Scene from the play courtesy of the Kochanowski Theatre in Opole
The daring Polish director leads Opole's Kochanowski Theatre in a performance of a unique take on Shakespeare's play at one of the world's biggest events in honour of the British bard. Kleczewska asks how evil is born and to what extent are we in control of our fates - and to what extent it controls us
Poland joins 36 other nations in presenting Shakespeare's complete repertoire of dramatic works. Kleczewska, one of Poland's most bravest young playwrights, brings Macbeth's manic, murderous plot into the realm of Transvestites, drug addicts and gangsters. She directs the troupe of the Kochanowski theatre, named after the Polish poet Jan Kochanowski and based in the city where visionary Jerzy Grotowski got his start in the theatre. The production trails Teatr Biuro Podróży, the Song of the Goat theatre and Krzysztof Warlikowski in taking a contemporary Polish view on Macbeth and bringing it across the world. At Globe to Globe the play is performed in Polish with English surtitles.
Globe to Globe is an annual festival that launches on Shakespeare's birthday, presenting 37 performances over six weeks. The festival aims to present a kaleidoscope of perspectives and languages, from the Globe's own production of Henry V and London's Deafinitely Theatre presenting Love's Labour's Lost in British Sign language to The Merry Wives of Windsor in Swahili from the Bitter Pill & Theatre Company and Richard III by the National Theatre of China. The Q Brothers from America present their hip hop production of Othello and Nikita Milivojevic directs a riveting performance of Henry VI, Part 1. The Globe to Globe Festival is also part of the World Shakespeare Festival and the Cultural Olympiad 2012.
Critic Jacek Sieradzki likens the show to a rock video in the Polityka weekly, writing
The hags are vivid bar moths: a superannuated whore and two transvestites, Duncan is clearly the king of the mafia, not Scotland. The crowd fools around, rudeness is mixed with promiscuity. The speeches for a giggle, the simulated strip shows and parodies of hits, however, are overly exaggerated to take them literally. Some quotations. The world of "Macbeth" is a world of reflections, artificial images, borrowings from the mass visions – and it only breaks at the time of the first murder.
Macbeth
Directed by Maja Kleczewska. Scenography: Katarzyna Borkowska. Music: Waldemar Wróblewski. Lighting: Piotr Pawlik. Original premiere in Opole: December 2004.
Performances at the Globe to Globe Festival: 8th of May, 2.30pm, 9th of May, 7.30pm, 10th of May 2.30pm.
Shakespeare’s Globe
21 New Globe Walk
London SE1 9DT
globetoglobe.shakespearesglobe.com