Krystian Lupa directs Bernhard’s Woodcutters in Graz
Krystian Lupa at the rehearsals of Poczekalnia.0, photo: Natalia Kabanow / Teatr Polski in Wrocław
January showings of Holzfällen in Graz mark the first time that Lupa has staged Bernhard in his home country. This time, the legendary Polish theatremaker directs, adapts and designs the stage for a piece that is Thomas Bernhard’s cunning lampoon of the artistic milieu. For Austrian audiences, it is also the first time that Holzfällen: Eine Erregung – known in English as Woodcutters – is performed on a large stage. In this highly personal piece, Thomas Bernhard’s epigraph to the book is a following quote from Voltaire, "Being unable to make people more reasonable, I preferred to be happy away from them."
It is a parody that comes with a bang, a merciless portrait of the Vienna elite, a vivisection of art, theatre, and acting itself. The premiere showing of Woodcutters took place on the 10th of January, with the nearest subsequent performances scheduled for the 14th and 15th.
Krystian Lupa, who is a member of the Board of the Thomas Bernhard Foundation in Austria has been hailed as the master of adaptation for staging the titles by the Austrian writer. He first drew on the work of Thomas Bernhard in 1992, creating a production based on his own adaptation of the author's novel Kalkwerk, and has continually created performances that were both premiere stage adaptations of Bernhard’s works and landmark pieces in the history of contemporary Polish theatre. Some of the works by Bernhard staged by Lupa to date include Immanuel Kant; Over All the Mountain Tops; Ritter, Dene, Voss; and, notably, Auslöschung, which he based on his own translation 2001.
Warlikowski’s Opera Returns to the Royal Theatre of Madrid
photo: Teatro Real
Warlikowski has enjoyed huge recognition across Europe’s most significant opera stages. The newest production at Teatro Real is the director’s return to the Spanish stage, where he staged Poppea and Nero in the summer of 2012. This winter, he will be staging Gluck’s Alceste. It remains to be seen if this operatic piece will prove as huge a success as his Woman Without a Shadow which opened the season in Munich last autumn.
The chances are high, as Warlikowski will be collaborating with his most trusted team. The stage is designed by Małgorzata Szczęśniak, the light directed by Felice Ross, and the movement choreographed by French arist Claude Bardouil. This staging of Alceste will have Teatro Real’s orchestra under the baton of Ivor Bolton, the head of Strasbourg’s Mozarteum Orchester. Angela Denoke, in turn with Sofia Solovity, are the soloists cast as Alceste.
Travels Bureau Theatre’s Voyage to India
A scene from Macbeth. Who is that Bloodied Man? performance, photo: Douglas Robertson / IAM
The award-winning Poznań-based theatre company, Teatr Biuro Podróży is recognised as an avant-garde author of visionary open air performances. They are scheduled to return to India – after last year’s showings of their Macbeth – to work on Burning Flowers: 7 Dreams of a Woman. Their newest project, conducted in partnership with the Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Academy, takes up the pertinent theme of women victims of violence. A huge Polish-Indian team of about 50 has been working in Thrissur for weeks. This staging of Burning Flowers is supported by the Polish Institute in New Delhi and the Adam Mickiewicz Institute.
Additionally, the Wrocław based company Studio Matejka performed Awkward Happiness in New Delhi. They also held workshops at the National School of Drama – the insitution responsible for organizing the most prominent annual theater festival of the Indian capital. From New Delhi, Studio Matejka will move onward to Thrissur, where they will perform on February 2nd 2014.
Author: Anna Legierska, translated with edits by Paulina Schlosser.
Sources: Radio Opole, Rzeczpospolita, Polityka, Gazeta Wyborcza