Teatr Kana
Following its visit to Japan, Teatr Kana staged "Lailonia" at the Lin Zhaohua Theatre Art Festival in the Capital Theatre of Beijing
The performance is based on the collection of stories written by Leszek Kołakowski, entitled "13 Tales from the Kingdom of Lailonia for the Young and Old". The characters of these tales are afraid of remaining anonymous. They do what they can to differ from the crowd, mark their presense and get attention. They believe this to be a condition for their happiness. Actors who embody these characters are somewhat similiar in their motives. A meta-theatrical narrative emerges, in which the actors' temptation to ensure their own being via the stage grows stronger and stronger. Everyone wants to have their five minutes of fame. All the actors want to win, none want to loose. Yet the characters of the tales most often fail in their attempts at being happy. Their actions frequently backslide.
Kołakowski wrote:
There is no success here on Earth. Of course, people are famous. Yet, in spite of that, I would claim we are all loosers.
Are we then to accept life as an inevitable failure? Does it mean than any attempts to fight for your own happiness should be abandoned? Do we have any chances of winning the struggle with our own destiny? Have we any influence on its outcome? Kołakowski refuses to answer the question "how to live, in order to be happy?". In an interview, he states,
If I come to terms with the fact that I will not become the pope, or Greta Garbo, if I know that I am not perfect nor am I meant to be perfect, if I do not demand too much of myself, and enjoy the little things, if I am at peace with my small sins, and the consent to such a life does not make me miserable - everybody benefits.
Perhaps we could conclude from this that Kołakowski encourages "a good life of the mediocre", yet he clearly cuts away from giving any straighforward advise.
The performance invites audiences to a kingdom that does not exist on any map, and its inhabitants seem childish. In spite of this we discover they tackle problems which sooner or later become relevant for us all. Apparently naive characters pose questions about the meaning of life, and the paradoxes of our existence. Director Mateusz Przyłęcki and playwright Dorota Semanowicz selected seven tales, broke them up into seven voices, and transferred on to the stage the humour and lightness of Leszek Kołakowski's original work.
The "Lailonia" production of Teatr Kana premiered in September 2009, and it has been declared one of the most surprising and promising adaptations of the Polish philosopher's works. Based on team work and a structure guided by rhythm, the play is open to acting improvisation. Employing a contemporary and sparse language, the reality created on the stage is put forward in a certain theatrical parenthesis. What the actors declare seem to be personal confessions about their own fears, ridicules and phobias. Employing the concept of a game, a convention of theatre within theatre, songs and quite a mocking sense of humour, the play conveys helplessness of human beings and their confusion in the realm of values.
Adaptated for the stage and directed by: Mateusz Przyłęcki
Script consultation: Dorota Semenowicz
Costumes: Wanda Kowalska
Photography: Karolina Machowicz
Cast: Bibianna Chimiak, Karolina Sabat, Tomasz Grygier, Dariusz Mikuła, Waldemar Nicek, Hubert Romanowski and Piotr Starzyński
Date: 9th-11th of December, 2011
Venue: Capital Theatre, Beijing
Organised by: Teatr Kana
Project cofinanced by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of the Republic of Poland.
Source: Adam Mickiewicz Institute