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08 - 28/06/2015

photo: Jakub Wittchen
Galleryphoto: Jakub Wittchen
  • Radosław Rychcik transposed the Slavic witchcraft and rituals into the world of American pop culture, thus making the Polish national poem a story of all those who have ever been refused the right to freedom and dignity. Marilyn Monroe, John F. Kennedy or Martin Luther King appear next to the figure of Gustaw Konrad. It is the first attempt to look at Adam Mickiewicz’s 19th century drama from a global perspective. The performance won over Polish critics and theatre-goers.

    Tickets available at the box office Teatr Nowy im. T. Łomnickiego (ul. Dąbrowskiego 5) in regular price: http://teatrnowy.pl/ceny-zasady-kupna-biletow/.  

  • Radosław Rychcik is a theatre director, born in Ciechanów on 1st January, 1981. He graduated from the Polish Literature Department of the University of Warsaw and from the Directing Department of the Ludwik Solski State Theatre School in Kraków. He gained hands-on experience of theatre by assisting Krystian Lupa on Factory 2, inspired by the works of Andy Warhol.
    He made his debut at the Old Theatre staging Forma przetrwalnikowa / Form of Survival based on the online journal of Kasia Kostecka, a doctor looking for career success in England. Form... was part of the performance Blogi.pl, which also featured productions by Małgorzata Hajewska-Krzysztofik and Szymon Kaczmarek.

    Inspired by the philosophy of Roland Barthes, Rychcik adapted the French semiotician’s A Lover's Discourse: Fragments for the stage in 2009 at the Dramatic Theatre in Warsaw. Moreover, in his staging of Bertold Brecht’s Versus. W gęstwinie miast/ Versus. In the Jungle of Cities, Rychcik followed Barthe’s remarks on American wrestling (2008, New Theatre in Kraków). The director tested various conventions: Versus... resembled a show ring; Samotność pól bawełnianych/ In the Solitude of Cotton Fields by Bernard-Marie Koltès (2009, Stefan Żeromski Theatre in Kielce) combined elements of club events and a live concert of the band Natural Born Chillers; in his adaptation of Gustav Flaubert’s Madame Bovary (2010, Dramatic Theatre in Warsaw), Rychcik applied some formal ideas from the operas of by Robert Wilson and Peter Greenaway.

    In 2011, the jury of the nationwide competition for staging the works of William Shakespeare recognized Rychcik’s interpretation of Hamlet as the best performance of the season and recommended it for participation in the 15th Shakespeare Festival in Gdańsk, where it won the main prize.
    The performance is nonchalant, almost infantile, intended to stimulate the senses rather than reflection. This Hamlet does not take revenge for his father. He takes revenge for himself. He had a difficult childhood among wicked caregivers. Adults nurtured immaturity and narcissism in him. The only thing they required was to show them obedience. They failed. All of them will die. (Joanna Derkaczew, Gazeta Wyborcza)
    In March 2012, on the stage of the Tadeusz Łomnicki New Theatre in Poznań, Rychcik directed Dwunastu gniewnych ludzi /Twelve Angry Men.

    On the occasion of the 68th anniversary of the Warsaw Uprising, he directed Powstanie/ Uprising, which was co-produced by the Warsaw Uprising Museum and the Dramatic Theatre in Warsaw.
    Working on this production was an absolutely unique experience. Thanks to the co-production of the theatre and the museum we can perform in a very interesting space and at a very special time. The fact that the premiere is held on August 1, the anniversary of the Warsaw Uprising, is inspiring and obliging to me. Warsaw is still a big graveyard, a town of ghosts who demand remembrance. The very presence on the stage on 1st August is significant. The audience will see the events of those days told through us. – said the director.

    In 2014, Radosław Rychcik used theatre as a medium to speak about racism, exclusion and the annihilation of divisions. In his interpretation of Mickiewicz's Forefathers' Eve, the Slavic witchcraft and rituals were moved with bravado into the world of American popular culture. Gustav Konrad was accompanied by Marilyn Monroe, John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King. The performance won over the critics and spectators at the Open’er festival, where it was presented before a thousands-strong audience.
    Forefathers' Eve staged at the New Theatre in Poznań is, according to critics, the first successful attempt to present Mickiewicz's romantic work from a global perspective.