image from "Seven dreams of a woman", photo. Babu Ramachandran
At the Bharat Rang Mahotsav Festival of New Delhi on January 17th, 2014, the Wrocław-based Studio Matejka presented “Awkward Happiness”, a non-verbal play focusing on the notion of happiness and questioning the themes of human relationships, dream and desires. The artists also conducted workshops at the National School of Drama.
The story of Awkward Happiness follows the paths of two ‘couples’, a loose term that implies relationship and intimacy. The individuals exchange their impressions, explore and try to understand the inaudible voices of their desires. What remained hidden becomes revealed in front of the audience. With time, layers of beauty, secrets, surprises and misunderstandings appear, shadowing the moment of happiness that comes and slips away.
The Polish work was well received by the Indian public, who regarded it as:
a visual treat, a performance that thrilled the audience, enough for it to break out in applause at frequent intervals
After a warm welcome in the capital, the company faced a new audience at the theatre festival in Kerala on February 2nd, 2014, alongside another Polish company, Teatr Biuro Podróży.
The Polish-Indian co-production “Burning Flowers: 7 Dreams of a Woman” confirms an already existing bond between India and Poland. Teatr Biuro Podróży and Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Academy joined together in a theatre experiment exploring the issue of gender. Seven Polish artists, together with a group of local actors, worked from the beginning of January on the play that was performed on January 27th at the International Theatre Festival in Kerala. Opening with a calm scene of everyday public transport, the action quickly degenerates into gang-rape, subjugation and continuous flames. Intolerance, humiliation and violence against women in India and elsewhere are themes that continuously accompany the story. A girl is trapped in total despair, while the crowd gathered around her try to cover her with earth, in the allusion to Sita, the female character of the Hindu epic Ramayana, who was born directly from the ground.
image from "Seven dreams of a woman", photo. Babu Ramachandran
For a short moment, a Bollywood item “Badtameez dil” relieves the atmosphere from austerity. A housewife is enthralled by the images of boisterous women converging around a tuxedo-clad male idol. Absorbed by television, she dreams. On the real side of the screen, her husband drags her away by her hair. A review published on filmimpressions.com describes the piece:
The dreams are disarmingly simple (for instance, a woman wanting to raise a girl child on her own) and the soft declarations create moments of heartbreaking beauty, and the audience receives each wish with undisguised enthusiasm. In the end, the still-standing wrought iron frames of the burnt effigies acquire little red lights as beating hearts, that flicker on even as the rest of the arena is engulfed in darkness.
image from "Seven dreams of a woman", photo. Babu Ramachandran
“Burning Flowers: 7 Dreams of a Woman” will be presented for a second time on February 3rd. Additional workshops conducted by the Teatr Biuro Podrozy are planned, allowing a larger group of actors to work with the Polish company.
Sources: The Hindu, Film Impressions, own materials. Konstancja Dunin-Wasowicz, February 2014.