Chant of womanhood
The choir's productions were swiftly held up as a phenomenon of the Polish theatre scent of recent years, a breakthrough for contemporary culture. 'It's screamed, chanted, sung and whispered, in parts, as a choir and sola, a womanly protest against imposing a vision of womanhood. A protest that is constructive', wrote reviewer Aneta Kyzioł in Poland's Polityka daily. Following the premiere, playwright Piotr Gruszczyński also expressed his admiration for the strong character of the show and its members, writing:
This is what is most remarkable about the choir, that is explodes from within... Each one of the singers takes on their own identity, each one begins to steal the audience's attention. In spite of the fact that they sing in unison, it becomes polyphonic and we look at it with great faith in each member having regained her own voice. In this choir, thanks to the choir. This is why when they lay down on the ground after their powerful singing and begin humble, one-word solos, we see clearly that the choir is both present and absent. That it really is a collection of individuals coming together for a cause. This types of choirs and extraordinary. We can excuse the rest.
Such a positive response on the part of the public and critics naturally led to international tours and prizes. The choir's shows have been staged across Europe - in Germany, France, Switzerland, Ireland, Czech Republic, Bosnia and Ukraine - as well as Asia - in Japan and India. At home it won the Jury Prize at the Kontrapunkt Review of Small Theatre Forms, the Main Jury Prize for Direction and Popular Choice Prize at the M-Theatre Festival in Koszalin, as well as three awards at the Mess Festival in Sarajevo. Several months ago Górnicka took home the First Prize for Directing at the FastForward European Festival of Young Directors in Brunswick for Magnificat. The choir's libretto has been translated into Czech, German, Ukrainian, Croatian, Japanese, French, Flemish and English.
Rythms of the ancients and the tango
The success that the performance has had abroad underlines the significance of Górnicka's endeavour. As she says,
Performing before an international audience demonstrates just how much of an impact a theatrical choir can have and how it can affect people beyond language, culture and geography. The reception, particularly in France and Germany, has been enthusiastic. My performances are seen as great humanistic essays, as fables on humanity.
Yet she also says she finds it surprising and humbling at the same time as she wrote Magnificat with Polish audiences in mind, based on Polish reality:
And then the performance was very well understood by the European public, it struck some chords. I recall conversations with audience members in Berlin. These were young punks with mohawks sitting in the front row and crying. The choir is a powerful force!
Yet before Marta Górnicka took the stage as a director, she was an actress and singer herself, with a diploma from the Chopin Music School in Warsaw in her pocket. While her experiences in training her voice were formative for her early years in theatre, she soon found her calling as a director. She says, "Directing brings together all my creative pursuits: music, acting and my experiences in solo and recording projects - all of this began to speak through the voices of many men and women".
She debuted on the stage of Warsaw's Roma Musical Theatre in 2004 with Tango 3001, transporting audiences to the cultural roots of Argentina through the tango houses of the poorest district of Buenos Aires. She was led along this path by Astor Piazzolla and his masterful tangos sung to the lyrics of Horatio Ferrera, Jeana Claude Carriere and Jorge Luis Borges, translated by writer Jacek Dehnel especially for the show. As Górnicka recalls,
The music of Piazzolla is energetic and full of contradictions, with a great revolutionary potential. After all, tango was born in the poorest areas on the edge of the criminal world. But tango is always an escape. Something that is able to slip through. It is based on this experience that I am building the choir today.
Her work on Piazolla's music led to the release of an album of the show's music by Polish Radio. She has also acted in films and on the dramatic stage, working under star director Robert Wilson on a local production of Symptoms /Akropolis. She has conducted voice workshops in Salzburg, Tokyo, Kiev, Berlin, Rome and London. Today she is preparing her third show for her chorus.
Chorus of unemployment
Górnicka's latest production is being staged in cooperation with the National Theatre in Strasburg. This time the show has a twist, casting men among the women of the choir to create a powerful collective voice on the human experience of unemployment in today's times. RequieMachine is 'a sort of essay on the modern system of labour, on people caught between the terror of unemployment and total exhaustion. The show is built around the writings of poet Władysław Broniewski, which are, as has become tradition, countered with publicity slogans and ancient texts'. She says her approach to theatre has always been radical, explaining,
I believe in the power of the choir. I believe that the choir brings about change, challenges taboos, that the voice of the choir moves the audience, speaks to him or her. In forgetting about the choir contemporary theatre has gotten rid of something very important and full of strength, of tragedy and the possibility to enter into a dialogue with reality. Today, theatre without a chorus is dead, it becomes a mere spectacle, entertainment. This is why I chose the choir. Because it is a tool for change that draws upon the strength of rhythm and the knowledge of the Antiquity. Because it speaks about something that is significant.
The premiere of RequieMachine takes place on the 24th of March 2013 at the Zbigniew Raszewski Theatre Institute in Warsaw. In the months to come it will go on to tour France and Germany. For more on the chorus and the Theatre Institute, see: www.instytut-teatralny.pl