At the National Theatre in Warsaw, Jerzy Grzegorzewski is in the process of preparing a production titled The Sea and the Mirror/ Morze i Zwierciadło, based on the dramatic poem of the same title by Wystan Hugh Auden.
Auden's commentary on Shakespeare's THE TEMPEST, THE SEA AND THE MIRROR is a poetic-philosophical supplement that is as much a treatment of Shakespeare's drama as it is a treatise about the nature of art in general. Auden examines a number of different themes and seems to ask if art is capable of replacing religion. Characters from Shakespeare's play reappear in THE SEA AND THE MIRROR, and the piece picks up at the moment when the action of THE TEMPEST ends.
Each of the characters speaks in verse of a different meter, while Caliban alone speaks in prose, rendering the various forms of language used by all significant. Speaking to each other in half whispers and frequently addressing the audience, characters seem to exist within a borderland, living out their lives in the drama but at the same time abandoning that space at times for the real world, where they comment on their previous and future fate in the world of the play.
Grzegorzewski has drawn on this subtle and highly lyrical material in his effort to create an evocative production that will include both spoken language and sung sections. Stanislaw Radwan has compiled the music for the production, while Barbara Hanicka has designed the costumes. The production will feature actors Beata Fudalej, Anna Ulas, Bartlomiej Bobrowski, Jacek Jarosz (guest appearance), Emilian Kaminski, Jerzy Lapinski, Grzegorz Malecki, Igor Przegrodzki, Jerzy Radziwilowicz, Jerzy Trela (guest appearance), Pawel Tolwinski, Krzysztof Wakulinski, and Leszek Zdun.
Wystan Hugh Auden, Morze i zwierciadło / THE SEA AND THE MIRROR. Translated by Stanislaw Baranczak, directed by Jerzy Grzegorzewski. Premiere: National Theatre in Warsaw - Wierzbowa Street Stage on December 21, 2002.