Plays

A Christmas Carol bears as much relevance today as it did in Dickens' time. A world devoid of compassion and solidarity, in which an indifferent rich man determines the lives of entire families, did not end when humanity entered the post-modern era. Nevertheless, the authors of the play do not want to dwell on this grim diagnosis. Their aim is to look with compassion and understanding at the character of Ebeneezer Scrooge.

The stage setting of this Victorian story of a miser haunted by ghosts serves merely as a pretext to talk about the misery of a man who does not love himself. Because Scrooge, much like the mythical Narcissus, only sees the surface, and is incapable of introspection, and thus of love. In this sense, the central character of A Christmas Carol is more of a victim of the circumstances in which he happens to live than a villain. His transformation is not only a shift from egoism to empathy, but also breaking free of the stereotypical perception of one' s role in the world.

Produced in collaboration with the National Bank of Poland.

Four friends and someone who is only here for a while. Fun, old age and big dreams.

The characters in the play are close to each other. They spend time together, discuss life, support each other, know about each other's weaknesses, witness each other's new infatuations as well as illnesses and ageing. They free themselves from the expectations imposed on them and start anew on their own terms.

The play is based on the stories of several older people interviewed by the script's creators. The themes that emerged from these conversations included the idea of freedom regained in adulthood – the absence of commitments towards their family and career, the feeling that ‘you no longer have to prove anything to anyone’ – as well as freedom defined as independence, which has to be fought for in order not to lose it. This ambiguous situation that comes with old age leads to new loves, decisions to relocate, the desire to pursue your dreams, to reclaim your physical well-being, or the need to make a film about the political situation in the world.

The performance shows that sometimes it's not too late to implement even the craziest plans, though it may prove difficult.

The show, under the working title ‘Australia’, will invite the audience to an interactive encounter with anxiety-ridden characters, struggling with both latent individual phobias and the increasingly widespread fear of nuclear war. We will tell the story of a family that ends up in an airport in the middle of the night, frantically trying to get out of the country. In the intimate space of the Machine House, we will examine where our fears come from, how quickly we are able to transmit them to one another, and what they can lead to. We will ask: How do we distinguish between what appears to be valid and what might be considered paranoia? Just how bizarre states and reactions can anxiety lead us to? Is there a way to effectively make people feel safe? And how often is our own helplessness the source of our dread?

Florence, the reign of the Medici family. The apex of painting, but also time of plague and social unrest. Botticelli, favoured by the rulers, was commissioned to paint a portrait of Lorenzo de' Medici's wife. And thus ‘The Birth of Venus’ comes into being, with a significant contribution of Botticelli’s gifted young student – Leonardo da Vinci. The two men develop a feeling for each other...

[...] one cannot be satisfied with the role of an unwitting performer of existential activities. And inself-defence,
one must pursue the meaning of everyday life as if it were a lurking criminal.

We are going to philosophise. Though perhaps philosophising may seem like the wrong term in this case, because it is associated with the mind, and here it's about philosophising with the body, philosophising about what we experience, and how we experience it as carnal beings. As beings in female bodies. Philosophising is mostly associated with the "heights" of the human (meaning: male) intellect, and to many it seems the opposite of a daily routine filled with trivial activities. We, on the other hand, wish to philosophise about the ordinary, the banal, the trivial, about the cleaning up, the busyness, the puttering around and tending to everything. About the daily labour that is the essence of our existence. This is where we’ll be searching for the meaning and properties of our human-female existence. In the existential reality that takes the form of a washcloth, a cherry fruit or a piece of meat.

‘God, Me and Money’ is a somewhat amusing, somewhat sad story about great love. Love that sometimes overtakes us completely unexpectedly...

We meet the protagonist, Maria, while she's doing her daily shopping. This seemingly ordinary situation turns out to be the starting point of fascinating and moving confessions of a mature woman, who is at the same time naive and wise, lost and heroic, ordinary and extraordinary.

Krakow premiere: 21 September 2024 on the Juliusz Słowacki Theatre's Grand Stage
Warsaw premiere: 19 April 2024 on the Józef Szajna Grand Stage at STUDIO

'Heart of Glass. A Zen Musical' based on Hans Christian Andersen's “The Snow Queen” and Maria Peszek's ‘Naku*wiam zen’[I’m F***ing Chill] is a musical performance in which Andersen's fairy-tale reality clashes with the concreteness of the real-life biographies of two acclaimed artists, father and daughter – Jan Peszek and Maria Peszek. Am I even capable of love? – this question, posed by Jan a few months after his heart attack, becomes a trigger point for a musical anatomy of the heart, of loving and of love. 'Heart of Glass. A Zen Musical' is an irreverent, promiscuous and tender meditation on emptiness, body, love, Poland past and present, saints, farts, hopelessness and death in a musical arrangement by Andrzej Smolik. It is an expedition of the STUDIO and Słowacki Theatre companies as well as Jan and Maria Peszek's through the frosty nights of the ‘winter of the century’, remote swamps, empty churches, ecstasies, life and creative crises, the darkness of the Zbójniczka castle and the Teofilów estate, and through other wicked places.

The standard reading of H. Ch. Andersen's 'Snow Queen' is based on recreating an ethical system deeply rooted in Christian morality. In the musical staged by STUDIO and Słowacki Theatre, the fairy tale's critique of intellect, demonisation of carnality and sexuality, and censorship of desire, disintegrate when faced with the life stories of Maria and Jan, who draw their strength from a chronic need for understanding through a process of constant questioning and contestation. In ‘Heart of Glass’ – together with the ensembles of both theatres, they ask questions to which we have ready answers by now; they venture into the worst territories, confronting us with the uncomfortable, the unwanted and the repugnant; they search anew for a relationship with each other and with other people, beyond the usual patterns of the ‘good family’; and, above all, they remain in a state of constant non-knowledge and affirmation of life ‘in spite of everything’.

LISTEN! LET'S START!
WHEN WE REACH THE END OF THIS TALE,
WE WILL KNOW MORE THAN WE DO NOW,
SINCE THIS STORY IS TRULY WICKED.

An improvised performance by the Impro Krk Group, based on spontaneity and creating a script in front of the audience.

The Impro Krk Group is a Krakow-based group of improvisers formed in June 2016. It consists mostly of professional actors, graduates of the Krakow's  Academy of Theatre Arts. They base their work on the method developed by Keith Johnstone, one of the pioneers of improvised theatre in the world. Their mentor is Steen Haakon Hansen, Johnstone's long-time friend and collaborator, who has often given workshops at the Łaźnia Nowa Theatre and recently also at Krakow's  Academy of Theatre Arts.

It starts a bit like Yasmina Reza's God of Carnage: two married couples come together discuss a problem that has driven their children apart. This time, however, it will not be funny as the matter itself does not inspire jokes. Exclusion, cyberbullying, and finally suicide – these are the issues addressed in this text, sparking post-show discussions among the audience members s in Canada and the West End. How can this story resonate in Poland? In today's Poland?

Who is Madame Bovary today? Does she even exist?

She does.

She's a wife, a mother, a woman, a person of high creative potential, a person fulfilling the needs of other people and of society, often believing that they are her own needs.