In their stagings of works by Gogol and Chekhov, Paola Giannini and Aline Kuppenheim (Chile) and Ivo van Hove (The Netherlands) ask how we can understand the Other, and whether a desire to understand someone’s otherness might perhaps be evidence of vanity. Does this mean that we can all be Russians? We have invited Professor Jerzy Pomianowski and Professor Cezary Wodziński to join the meeting with the creative teams of The Overcoat and The Russians!
Professor Jerzy Pomianowski – writer, leading expert on Russia and Italy, theatre critic, scriptwriter, translator of fiction from Russian and German. He has translated works of such authors as Solzhenitsyn, Akhmatova, Mandelstam, Sakharov, Babel, Bulgakov and Chekhov. In 1999 he founded the Novaya Polsha monthly, which he now edits. Recipient of numerous awards and distinctions for his great services to cooperation between the people of Poland and Russia, as we as for his literary and journalistic work (including the Grand Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta).
Professor Cezary Wodziński ― philosopher, historian of philosophy, translator and essayist; works at the Department of Contemporary Philosophy at the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology of the Polish Academy of Sciences (PAN). Between 1986 and 1990 editor-in-chief of the Aletheia magazine. His post-doctoral thesis devoted to Heidegger and the problem of evil (published in 1994) won him the PAN’s Tadeusz Kotarbiński Award. In 2000 Oxford University Press published an English translation of the book (“Heidegger and the Problem of Evil”). Wodziński is mainly interested in Shestov’s and Heidegger’s philosophy, metaphysics, phenomenology, hermeneutics and philosophy of dialogue.
Though Emma Dante’s and Romeo Casterlucci’s productions are to be found at two extremes of theatrical aesthetics (metaphor vs. verismo, fairy tale vs. brutality), what they have in common is the aggression with which the Italian directors portray the tragedy of old age or the fear of decrepitude. Romeo Castelucci and Emma Dante are visionaries of contemporary theatre that refuses to be unequivocally classified in generic or aesthetic terms. To join them during the meeting, we have invited Marie-Hélène Falcon.
Marie-Hélène Falcon ― co-founder of the Canadian TransAmèriques Festival devoted to contemporary theatrical productions from all over the world. She has been the Festival general and artistic director since 1985. TransAmèriques is the first annual festival in Canada presenting works in contemporary dance and theatre. Marie-Hélène Falcon is a frequent guest at international theatre festivals as well as debates on the condition and role of contemporary stage expression. Her awards include the title of Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, granted by the French government, and the Ordre National of the Canadian province of Quebec.
On the one hand, rebellion, rejection of universal values, balancing between freedom and one’s own and the others’ captivity, on the other powerlessness and fear of boredom – are all experiences of the protagonists of Piotr Sieklucki’s and Marco Layera’s productions. Will our insatiable youth ever be Satisfied? We have invited Professor Wiesław Łukaszewski, a distinguished specialist in passion, to join the meeting with the creative teams of Farewell to Autumn and Simulacro .
Wiesław Łukaszewski, professor of psychology specialising in personality psychology, social psychology and motivation psychology. Professor at the Warsaw School of Social Sciences and Humanities, member of the Polish Academy of Sciences (PAN), since 1993 head of the Psychological Science Committee of the PAN. Member of the editorial staff of several academic journals: Czasopismo Psychologiczne, Przegląd Psychologiczny, Kwartalnik Psychologii Rozwojowej; collaborator of the Charaktery monthly.
The protagonists of Janusz Opryński’s production touch upon the great philosophical problems of the late 19th century, without losing touch with our reality today. How can we overcome the malaise of not being able to do anything that surrounds us? We have invited Jacek Rakowiecki, to join the meeting with the creative team of The Brothers Karamazov.
Jacek Rakowiecki ― journalist, opposition activist, scholar specialising in Polish studies and theatre. He began his career as a journalist in 1978, collaborating with an independent student magazine called Indeks. In communist Poland he also wrote for Tygodnik Powszechny, becoming a member of its editorial team in 1987; during the martial law period he was interned in Załęż near Rzeszów. After 1989 he wrote for various newspapers and journals, including Gazeta Wyborcza, Przekrój, Rzeczpospolita and Foyer. Currently editor-in-chief of the Film monthly. In 2008, in recognition of his work for the anti-communist opposition, Jacek Rakowiecki received the Knight’s Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta, but, owing to his political beliefs, he refused to accept it from the then President of Poland, Lech Kaczyński.
Why does Hamlet not want to say the famous “to be or not to be”? Why cannot Leonce and Lena tell their love story? Cezary Tomaszewski’s and Zoltan Balazs’s productions are important contributions to the discussion on the alleged right of art to speak on someone’s behalf. How do we use an uncommon Language in conventional situations? We have invited Professor Dariusz Kosiński, an eminent specialist in non-obvious interpretations, to join the meeting with the creative teams of Hamlet and Leonce and Lena.
Dariusz Kosiński, associate professor at the Drama Department of the Faculty of Polish of the Jagiellonian University in Kraków, theatre historian, theatre critic, essayist. He studies the history and theory of acting in the 19th century, interpretation of drama as well as performance. A regular collaborator of Didaskalia and Dialog theatre monthlies. His latest book, Teatra polskie. Historie, has won many prestigious awards. Since January 2010 Dariusz Kosiński has been the Programme Director of the Jerzy Grotowski Institute in Wrocław.
The protagonists of Krytyna Meissner’s and Klemm’s productions are classic rebels who feel ill at ease in their own bodies and in the social functions which culture and custom ascribe to those bodies. Does consent destroy individuality? We have invited Professor Magdalena Środa, a specialist in exposing discriminatory strategies in culture, to join the meeting with the creative teams of Mariage Blanc and Judith.
Magdalena Środa ― theorist of ethics, philosopher, publicist, feminist. She specialises in history of ethical ideas, applied ethics, political philosophy, and questions regarding the female gender. Professor of Warsaw University, lecturer at the Department of Ethics at the Institute of Philosophy at Warsaw University. Since 1993, editor of Etyka and Przegląd Filozoficzny, former member of the European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia in Vienna, member of the European Gender Equality Institute (Vilnius), founder and director of the Postgraduate School of Philosophy and Ethics (University of Warsaw), member of the Committee on Ethics of the Polish Academy of Sciences. Professor Magdalena Środa was also the Plenipotentiary of the Polish Government for the Equal Status of Women and Men member of the Council of the Institute of Public Affairs. Co-founder of the Congress of Women, lobbing for the quota law. Minister of Education, Science and Sport in the Shadow Cabinet of the Congress of Women.
Giannina Carbunariu’s and Olivier Frlijć’s productions reveal the destructive power of patriotic discourses, which, while ostensibly seeking consolidation of nation states, transform themselves into a tool of denouncing all those who do not fit in the tight framework of such states. Does a lack of one’s own will mean a lack of freedom? We have invited Miłada Jędrysik, to join the meeting with the creative teams of Mariage blanc and Judith.
Miłada Jędrysik ― journalist and publicist, working in the team of Gazeta Wyborcza since 1992, first in foreign department, currently in Magazyn Świąteczny, special supplement issued on weekends and national holidays. Correspondent of Gazeta Wyborcza during the Balkan conflicts (Bosnia, Kosovo, Serbia) and in Iraq. She interviewed Gunter Grass, Umberto Eco, and others.
What does the life of misfits, social outcasts, banished rebels against mediocrity look like? Alain Platel, Franck Van Laecke and Krystian Lupa enter a world which is so uncommon that in most cases we cannot even see it. Will we ever have the courage to reveal our extraordinariness? We have invited Kinga Dunin, an activist denouncing all forms of discrimination, to join the meeting with the creative teams of The Waiting Room and Gardenia.
Kinga Dunin – journalist, writer, literary critic, sociologist of culture, feminist. One of the main figures in the group associated with Krytyka Polityczna; long-time columnist for Wysokie Obcasy. Her latest publications include Czytając Polskę. Literatura polska po roku 1989 wobec dylematów nowoczesności (2004) and Zadyma – zbiór felietonów (2007). In 2001 her book Karoca z dyni was among the seven finalists of the NIKE Literary Prize. Together with Tomasz Łubieński and Witold Bereś she co-hosted the Good books programme in TVP 1. For many years she has been lecturing in sociology of medicine at the Warsaw Medical University. Member of Greens 2004.
