Krystian Lupa returns to Warsaw to direct yet another highly original production. Rehearsals are currently underway at the Rozmaitości Theatre for a production based on CLARA'S RELATIONS by Dea Loher. The staging will premiere on April 5th of this year.
This is the first time that Lupa will work at the Variety Theatre, located on Marszałkowska Street, where his former student, Grzegorz Jarzyna, is the artistic director. He has chosen a text by Dea Loher (born 1964), who - though she once stated that she "wants to write against the theatre" - is today a German playwriting star, having garnered such awards as the Playwrights Award (1991), the Goethe Award (1993), the J.M.R. Lenz Award (1997), and an award at the Münheim Theatre Festival (1998). The trade magazine "Theater heute" named Loher its author of the year in both 1993 and 1994. The world premiere of THE CASE OF CLARA took place in the year 2000 at the Burgtheater in Vienna. In Poland, productions of the play were mounted by Bogdan Tosza at the Teatr Slaski (Silesian Theatre) in Katowice and by Paweł Miśkiewicz at the Polski Theatre in Wrocław.
Based on Loher's play, Lupa has created his own adaptation titled STOSUNKI KLARY / CLARA'S RELATIONS.
"I am most interested in entirely normal and average people who - by accident, because of unfortunate coincidences or special circumstances - suddenly find themselves in situations unpleasant to them," Loher has been quoted as saying.
CLARA'S RELATIONS is both a social drama and a poetic portrayal of humans lost in the contemporary world. On one hand, it is the psychological study of a complex individual; on the other, it is a portrait of our society with a humorous undertone. The combination of all these elements has resulted in a contemporary morality play, a drama that will touch viewers emotionally as well as encourage critical reflection.
The production at the Rozmaitości Theatre will feature actors Aleksandra Konieczna (Irena), Maria Maj (Elizabeth), Maja Ostaszewska (Clara), Mariusz Benoit (Gotfried), Sebastian Pawlak (Thomas), and Jacek Poniedziałek (George).
Dea Loher, STOSUNKI KLARY / CLARA'S RELATIONS, directed by Krystian Lupa, translated by: Jacek St. Buras, music by: Jacek Ostaszewski. Premiere: April 5, 2003 at Rozmaitosci Theatre in Warsaw.