put on 2 performances of the much-applauded "Tramwaj", an adaptation of Tenessee Williams' "Streetcar Named Desire," directed by Krzysztof Warlikowski peformed in French starring Andrzej Chyra and Isabelle Huppert (01-02.05)

The directors "(A)Pollonia" will be performed with English subtitles on 14-15.05. Info: www.nowyteatr.org.

Teatr na Woli will premiere "Trzy Siostrzyczki Trupki" ("Ttiree Corpse Sisters") on 12.05 based on Maciej Kowalewki's black comedy about three sisters described by British theatre critic Patrick Stoddart as "A brave experiment that deserves to succeed" and which Caroline White says "creeps with menace and fizzes with the wit of the finest tragicomic tradition". Performances 12.05 through 14.05 at 19:30. Info: www.wolnawola.home.pl»