Photo: Jakub Wittchen
The major summer festival in Madrid hosted a futuristic performance from Poland's Teatr Biuro Podróży
The "Planet Lem" performance was shown three times as part of the Veranos de la Villa Festival. The showings took place at Naves del Español in Matadero Madrid – a transformed old slaughterhouse which now functions as a creative arts centre. It was the only indoor showing of the performance which is otherwise presented outdoors, yet this only seems to have escalated its impact. Over 600 people viewed the performance over the three days. Spanish audiences were very much impressed with the visionary stage design and imaginative special effects. In their comments they often mentioned the pessimism of the play's message, which is all the more terrifying as it seems to be true...
Inspired by Stanisław Lem's fiction, the play presented the writer's unique, witty and poignant diagnosis of the contemporary world as well as reflections on the relation between technological progress and the limitations of the human race. "Planet Lem" employs a spectacular mobile set design, special lighting effects, multimedia projections and creative costumes to bring a dystopian future on today's European stage.
Lem, Poland's most translated contemporary writer, is famous for such works as "Solaris", "The Futurological Congress", "His Master's Voice" and "Memoirs Found in a Bathtub". It is the characters and themes of these works that found the basis for the auteur performance of "Planet Lem".
The show debuted in Poland last year and currently tours globally as part of the Cultural Programme of the EU Polish Presidency. It enjoyed its European Premiere at London's Watch This Space Festival during the Presidency Inauguration Weekend on July 1-3.
Teatr Biuro Podróży is a Poznań-based theatre group founded in 1988 by Paweł Szkotak. For more information, see the full article on TBP.
The Veranos de la Villa Festival takes place between the 23rd of June and the 28th of August. The streets of downtown Madrid host a wide range of classical music in the Plaza de Oriente in the world, the Temple Debod, along with a open-air dance series opposite the National Museum Reina Sofia Art Center. The festival also presents newest musical offerings in both Classical and Independent genres. Major guests this year include Diana Navarro and Kool & The Gang, along with international theatre troupes showcasing their most exciting productions.
Co-produced by the Adam Mickiewicz Institute, Teatr Biuro Podróży's showings take place in Brussels, Paris, London, Berlin, Madrid, Moscow, Kiev, and Beijing
Date: July 22nd-24th, 2011
Venue: Naves del Español - Matadero Madrid
Organised by: Veranos de la Villa Festival, Polish Institute in Madrid, Adam Mickiewicz Institute
Project cofinanced by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of the Republic of Poland.
"Planet Lem" is a Flagship Project of the Cultural Programme of the Polish EU Council Presidency. For more information on the project and performance trailers, see: Planet Lem.
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