The Polish National Audiovisual Institute has released a DVD of Grzegorz Jarzyna’s staging of 2007: Macbeth, based on the play by William Shakespeare and produced in cooperation with the Warsaw-based TR Warszawa. The DVD has been published as part of the NInA’s Polish Contemporary Shakespeare series, together with performances from Warlikowski and Jan Klata. The play was adapted from the Shakespearian original and directed by Grzegorz Jarzyna, starring Cezary Kosiński, Aleksandra Konieczna, Danuta Stenka and Tomasz Tyndyk. The 2007 edition of the performance presents an earlier look at a play that continues to evolve through each subsequent performance.
Jarzyna reached for one of Shakespeare’s most famous plays, creating a unique combination of theatre and film. By introducing references to the world of cinema and TV, he managed to achieve special tension between fiction and reality, and between cinema and theatre.
The DVD recording was released during this year’s edition of the Edinburgh International Festival, which was opened with Jarzyna’s play as the first Polish production to kick off the festival to date.
The director discussed his creative inspirations in one of his interviews:
For me, Macbeth’s story evokes associations with a cosmic journey to the heart of darkness – a place ruled only by Hecate, the goddess of revenge. Macbeth entered a bog of blood and reached a point of no return. (...) In the case of Macbeth, evil springs from his innate need for the mystique and to participate in the fate of the world. His journey ends with abstract emptiness.
Polityka weekly, no. 20/21 2005
Based on Macbeth by William Shakespeare, translated by Stanisław Barańczak
Script and direction: Grzegorz Jarzyna
Cinematography: Jacqueline Sobiszewski
Music: Jacek Grudzień, Abel Korzeniowski, Piotr Domiński
Stage design: Stefani Nelson, Joanna Kaczyńska
Costume design: Stefani Nelson, Agnieszka Zawadowska
Video: Bartek Macias
Publisher: National Audiovisual Institute
Production: TR Warszawa, National Audiovisual Institute, TVP Kultura
The DVD was released on the 14th of August, 2012. It is published in Polish with English, German, Russian, and French subtitles.
Price: 30PLN + postage
2008: Macbeth is a part of the Polish Contemporary Shakespeare series.Other titles available in the series include:
The Tempest from Krzysztof Warlikowski
Produced by TR Warszawa in April 2012, the DVD presents the piece which marked Warlikowski’s international rise to fame. First performed on the 4th of January 2003, The Tempest is also a piece which is extremely rarely staged in the theatre
H by Jan Klata
Produced by the Gdańsk-based Wybrzeże Theatre and staged in the symbolic setting of the Gdańsk Shipyard in July 2006, this interpretation of Hamlet was one of the most widely discussed stagings of the play in recent years.
For information and the on-line shop of DVDs from NIna – including the Polish Documentary School series, performances from Krystian Lupa and Polish Animation Series, see: www.nina.gov.pl/en/online-shop
Editor: Paulina Schlosser
Source: NInA, www.polishculture.org.uk