SZENE
Salzburg

They are survivors. They have come from Ukraine and Belarus, fleeing war and violence. Now they live in Poland and appear on stage together with women from Warsaw – and they speak up. They use the power of their voices impressively to name things for which there can be no words. They do not want to be heard as victims but as the protagonists of their stories.

The Polish director Marta Górnicka, an exceptional figure in European theatre, contrasts the noise of war with the mighty spoken song of a chorus. In Mothers – A Song for Wartime, 21 women and one girl emphatically counter the forces of destruction with the concentrated power of their voices, articulating their political demands. The theatre provides space for a community that transcends ideology and is based on listening sensitively to others. Marta Górnicka impressively combines her political engagement and artistic interests in productions such as Magnificat, which was received with standing ovations at Sommerszene 2018.

Marta Górnicka is a theatre director, writer and singer, who has rediscovered the principle of the chorus. She has worked consistently on the sound and movement language of the chorus since 2010, applying it as a critical instrument with which to examine modern mechanisms of control, exclusion and violence while also understanding it as a vehicle to create a community. In recent years she has won numerous awards for her outstanding works and her productions have been presented around the world.

In Polish, Ukrainian, Belarusian with German and English subtitles. Artist talk after the performance.

 
Actors: Liza Kozlova, Palina Dabravolskaja, Svitlana Onischak, Kateryna Taran, Svitlana Berestovska, Valeriia Obodianska, Sasha Cherkas, Maria Tabashuk, Yuliia Ridna, Natalia Mazur, Aleksandra Sroka, Katarzyna Jaźnicka, Bohdana Zazhytska, Anastasiia Kulinich, Hanna Mykhailova, Katerina Aleinikova, Elena Zui-Voitekhovskaya, Kamila Michalska, Maria Robaszkiewicz, Polina Shkliar, Ewa Konstanciak
Concept, Direction: Marta Górnicka
Libretto: Marta Górnicka & Ensemble
Music: Wojciech Frycz, Marta Górnicka, traditional Ukrainian, Belarusian and Polish music, a quotation from Mykola Leontovych’s Shchedryk
Choreography: Evelin Facchini
Stage Design: Robert Rumas
Costumes: Joanna Załęska
Dramaturgical Collaboration: Olga Byrska, Maria Jasińska
Video, Video Documentation: Michał Rumas, Justyna Orłowska
Video projections: Michał Jankowski
Lights: Artur Sienicki
Vocal Coach: Joanna Piech-Sławecka
Stage Manager and Director´s Assistant: Bazhena Shamovich
Choreographer´s Assistant: Maria Bijak
Movement Workshop: Krystyna Lama Szydłowska
Ukrainian libretto translation: Olesya Mamchych
Belarusian libretto translation: Maria Pushkina
English libretto translation: Aleksandra Paszkowska
German libretto translation: Olaf Khul
Ukrainian ethnomusicology consultation: Anna Ohrimchuk
Ukrainian children’s games consultation: Venera Ibragimova
In-rehearsal interpreter: Marharyta Huretskaya
Subtitles: Zofia Szymanowska
CHORUS OF WOMEN Foundation producers: Marta Kuźmiak, Iwa Ostrowska, Anna Galas- Kosil, Alicja Berejowska
Teatr Powszechny producer: Magdalena Płyszewska
Production: CHORUS OF WOMEN Foundation (Warsaw) and Maxim Gorki Theater (Berlin)
In Co-production with: Teatr Powszechny Warsaw; Festival d’Avignon; Maillon Théâtre De Strasbourg Scène européenne; Spring Performing Arts Festival Utrecht; Tangente St. Pölten - Festival Für Gegenwartskultur
Partners: Teatr Dramatyczny Warsaw; Nowy Teatr Warsaw; Ukrainian Institute; For Freedom Foundation in Warsaw (an independent public non-profit working for migrants from Ukraine, Chechnya, Belarus, Tajikistan who have settled in Warsaw); “Przystanek Świetlica” (a recreation center for migrant children and adolescents); The “Sunflower” Solidary Community Center (supporting for the Ukrainian artist community in Warsaw).
This project is co-funded by the City of Warsaw.

• gornicka.com