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In March Łódź will be the theatrical capital of Poland

The 29th International Festival of Pleasant Unpleasant Arts is ahead of us. It will start on March 4, the XXIX International Festival will begin at the Powszechny Theater in Łódź Pleasant and Unpleasant Plays - the first theater festival, which was established in Poland after the collapse of communism. Traditionally, it opens the cycle of the most important theater festivals. The theme of this of this year’s edition of the International Festival of Plays Pleasant and Unpleasant "War. Woman. Theatre".

This year's edition of the festival will be dedicated to Krystyna Janda, an outstanding artist, whose performance "My Way" will be presented during the festival.

The "My Way" performance from the Polonia Theatre will be accompanied by a conference Theater Studies dedicated to Krystyna Janda. It will be held on Sunday March 5 at 12:00 pm On the Small Stage of Powszechny in Łódź, you will also be able to watch it via the Internet at channel of the Powszechny Theatre in Łódź on YouTube (and on FB of the Theater and the Festival).

Apart from the spectacle "My way" directed by Krystyna Janda that will inaugurate the 29th International Festival of Pleasant and Unpleasant Plays on March 4 at 7 p.m. On the same day, half an hour earlier, an exhibition of Krystian Lupa's drawings will be presented.

Next weekend, viewers will watch a rap hit about the road to free Poland - "1989" in directed by Katarzyna Szyngiera (co-production of the Juliusz Słowacki Theatre in Krakow and Gdańsk Shakespeare Theatre).

We are moving to the declining times of the People's Republic of Poland, watching the Wałęsa, Frasyniuk and Kuroń couples on stage. The performance reminds us that there would be no heroes fighting for free Poland if it wasn't for their wives - shadow heroines. On the same weekend, the Dramatic Theater in Warsaw will present "The Art of Intonation" by Tadeusz Słobodzianek, directed by Anna Wieczur .

- The war launched in us fundamental questions. Where does the violence start? Where are the roots of aggression? What triggers violent mechanisms? How the need to build an order of domination and subordination? Could we have avoided the war machine of aggression if we had for what day paid attention to the quality of our relationships with people? Is (seemingly harmless) violence, aggression and harassment in daily gestures and behaviors can escalate to of monstrous proportions, whose last and most radical phase is war?

If, being indifferent to all forms of violence, are we complicit? Pilawska asks. The theater seeks answers to these questions on various levels. Jan Klata, whose "What you can't see" (a production by Wybrzeże Theatre) will be shown in Łódź, he reached for it a farce classic. Many were surprised that Klata, famous for his controversial performances and transcending social decorum, reaches for the art of Michael Frayn. However, the director he subjected it to his own interpretation, asking questions about the actors and creators and pondering what is contemporary Polish theater like? He weaves contemporary events into a farcical procession - context of Russia and the war in Ukraine.

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The festival will end with two performances of Thomas Bernhard's "Siblings",directed by Krystian Lupa. In 2023, the show returns to Łódź - almost two decades after the first one the Łódź show (at the same time the first meeting of the festival audience with Lupa's theatre).

The meeting after many years brings a completely new perspective and new levels of meaning.A grandmaster spectacle and outstanding acting, which has been premiered at the National Stary Theater since its premiere.

Theaters in Krakow develop and mature - along with the artists and their experiences. Whatadditional meanings brought by the time distance from the premiere?The day after the first presentation of "Siblings", on April 2, on the Small Stage of the Theatre Powszechny in Łódź, there will be a meeting with Krystian Lupa combined with the premiere of Lupa’s new publication books "Krystian Lupa. Artist. Visionary”, published by Teatr Powszechny in Łódź.