42nd Warsaw Theater Meetings (WST) comming soon

"Dziady", dir. Maja Kleczewska and "Odlot", dir. Anna Augustynowicz - these performances will be shown during the 42nd Warsaw Theater Meetings (WST). The festival will run from 19 to 29 May. All performances will be presented on the stages of the Dramatic Theater of the Capital City of Warsaw Of Warsaw.

„As usual, we hope that you will see performances worth knowing in order to have an idea of ​​what happened in Polish theatere last year. The selection was invariably accompanied by the question of whether the performances show something of our reality, not necessarily only the one we interact with on social media.

The selection of the shows was more difficult than before as theatrical life was catching up with the lockdowns. The program of this edition of the JTS could be expanded even further.

Ultimately, we chose eight performances to be presented live and one spectacle recording. Of course, in this set there is a title that everyone is probably waiting for - the most famous premiere of 2021: Mickiewicz's Dziady, staged by Maja Kleczewska from the Teatr im. Słowacki in Krakow. It will be a festival screening prepared especially for the stage of the Dramatyczny Theater, but it can be expected to evoke the same emotions as in its home seat. Or maybe the reception of these Dziady in the "Warsaw salon" will be even hotter?

It so happened that the program of the festival is dominated by the performances of female directors of different generations.

Anna Augustynowicz will show the show which she said goodbye to her management at the Współczesny Theater in Szczecin after 30 years: Departure based on a text by Zenon Fajfer. It is a very Polish thing and very - if you can put it this way - Augustynowicz. In addition to this outstanding director, the Meetings will feature a debutant: Katarzyna Minkowska, who, with the team of the Polish Theater in Poznań, prepared an original adaptation of Maria Kuncewiczowa's classic novel: Foreigner. You will also see a performance that received the grand prix of the Divine Comedy Festival: Uncle Vanya Chekhov, directed by Małgorzata Bogajewska and performed by the actors of the Ludowy Theater in Krakow. We decided to juxtapose this production with another staging of the same play, under the title Comedy. Wujaszek Wania at the Zagłębie Theater in Sosnowiec by Jędrzej Piaskowski, whose adaptation of Nad Niemnem was probably well remembered by the audience of last year's Warsaw Theater Meetings.

The Stary Theater in Krakow is a regular visitor to the Meetings and we stick to this tradition: this time we offer very modern variations on the theme of Halka by Moniuszko, directed by Anna Smolar. But we will also host theaters in Warsaw that were less likely to attend the Meetings: Teatr im. Kochanowski in Opole will be presented with Top Secret Research by Wyrypajew, directed by Norbert Rakowski. And the Theater of Horzyca in Toruń will present an original performance by the Slovenian director Jernej Lorenci inspired by biblical texts, the Bible: The Trial.

The program of national performances is complemented by the registration of the Maiden of Orleans by Schiller, which was staged by Ewelina Marciniak at the Nationaltheater in Mannheim. We know how our director gained a strong position in German theater. Another proof of recognition for her work is the invitation of the Virgin of Orleans to the Berlin Theater Meetings - the most prestigious festival of German-speaking theater.

At the outset, we wrote that it would seem that everything is back to normal: we can again enjoy the Warsaw Theater Meetings as before the pandemic. But when arranging the program of the event, we did not know that this year it would be held in the shadow of the terrible war in Ukraine. In the face of what is happening beyond our eastern border, will we be able to watch the festival theater with a clear conscience? Perhaps - as the Latin maxim says - among the weapons the muses should remain silent? There is no good answer to these questions. The opinion proclaimed by the people of the Ukrainian theater provokes thought that the aim of Putin's aggression in Russia is also the destruction of culture as a manifestation of the state and national identity of Ukraine. Culture is a victim of this war, but also a weapon that is used to fight for freedom. We are with the heroic Ukrainian society in such a tragic time for it. The festival's gesture of solidarity will be a special online show of the play Bad Roads, by the outstanding Ukrainian author, Natalia Worożbyt, prepared with the actors of the Dramatic Theater by Aldona Figura.