"Apocalypse" is a new play by Agata Duda-Gracz that delves into the contemporary here and now. Its subject is how human desires, dreams and aspirations fare in the cruelty of the outside world
The script emerged from rehearsals that found a literary stimulus in the 11th century apocrypha of John The Theologist, entitled The Questions of John…. The controversial medieval text presents a "heretic" history of the beginning and end of human existence.
The scenes, a result of actor improvisations, do not make for a linear, cause-and-effect production. Instead sequences are linked together through processions, marches, pilgrimages and parades, creating a chaotic collage of human relationships, bound together by an apocalyptic motif."I wanted to show (…) evil and suffering as the end of the world – the one which human condition condemn itself to", says Duda-Gracz. The director was careful to point out that the performance is not meant to be objective or moralising. Nor does it necessarily have to be agreed with. Each scene is a performance in its own right. The actors sing, dance and perform stunts. Each actor has been assigned several roles.
Agata Duda-Gracz is a 2003 graduate of theatre directing from the Kraków National School of Drama. She has worked with numerous theatres, including: the Witkacy Theatre in Zakopane, the Old Theatre in Kraków and Warsaw's Studio Theatre. She is the daughter of distinguished Polish painter, the late Jerzy Duda-Gracz, and has also worked on the stage design of each of her directed plays. She has received awards for both her work as a director and stage-designer, including the "Golden Laurel for Mastership in Art" awarded by the Polish Culture Foundation, based in Kraków.
- Apocalypse: An Abridged History of Marching" / "Apokalipsa. Skrócona historia maszerowania by Agata Duda-Gracz; direction and stage design: Agata Duda-Gracz; music: Jakub Ostaszewski; stage movement: Tomasz Wesołowski; lighting design: Katarzyna Łuszczyk; stunts: Maciej Maciejewski; cast: Aleksander Bednarz, Stanisława Chmielewska, Iwona Drożdż-Rybińska, Milena Lisiecka, Izabela Noszczyk, Hubert Jarczak, Marek Kałużyński, Cezary Studniak, Krzysztof Wach, Tomasz Wesołowski; world premiere: May 14, 2011. Repeat performances: May 15, June 21 - 22, 2011.
Stefan Jaracz Theatre
27 Jaracza St, 90-257, Łódź
Executive Director: Wojciech Nowicki
Artistic Director: Waldemar Zawodziński
tel. (+48 42) 633 97 80, 633 17 70
www.teatr-jaracza.lodz.pl
Source: press release, www.teatr-jaracza.lodz.pl