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Łukasz Twarkowski's cosmic journey - "The Employees"

"The Employees" based on a novel by a contemporary Danish author, Olga Ravn, directed by Łukasz Twarkowski. The premiere at the Studio Theater on January 21.

Twarkowski's "The Employees" adapted by Joanna Bednarczyk, as many of his earlier productions, resists the traditional understanding of theatricality and will make the audience a part of the world, not just its observers. This time it will be a cosmic journey with a community colonized by bureaucracy and anti-human management, searching for the essence of humanism.

theemplotees-studio-Natalia_Kabanow.jpg
fot. Natalia Kabanow / mat. teatru

In the book "Ravn", the Earth has been destroyed. The story is told through the fragmentary reports of the ship's crew. Relationships begin and end at random moments and relate to everyday routine. Both "Ravn’s" novel and Twarkowski’s performance seem to pose one of the most fundamental questions about what human consciousness actually is. Are the brain and the mind the same thing? Science continues to find new neuronal correlates of sensory events. When we discover a simple and quick way to work out the functioning of the human brain, will we be able to build an artificial brain that, when inserted into a robot, will turn an android into a human being? What will AI algorithms do, equipped with a set of certain problem-solving tools, and learning from their own mistakes, when they exceed the possibilities expected from them by the programmer? Can a developing, constantly learning system of artificial intelligence cross this magical border beyond which it ceases to be merely an unbeatable chess master, and becomes a chess player who actually enjoys winning?

Łukasz Twarkowski (1983) is a creator of multimedia performances combining theatre and visual arts. He places his projects in the context of extending reality through multimedia.
A crucial element of Twarkowski’s creative work is investigating the ability and limitations of theatre as a medium and tool of communication. By permanent deconstruction of narratives, questioning the fixed habits of the audience and by meaningful usage of new media, Twarkowski creates a new, original language of stage performance based on multimedia and, more widely, digital technologies. In using these, Twarkowski analyses and observes increasingly complex relations between the Real, the Symbolic and the Imagined. In this area his works are innovative and at times pioneering.

In 2017 his work "LOKIS" premiered in the Drama Theatre in Vilnius. The performance was nominated for nine Golden Crosses of the Stage, the highest award in the field of theatre in Lithuania, and was awarded the Golden Cross for the best director. In 2019 he directed a performance in Schauspiel Hannover, based on the cult French fairy tale "Once upon a life"that was nominated by nachkritik.de for the title of best performance of 2020.
His second production in Lithuanian Drama Theatre was entitled "Respublica" (2020), coproduced with Munich Kammerspiele. "Respublica" is a production of a remarkable breadth and form which draws the audience into action and into a closed commune; it is a very immersive play and a composition of multi-layered, alternating narratives. Łukasz Twarkowski is interested in the secrets of the contemporary mindset, as well as the changed ways of receiving and processing information, so to reach this contemporary viewer, Twarkowski chooses novel forms of theatre which merge video footage, acting, visual arts, and music. The latter is especially meaningful in "Respublica".The production was already invited by numerous European theater festivals and institutions in 2022 and 2023, incl. the prestigious Ruhrtriennale.
His latest work "Rothko" (2022) won 11 nominations for the Latvian theater awards “Spēlmaņu nakts”, including Best Production, Visual Artist of the Year, Composer of the Year, Choreographer of the Year, Director of the Year.

For the first time in Warsaw, Twarkowski creates the performance with Fabien Lédé, costume designer, Svenja Gassen, musician, Lubomir Grzelak, musician, Bartosz Nalazek for the lighting, and Jakub Lech for the video.

Cast :

Dominika Biernat, Daniel Dobosz, Maja Pankiewicz, Sonia Roszczuk, Paweł Smagała and Rob Wasiewicz. The premiere will take place on January 21, at 19.00 (Saturday), on Sunday, February 22, STUDIO invites you to the Polish premiere of Olga Ravn's book "Similar to People" and a meeting with  - Bogusława Sochańska, the translator of the DRIADA Publishing House.