The motto of this year's edition of the festival is Poland Is Not Yet Lost As Long As The Theatre Lives, a paraphrasing of the national anthem. It's intended to recall that political declarations don't decide a country's strength and position, it is rather done by the independent circulation of thoughts and ideas and their range and diversity. Bartosz Szydłowski, art director of the festival, underlines that Polish theatre is a brand recognised all over the world:
Poland's economy may decline in rank, but we are still at the top of theatrical rankings. With our motto, I'm standing up for the people of the theatre to give impetus to uniting theatrical society and to oppose the ideological or economical discussion of Polish culture. The Divine Comedy is a special time, a deep breath after an intense year of artistic work, a meeting place for those who create theatre with those who love it. At the Divine Comedy Festival we charge our batteries, because the festival's atmosphere shows that things happening on the stage don't leave the audience indifferent, it helps us talk to and understand ourselves. We create a space for dialogue, reflection, and unity – we symbolically renew a gesture of faith in the theatrical utopia, which can be the better possible worlds wherein the Other awakens curiosity, and a chance for enriching ourselves.
Like every year, the most dramatic part of the festival is the Polish INFERNO Contest, within which the ten most provocative and exciting productions of the past season will be presented. New names have appeared this season, showing the evolution of Polish culture and interesting new subjects and staging tendencies. Who is going to compete for the Divine Comedian statue?
Agnieszka Olsten is one competitor: at the festival we will see her Comediant, based on Thomas Bernhardt's drama with Agnieszka Kwietniewska in the main role. Dybuk by Anna Smolar will come to Kraków from the Polish Theatre in Bydgoszcz. In Dybuk, a traditional tale about possession exposes Polish complexes, fears, and prejudices. White Power, Black Memory by Piotr Ratajczak is a performance loosely based on the reportages of Marcin Kącki, nominated for a Nike Award, which touch the most painful points in Polish history. Agata Duda-Gracz will present Kumernis, or How a Holy Lady Grew a Beard prepared and realised in the Musical Theatre in Gdynia.
Festival veterans will also be present. Radek Rychcik will present his show The Wedding (Wesele), realised in Silesian Theatre in Katowice. Wiktor Rubin and Jola Janiczak will present Everybody Gets What They Believe In (Każdy dostanie to, w co wierzy) from the Powszechny Theatre in Warsaw – a performative experiment inspired by The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov, exploring the mechanisms and concepts of building democracy. Krzysztof Garbaczewski also returns to the festival with his Robert Robur, a show based on the prose of Mirosław Nahacz, analysing the subject of the virtualisation and mediatisation of the modern world. In the Polish competition two performances from the National Stary Theatre in Kraków will also be shown – Charges/ Podopieczni by Paweł Miśkiewicz, based on Elfride Jelinek’s play, which tackles the subject of refugees and identity crisis in Europe in a curious way, and Enemy of The People, directed by Jan Klata and based on Ibsen’s text, which portrays the mechanisms of how political conflicts arise in the microcosm of a small, isolated society.
The laureate of last year’s INFERNO Grand Prix Michał Borczuch couldn’t be missing at this year’s edition. He will present All About My Mother – a performance referring to Almodovar's film in its title, which is the director's personal tale about loss, friendship, and femininity.
The international jury from Chile, Japan, Iran, Finland, and Great Britain will choose the best performances of the season for the Kraków Theatrical Awards. The main prize of 50,000 złoty, funded by the Mayor of Kraków, Jacek Majchrowski, will be awarded to the theatre which produced the winning performance. The individual prizes for the artists in seven categories were funded by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage.