Our Class poster of the Teatr na Woli production, www.teatrnawoli.pl
Tadeusz Słobodzianek’s gripping play about the trauma of Polish-Jewish relations enjoys its Russian premiere as part of Moscow’s major theatre festival on the 8th of March. The original production by Teatr na Woli in Warsaw - the acclaimed text’s first Polish staging - is performed as part of the Golden Mask New Play series
Nasza klasa / Our Class is set in Poland and is inspired by events including the Jedwabne pogrom in which 300 Polish Jews died in 1941. Słobodzianek’s play tells a story of a group of classmates - Poles and Jews - from 1925 up to our times. As they grow up, their friendly fun ends. The Second World War breaks out and invading forces - first Soviets, then Nazi Germans - enter the town.
Anti-Semitism erupts in a series of rapes, tortures and murders, culminating in a pogrom in which almost all the local Jews are killed, burned in a barn or murdered in the town square.
The violence doesn't end with the conclusion of the war. A reckoning with the past begins, but proves an impossible task. Our Class is a shocking tale about complicated Polish-Jewish relations over the 20th century and to our day: collective blame, truth that nobody seems to need, and history that cannot be judged, retraced or even explained. The European Theatre Convention ranked it among the best contemporary European plays written during 2009 and 2010.
The playwright Słobodzeniak 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 catharsis, leaving none indifferent to the subject.
Ondrei Spišak, the Slovakian director who staged the play's world premiere at Teatr na Woli, comments:
Our Class doesn't try to teach anyone. This story is told to provoke questions. The drama, referring to the events in eastern Poland, is a universal story understood in places where deep ethnical conflicts arise and private life must conform to politics.
The world premiere of Our Class. History in 14 lessons took place at the National Theatre in London in 2009. International productions continue, proving the universal value of the text - the only play to date to win Poland’s most prestigious literary prize, the Nike Literary Award.
Our Class is presented on the 8th of March, 2013, at the 19th edition of the Golden Mask Festival. In is shown as part of the New Play Project, within the non-competition Maska Plus framework. The New Play series run as a joint initiative of the Golden Mask and Teatr.doc, pursued with the goal of promoting the development of contemporary drama. Texts selected for the programme concern pertinent artistic and socially significant issues, and the New Play series has grown to be one of the top priority projects for the festival organisers.
In addition to performances, the New Play project also introduces a platform for discussions between artists and the audience.
The Golden Mask Festival and National Award were established in 1993 by the Theatre Union of the Russian Federation. The annual festival presents the best drama, opera, ballet and puppet-theatre productions of the previous season, selected by a board of experts: theatre critics, journalists and theatre managers. Golden Mask awards are presented in some two dozen categories, to the best productions, directors, actors and stage designers. This year, the festival kicked off on the 28th of January, and it runs through to mid April, 2013, with an official award ceremony scheduled for the 16th of April at the Stanislavsky Opera and Ballet Theatre.
The Golden Mask is a festival which presents prestigious theatre awards, and has grown to become a cultural institution, playing a key role in shaping strategic tasks for the art of theatre in Russia. The history of festival is thus a chronicle of contemporary Russian theatre, presenting all of its major trends. The Golden Mask National Theatre Award and Festival are supported by the Theatre Union of Russian Federation, the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation and the Moscow Government.
Paulina Schlosser, source: www.goldenmask.ru, www.teatrnawoli.pl
Thumbnail credits: Krzysztof Bieliński for Teatr na Woli