Michał Bajer
VERKLÄRTE NACHT
photo Anna Łoś
- arrangement of text and directed by PAWEŁ MIŚKIEWICZ
- arrangement of the set design JAN POLÍVKA
- CAST
- Lamblia KRZESISŁAWA DUBIELÓWNA
- Lamia JADWIGA SKUPNIK
the workshop show in rehearsal room nr. 205 on 8 December 2004
the opening in Poland in rehearsal room nr. 205 on 1 April 2005
licensed from: Agency of Drama and Theatre, Warsaw
Who are these women? Are they reconstructing memories or making things up? When does the actual performance begin? Two actresses earn the audience’s affection by taking digs at each other. But are they actresses or characters from the play? Are they already acting or still being their own selves? Delightfully mischievous yet disarmingly innocent, charmingly simple and Gordian-knotted, Jadwiga Skupnik and Krzesisława Dubielówna enchant the helpless audience.
running time: 60 minutes (no intermission)
Tickets
30 zł (norm.), 20 zł (conc.)
Festivals and tours
- 27–28.09.2005 – Mały Theatre in Warsaw
- 27.11.2005 – I Autumn Art Salon in Tarnów
- 28.03.2006 – VIII Festival "Small Plays with Great Actors" in Warsaw (Na Woli Theatre)
- 20.04.2006 – XLI Small Theatre Forms Festival Kontrapunkt in Szczecin
- 23.04.2006 – XXXIII Tychy Theatre Meetings
- 21–22.11.2006 – 60th jubilee of the State Higher School of Theatre in Cracow
Awards
II Contemporary Play Competition held by Polski Theatre in Wrocaw and the "Dialog" monthly (2004)
– one of three first awards for Verklärte Nacht
II Forum of Contemporary Drama EuroDrama in Wrocaw (2004)
– second place chosen in the audience choice
XI National Competition for Staging of a Contemporary Polish Play (2005)
– Paweł Mikiewicz – award for directing
– Krzesisława Dubielówna and Jadwiga Skupnik – actors’ awards
– the art crew and actors – second award for the company
– Michał Bajer – honorable mention for playwright
XLI Small Theatre Forms Festival Kontrapunkt in Szczecin (2006)
– the art crew for best institutional theatre production – an award presented by the Polish minister of culture
– Krzesisława Dubielówna and Jadwiga Skupnik – Magnolia Award presented by the city of Szczecin
– Krzesisława Dubielówna – The Zygmunt Duczyński Award for theatre personality of the festival
World Theatre Day (2006)
– Krzesisława Dubielówna and Jadwiga Skupnik – award of the marshal of Lower Silesia for the best actresses in Lower Silesian theatre productions in 2005
Reviews
We took part in an evening of bantering and teasing between two overripe women. By chance (or not) their names resemble the names of the characters of a cult Polish movie, Sexmission. Lamia (Skupnik) and Lamblia (Dubielówna) are long past their prime. They are left with nothing else to do but banter, tease each other and fantasize about their past and ill health. [...] Both actresses [...] had an opportunity to show their acting skills, and had the audience laughing from start to finish.
Leszek Pułka, "Gazeta Wyborcza – Wrocław"
Two wonderfully distracted elderly actresses (Krzesisława Dubielówna and Jadwiga Skupnik) walk onto an empty stage. Pretending to be little girls, they allow us a peek into their emotional games and fights. They fawn over the audience and vie for our favor as if fighting a playful duel with Alzheimer, Koch, Wasserman and other scary German disease experts.
Łukasz Drewniak, "Przekrój"
Enter two elderly women (Jadwiga Skupnik and Krzesisława Dubielówna [...]). As it will later turn out, they are to play a mother and daughter. At first they grumble to the director, because they do not know how to walk onto the stage – they demand that the door be moved, the set changed and the floor cleaned; they also complain about difficult working conditions for actresses. Thanks to their brilliant acting this metatheatrical intro is a successful surprise, and the "bad theatre," polluted with seeming unprofessionalism, is convincing as an illusion of real disillusion. They move onstage hesitantly and carp before saying their lines but finally settle into their roles. Clad in 1950s navy blue and white polka-dot dresses (a dress like this is mentioned in Tadeusz Różewicz’s popular poem about a missing woman suffering from amnesia) they reminisce about the past, showing numerous gaps in their memory; they enact weaknesses and illnesses, such as going gaga, and expose them; they play wicked tricks on each other, resort to cheating and blackmail. A complicated plot of intrigue and feelings reveals a complex family relationship, creating not-too-;original psychological portraits of aging would-be artists.
Piotr Michałowski, "Pogranicza"