Pictured: Magda Fertacz
Spain’s National Drama Center presented three politically-minded plays by Polish playwrights Małgorzata Sikorska Misczuk, Magda Fertacz and Paweł Demirski. The project, entitled "nueva escena polaca", took place between the 20th and 22ndof October
Under the patronage of the Polish EU Presidency 2011 Cultural Programme, this year’s annual theatre series “Una mirada al mundo” / “A look at the world”, was dedicated to presenting three Polish politically-themed pieces: “Śmierć Człowieka Wiewiórki” / “Death of the Squirrel Man” (2006) by Małgorzata Sikorska Misczuk, “Śmierć Podatnika” / “The Death of the Taxpayer” (2007) by Paweł Demirski and “Śmierć Kalibana. Śpiewka ludowa” / “Caliban’s Death: A Folksong” (2011), Magda Fertacz’s latest work. The three Poles’ works have been selected for their perspectives on the political-social world, the global economic crisis, the political-social metamorphosis of the world and the threats, fears and other human emotions related to these social processes.
Sikorska Misczuk’s “Death of the Squirrel Man” relays the stories of the Red Army Faction terrorists of the 1970s, Ulrke Meinhoff, Andreas Baader and Gudrun Ensslin, in a modern context. The author’s intention, through historical metaphor, is to question the social assumption of conflicts as strictly black and white or good and bad.
Paweł Demirski’s “The Death of the Taxpayer” is a slapstick drama taking place in one of the banana republics during the ‘Taking out a loan’ holiday. Demirski, as a playwright, uses satire and comedy to expound his leftist criticisms of the neoliberal global system.
The play that wound up the series, Fertacz’s “Caliban’s Death: A Folksong”, just premiered this year and it is a dramatic political fiction dealing with immigration policies. Fertacz pits a Haitian favela dweller against well-off Europeans, with the intention of pointing out the determinist tendencies of current-day social structures.
The three plays were directed by Raul Fuertes, Fefa Noia and Cella León, respectively. Both Małgorata Sikorska-Miszczuk and Magda Fertacz took part in a panel discussion following the performances.
Dates: The “Death of the Squirrel Man”: 20th of October, 7.30 p.m.
“The Death of the Taxpayer”: 21st of October, 7.30 p.m.
“Caliban’s Death: A Folksong”: 22nd of October, 7.30 p.m.
Venue: Teatro Valle-Inclan, Plaza de Lavapies, Madrid
Organised by: The Polish Institute in Madrid, Spain’s National Drama Center, and the Agencja Dramatu.
Project cofinanced by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of the Republic of Poland