Directed by Jerzy Grzegorzewski, Narodowy Theatre, December 2001.
This time Jerzy Grzegorzewski has chosen to stage one of Shakespeare's most frequently produced comedies. This comedy, however, is quite perverse and at times seems nothing like a comedy. A feud between lovers is assuaged with spells and magic restores order previously destroyed by amorous troubles.
A Midsummer Night's Dream - write the creators of this production - has a very rich and variegated tradition on the stage, which testifies to its magical powers. The most renowned actors, directors, and other theatrical artists have tried to approach it. This production takes advantage of the theatrical formulas that the Narodowy Theatre ensemble developed in previous forays into the texts of Witkiewicz, Gombrowicz, and Joyce, a formula characterized by surprising turnarounds in erotic relations, the interpenetration of themes, and an intricate weaving of extravagances, ironies, and severities....
Grzegorzewski's staging features Edyta Jungowska, Magdalena Warzecha, Zbigniew Zamachowski, Wojciech Malajkat, and Artur Żmijewski.
The performance of the evening is Beata Fudalej as Puck", writes Roman Pawłowski in "Gazeta Wyborcza". "Shakespeare's nickname for this character is Robin Goodfellow, translated by Galczynski into something along the lines of Buddy Robin. It should be underlined, however, that in England, through Elizabethan times, the name 'Robin' was used to denote the Devil. I do not know if Fudalej was aware of this dark provenance of the character, but Puck as portrayed by her is far from the wispy sprite devised by the Romantic theatre. Rather, he is wild, an untamed and primitive creature with matted hair, moving about like a beast and beating out African rhythms on the scenery. This is no guiltless elf but the Devil incarnate drawing pleasure from throwing human minds and hearts into confusion.
Surprisingly, this excellent portrayal turns Grzegorzewski's staging - otherwise assembled from accidental associations and decorated with scouts, carousers, and Emilian Kamiński in curlers - into an expression of bitterness. When at the end Puck asks the audience's forgiveness, assuring us that it was all just a dream, we do not believe him as he says his line artificially, rattling off the words, dancing to distract us.
Equally noteworthy is the poison melancholy the director feeds us to tame the element of laughter. At the end, Philostrate (Jacek Jarosz) as master of ceremony approaches Theseus (Jacek Rozanski) and proposes the 'Murder of Gonzago' from 'Hamlet' instead of the expected celebration. Philostrate entered the stage as a Venetian gondolier, but also as Charon ferrying the expiring... Gonzago? Elder Hamlet? Or is it the recently entertained scout played by Przegrodzki. There is also a mortal sadness to the reunion of Oberon and Titania. Standing between them is a boy, lost in thought and dressed in black as if extracted from a canvas by Velasquez. The excitement of the young is superfluous to the suffering and disappointment of those tried by experience. And thus 'Mendelssohn's Wedding March', written by the composer to Shakespeare's comedy, would have been out of place in Grzegorzewski's production. (Jacek Cieślak, Rzeczpospolita).
William Shakespeare, Sen nocy letniej/ A Midsummer Night's Dream, directed by Jerzy Grzegorzewski, production design by Barbara Hanicka, music by Stanisław Radwan. Premiere: December 16, 2001 at the Narodowy Theatre in Warsaw.