Political theatre
Klata became a powerful creator of modern political theatre. In 2004, he staged Córka Fizdejki/ Fizdejka’s Daughter based on Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz’s Janulka, córka Fizdejki/ Janulka, Fizdejka’s Daughter at Jerzy Szaniawski Dramatyczny Theatre in Wałbrzych. With reference to Witkacy’s text addressing the reconciliation between Poles and the Neo-Teutonic Knights, Klata recounts Polish accession to European Union from the perspective of an ordinary Polish citizen. He touched on national symbols and traumas, demonstrating that today they are often just empty gestures. The performance was a sort of diagnosis of Polish society’s attitudes and mind, sets juxtaposed with those of our neighbours.
The controversial Fanta$y, based on Juliusz Słowacki’s Fantazy and produced at the Wybrzeże Theatre in Gdańsk in 2005, intensified the debate on modern interpretations of the classics, and the limits directors should abide by in their interventions in such texts. Klata set the 19th-century drama in a housing development, and in his reading the piece was above all about money. For some, the performance was a straightforward diagnosis of Polish society in the era of wild capitalism, for others – a shallow and simplistic observation of reality.
His following performance, Nakręcana Pomarańcza/ Wound-up Orange, based on Anthony Burgess’s A Clockwork Orange (Współczesny Theatre in Wrocław, 2005) was a study of violence as well as a manifestation of the condition and morality of the modern human. In the next performance, The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch, based on Philip Dick’s sci-fi novel of the same name, Klata mainly elaborated on plots depicting a flat, shallow spiritual life, and religion treated as a form of narcotic. Klata’s theatre is not subtle; it recalls expressive posters drawn with a thick pencil. Due to the theatrical means he employs in his performances (such as mixing scenes, music, movement sequences, sound and light effects), he was called a theatre DJ. Objections towards The Three Stigmata concerned its abundance of motives and visual and sound effects which resulted in a chaotic staging. The director himself admitted that all following performances were his authored visions. Called remixes or covers, his theatre actions incorporate rebellion, which requires expressive means to be appropriately performed. To the accusations of distorting the classics, Klata replied:
Stroking and sugar glazing ulcers is nothing good. And that, in fact, was the belief of the desecration of the Great Authors of which I am constantly accused. That’s why I'm deeply convinced – although I could be wrong – that through my remixes of literature, for they are not versions played note by note, only through them, I remain loyal to the authors. Or at least, I would really like to. In spite of all appearances. (Politics, 30.01.2006)
Jan Klata, photo: Marek Zawadka / Newsweek Polska / Reporter /East News Blending forms and epochs
In 2006, Klata directed another two performances – Weź, przestań / Come on, stop it, based on his own script, combined the conventions of cabaret and reportage, and depicted modern Polish society’s stratification and its understanding of patriotism; and Transfer! (Współczesny Theatre in Wrocław,) which was a living document about the post-war fate of uprooted Poles and Germans. The script was based on the accounts of victims of the tragic events. They also appeared on stage as actors. The painful unearthed memories of the amateur actors were accompanied by the rulers of this world who participated in the Yalta conference. Stalin, Churchill and Roosevelt drew the new map of Europe, moving borders and people as if they were pawns.
A year later on the stage of Kraków's Stary Theatre, the director once again dealt with the classics and staged Oresteia by Aeschylus. Referring to pop culture iconography, Klata created a contemporary performance about people who love and hate; people who inflict pain and commit successive crimes and take vengeance; about people who, encaged in the cursed circle of death, cannot escape their fate.
Focus on power struggle
Klata’s next two productions addressed the subjects of power and social and historical mechanisms. The script for The Shoemakers at the Gates based on Shoemakers by Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz (2007, TR Warszawa), was written by the director in collaboration with the left-wing publicist Sławomir Sierakowski. The subject of power was illustrated with images drawn from the current political life. In a publicistic manner, the director showed a world deprived of any ideology, and people seized by impotence who can't make any change. While Shoemakers was criticized for being just banal political satire, Sprawa Dantona/ The Danton Case by Stanisława Przybyszewska (2008, Polish Theatre in Wrocław), which followed the convention of farce, was well received and described as lively, interesting theatre. This time, Klata staged the performance in period costumes, with no current political references. It concerned the impossibility of revolution, and politics lacking ideals and employing ruthless manipulation.
According to Klata, the French Revolution was primarily the moment of the birth of the modern, all-encompassing populism of today’s politicians – wrote Aneta Kyzioł. – The best scene in the performance is when Danton seduces the delighted crowd (meaning us, the audience) with beautiful-sounding platitudes, disco, and sensual dance, and draws us to sing La Marseillaise. (Polityka, 2008, No. 15)
The following performance, Witaj / Żegnaj (Hello/ Bye), was based on a project by American author Suzan Lori Parks, who wrote one play each day over the period of one year. The collection of texts is titled 365 Days/365 Plays. Hello/ Bye, performed at a breathtaking pace on a revolving stage by actors playing brilliantly in terms of technique, was a depiction of today’s fragmented world and our perception of reality, which we discern in a fractured and thoughtless manner.
The performance which recreates our ways of involvement in the world today is so sincere that it becomes unbearable. But maybe this is its main value. – wrote Joanna Derkaczew (Gazeta Wyborcza, 2008, No 236)
Other works
Two of Klata’s performances have been recorded for TV: Inspector General by Gogol (2005) and H. (2006).
