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(zdjęcia z próby generalnej) - 26-02-10
(zdjęcia z premiery) - 27-03-10
Międzynarodowy Dzień Teatru - directed by
Attila Keresztes - set design
Bianca Imelda Jeremias - assistant director
Zbigniew Wróbel
- cast
Ivona
Agnieszka Radzikowska
King Ignatius
Grzegorz Przybył
Queen Margaret
Anna Kadulska
Prince Philip
Michał Rolnicki
Chamberlain
Jerzy Głybin
Ciril
Bartłomiej Błaszczyński
Isabella
Barbara Lubos
Cyprian
Marcin Szaforz
Innocente
Marek Rachoń
Valentine
Roman Michalski
1st and 2nd aunt
Ewa Leśniak
Krystyna Wiśniewska
Ladies-in-waiting
Karina Grabowska
Violetta Smolińska
...
Małgorzata Daniłow
(guest actress)
Beggar
Zbigniew Wróbel
***
Joanna Wawrzyńska
Drama School
premiere:
26 February 2010
Duża Scena
czas: 180 min. z przerwą
Subsidized by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage
Wywiady Jerzego Granowskiego
Tadeusz Bradecki o najnowszej premierze
Agnieszka Radzikowska o roli Iwony
Attila Keresztes o Iwonie...
Jerzy Głybin o Iwonie...
Witold Gombrowicz - Ivona, Princess of Burgundia
Ivona, Princess of Burgundia, a play, which has its roots in farce, was first published in Skamander magazine in 1938 (this year was quoted by prof. Jan Błoński, scientific editor of Gombrowicz's Works; the author himself, however, mentioned the year 1935 in his Interviews with Dominique de Roux). Twenty years later a book edition of Ivona appeared in print. In his “Remarks on performing and directing” enclosed to the first edition, the author recommended “placing the strongest possible emphasis on the following aspects: 1. All constituents of grotesque and humour, neutralizing the unpleasant fabric of the play, without losing the sobriety and genuineness of the psychological traits of the characters and of the whole plot. 2. The nonchalance and liberty of the text. The play should not be rendered too seriously. 3. Full consciousness of the characters who are perfectly normal people finding themselves in an abnormal situation”. The play is set in a royal court, the place and time of action being a matter of convention. Gombrowicz, in fact, uses them as an excuse, and a valid one, to deliver one of his characteristic lectures on anthropology, psychology and sociology. Apparently, the lecture is not unbiased, it is more of a polyphonic parable with the author trying to expose the mechanisms constituting human identity, or more precisely – calling it into question.
The main characters are King Ignatius, Queen Margaret and their son Prince Philip who is engaged to Ivona, an upalatable, mediocre girl with no sex-appeal. Her unfortunate appearance, complete inertia and almost unbroken silence induce the heir to the throne to take action. Indeed, there is no such law allowing only the pretty to be liked and even if there was, would he, a free man, have to surrender to it as if he was an organ deprived of soul? The royal parents acknowledge their son's engagement in order to avoid a scandal. Chamberlain promises to find out the true reasons for his extravagant behaviour . To everyone's surprise, a klutz wearing a flowery cretonne dress falls in love with the Prince. Philip feels obliged to reciprocate her feeling. “If I am your beloved one, I cannot not love you”, he states, trying hard to fall for her. That stirs up unrest among courtiers, inappropriate pranks and jokes spread throughout the court, “consumed by unhealthy derisive giggles”. Ivona's silence, awkwardness, timidity and unsociability set off dangerous associations, evoking the others' own imperfections and deficiencies.
Even the King recalls his little old sins whereas the Queen possessed by graphomania begins to notice resemblance between her son's clumsy fiancée and her own mediocre poetry. The Prince also realizes the absurdity of the situation. He breaks up with Ivona and proposes to Isabella, a lady-in-waiting. Still, he knows that Ivona will keep thinking about him, so he decides to put an end to it once and for all. The King, the Queen and Chamberlain, each on their own, are also trying to kill Ivona. Thay cannot, however, defy convention and do it overtly without formal grounds. They must arrange the murder keeping up appearances of the royal grandeur. Unsuspecting Ivona accepts an invitation to a meal made of crucian carps in an exquisite cream sauce that tastes brilliant and paradoxical. A crucian carp may seem like nothing at all but deep down is a tough and dangerous fish.
Attila Keresztes
Attila Keresztes was born in 1973 in Sfantu Gheorghe, Romania. He studied Theatre Performing Arts at the Babes-Bolyai University Cluj-Napoca. Since his graduation in 1996, he has been a lecturer at the Faculty of Theatre and Television of his alma mater. He also cooperated with the Hungarian Theatre of Cluj, staging plays by Shakespeare, Ibsen, Ruhl, Jones and Cooney as well as plays for children. His acting career includes the role of Nemecsek in Molnar's The Paul Street Boys. Since June 2009 he has been the head of the Hungarian section in the North Theatre in Satu Mare, where he directed Chekhov's Three sisters.
Bianca Imelda Jeremias
Bianca Imelda Jeremias is a set and costume designer and stylist as well as a graphic designer. She graduated from the University of Art and Design in Cluj-Napoca in 2004. Currently she is a PhD student in costume design and at the same time teaches set and costume design, history of art and stage make-up at Babes-Bolyai Cluj-Napoca University. Her experience encompasses designing for the theatre, opera and ballet. She has worked for theatres and operas in Romania, Slovakia and Hungary.
Witold Marian Gombrowicz
Polish novelist, essayist and playwright. Born into a wealthy landowning family. Graduated in law from the University of Warsaw in 1927. Just before the outbreak of the World War II, he was one of the passengers of the maiden voyage of a Polish liner Chrobry to Argentina where he stayed until 1963, living in utmost poverty at times. In his attempt to gain recognition in Argentinian literary circles, he wrote articles and gave lectures, then published the Spanish translation of Ferdydurke and The Marriage but both remained unnoticed. Gombrowicz was then offered a job at the Banco Polaco in Buenos Aires. In 1951 he contacted Jerzy Giedroyć and had his works published in the Parisian Kultura since then. In 1953, The Marriage and Trans-Atlantyk were issued. In 1957, the first volume of Diary was published by the Literary Institute in Paris. At that time, a few Gombrowicz’s works were published in Poland and earned him recognition although the authorities objected to publishing Diary. The following year, a ban was imposed on all his works in his home country (until 1986).
Gombrowicz returned to Europe in 1963. He spent 4 years in Berlin, then moved to France for the rest of his life. Although Gombrowicz wrote in Polish, he decided not to have his works published in Poland until the ban on the unabridged version of Diary was removed (he gave there the account of the campaign carried against him by the Polish authorities).
His works continued to be printed in Polish by the Paris Literary Institute of Jerzy Giedroyc and were translated into more than 30 languages. His plays were staged all over the world. All of his works have been recently published in Poland. Deep psychological analysis, a certain sense of paradox and absurd are typical of his writing.