"Cleansed", photo by Stefan Okołowicz / Wrocław Contemporary Theatre
Warlikowski's production of Sarah Kane's polemical play "Cleansed" takes the stage at Santiago a Mil in Chile
The performance embodies a distinct move away from the traditional canons and aesthetics of Polish theatre. It was first shown in 2001 at
Wrocław's Contemporary Theatre, in a joint production with the
Polish Theatre in Poznan,
TR Warszawa, Berlin's Hebbel-Theater, the THEOREM and the European Commission of Culture.
As one of the first performances directed by Kane in Poland, "Cleansed" was initially marred with controversy and only tentatively received by both audience and media, alike. Set in a university concentration camp, it marks the playwright's attempt to stretch theatrical language to its most malleable form.
It went on to win the 'Laur Konrada' on the 6th Directing Festival ("Interpretations") in Katowice. It also picked up the French Theatre Critics Association Award for the most impressive foreign-language production for the 2002/2003 French theatre season.
Jean-Pierre Thibaudat's review in Liberation asserts that:
Every scene illustrates some kind of physical strain. Pain and delight, tenderness and brutality, forms a constant dynamic. We are never removed from the distressing realm of identity: a mere change in clothing becomes the entry point into a change of sex. To love, is to take on the gender of another. We witness a man kissing his lover, who subsequently has her hands, tongue and feet amputated. Cruelty is like manure, on which grow azure-like flowers of love.
The Santiago a Mil Festival in Chile represents the country's most important artistic event. From 1994, the festival has grown into an impressive showing of theatrical productions, as well as musicals and dance shows from around the whole world. It is currently summer in Chile, theatre companies are performing on various stages, as well as outdoors, both in Santiago and in other regions of the country.
The festival is organised by the Fundación Festival Internacional de Teatro a Mil (FITAM). The programme is put together by a group of counsellors representing a cultural elite of premier theatre critics. They are led by Carmen Romero and Evelyn Campbell. Warlikowski's "Cleansed" is among three Polish productions at the festival, along with Radosław Rychcik's "Loneliness" and Krzysztof Lupa's "Persona. Marilyn".
The
Adam Mickiewicz Institute is both a co-partner and joint organiser of the production in Chile.
- Cleansed by Sara Kane; translation: Krzysztof Warlikowski, Jacek Poniedziałek, direction: Krzysztof Warlikowski, set design: Małgorzata Szczęśniak, music: Paweł Mykietyn, lighting design: Felice Ross; starring: Stanisława Celińska, Małgorzata Hajewska-Krzysztofik, Mariusz Bonaszewski, Redbad Klynstra, Jacek Poniedziałek, Thomas Schweiberer, Tomasz Tyndyk, Renate Jett; music: Fabian Włodarek; polish premiere: December 15, 2001 in Wrocław's Contemporary Theatre; January 9, 2002 in the Polish Theatre in Poznan; January 18, 2002 in Warsaw's Variety Theatre.
Source: press release;
www.wteatrw.pl