A Scene from Nostra Classe, photo credit: David Ruano, www.teatrofernangomez.esmadrid.com
Carme Portaceli, an acclaimed Spanish theatre director stages Nostra Classe in Madrid's Teatro Fernán Gómez. Our Class, Nasza Klasa in the original, the only play to win Poland's prestigious Nike award, tells the shocking story of difficult relationships between classmates who in the 20th century became enemies for no personal reasons
Our Class tells the story of collective guilt, and a truth that nobody seems to have a need of understanding. It tells a story that cannot be judged, cannot be reversed, and cannot even be explained. The play takes place at such a moment in history, when, following emotional speeches of a crazed nationalism, and given religious and ethnic differences in various cities and towns, previous friends become ultimate enemies overnight.
In 1941, some 1600 Polish Jews were burned alive in the Polish town of Jedwabne. The officially accepted version of history blames the Nazi occupant, but two Polish studies have shown that the perpetrators of the slaughter were in fact the victims’ classmates and neighbours.
The play begins with a scene in which Polish and Jewish children, the students of one class in a small Polish Eastern town, tell the stories of who they want to be when they grown up. They dream of becoming a pilot, a doctor, a movie-star. They read the same books, they watch Charlie Chaplin's films and listen to jazz. When history knocks on the door, these ten classmates - five Catholics and five Jews - become victims and perpetrators. In the years that follow, over a series of 14 "lessons", they assume the roles of survivors and martyrs of torture, or those of ghosts permanently present in the minds of the murderers. Whence, not unlike nationalism and religion, they suddenly become either friendly companions or terrible enemies.
The Spanish production’s press release states:
As human beings, we are capable of converting from one to the other over the course of a day. We are influenced by what happens around us, by large scale political decisions beyond our control which at that moment in time, we could not ever imagine.
The playwritght Tadeusz Słobodzianek explains
One must constantly confront the trauma of Polish-Jewish relations. I believe that it is possible to accomplish showing them in a different light, not in tragic and explicit manner, but in a way that would be more than just thought-provoking - a way that would induce a katharsis, leaving none indifferent to the subject
Ondrej Spišák, a Slovak director who lives and works in Poland staged the play's Polish premiere in Warsaw’s Teatr na Woli. He thus commented on Słobodzianek’s text:
"Nasza klasa" does not try to preach. It tells a story which is meant to provoke questions. The drama takes up events which occurred in Eastern Poland and at the same time it is a universal story which becomes very telling wherever deep ethnic conflicts have taken place, and a private life had to give in to great politics.
The Madrid staging proves the universal value of the text, and Nuestra Classe met with acclaim of the Spanish critics. A reviews for Revista Teatros stated:
A bleeding episode in Polish history told with a high degree of poetry, which invites us to learn where we came from, who we are and what the human race actually is.
And the major Spanish daily, El Pais praised the production with the following words:
Portaceli has achieved its most sober and powerful performance in recent years. The actors perform strenuous work with such conviction and strength.
Tadeusz Słobodzianek is a playwright, director, theatre critic. His parents were deported to Siberia in 1944 and he was born in 1955 in the Siberian town of Yeniseysk. Słobodzianek studied Theatre Studies at the Polish Philology Department at the Jagiellonian University (1974-1979). As a theatre critic, he published his reviews, under the pseudonym of Jan Koniecpolski, in Kraków's biweekly "Student" (1978-1979) and "Polityka" (1979-1982). Tadeusz Słobodzianek has received numerous national and international awards. The most significant ones include the Fringe First Award won with the Wierszalin Society at the Edinburgh festival in 1993 and 1995, "Polityka" Passport Award (1993), Stanisław Piętak Prize (1993) and the Kościelski Foundation Prize for lifetime achievements in drama and theatre arts. Most recently, on October 3, 2010, he received the "Nike" Literary Award for his book Nasza klasa / Our Class, it was then the first drama to have won the prize. The Nike award is given every year in October for the best book of the past year. Its goal is to promote Polish literature, with a particular regard for the novel.
Nostra Classe (Our Class)
written by Tadeusz Słobodzianek
Translation into Catalan: Joan Sellent
Castilian translation: Maila Motto
Directed and adapted by: Carme Portaceli
Set Design: Paco Azorin
Costumes: Albert Lluna
Choreography: Ferran Carvajal
Soundscape: Sila
Assistant set design and technical production: Jordi Soler i Prim
Assistant Director: Ricard Soler
Executive Producer: Casiana Monczar
Executive producer: FEI-International Scenic Factoria
Cast:
Jordi Rico (Zygmunt)
Charlotte Olcina (Dora)
Jordi Brunet (Abram)
Ferran Carvajal (Heniek)
Roger Casamajor (Menachem)
Lluïsa Castell (Zocha)
Gabriela Flores (Rachelka, desprués Mariana)
Albert Perez (Wladek)
Xavier Ripoll (Rysiek)
Isak Ferriz (Jakub Katz)
The performance premieres on the 19th of April, 2012, with showings presented daily through to the 13th of May
Tuesday to Saturday shows start at 8 pm, Sunday show starts at 6 pm
(No showing on Monday)
Teatro Fernán Gómez
Plaza de Colón, 4
Madrid
photo source: teatrofernangomez.esmadrid.com
Source: press release, culturapolaca.es