Forefathers’ Eve

Biography

This was an epoch-making event: 160 years after Adam Mickiewicz wrote Forefathers’ Eve (Dziady), the play received its first unabridged production in Poland. The uncut version starts at mid-day and continues – including breaks for lunch and dinner – well into the night. The opening of Forefathers’ Eve in 2016 was the culmination of a 3-year-long artistic project, a tremendous staging challenge which involved all members of the ensemble and the entire ‘machinery’ of the theatre. This day-long theatre marathon is an astute exploration of the meaning of the original text. Michał Zadara understands and interprets Polish classics like no other director. His Forefathers’ Eve is an attractive, modern discourse. The originality and faithfulness of the production have been recognised with top prizes in the Living Classics competition for theatre productions of old Polish literature, held by the Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage.

Polski Theatre, Wrocław
Director ― Michał Zadara
Assistant director ― Marta Streker
Dramaturgy ― Daniel Przastek
Performers ― Monika Bolly, Sylwia Boroń, Michał Chorosiński, Wiesław Cichy, Klaudia Cygoń, Adam Cywka, Marian Czerski, Bogusław Danielewski, Jakub Giel, Małgorzata Gorol, Anna Ilczuk, Piotr Jędrasik, Mariusz Kiljan, Andrzej Kłak, Tomasz Kocuj, Rafał Kronenberger, Daria Krzyżaniak, Igor Kujawski, Kacper Kuryś, Julia Leszkiewicz, Tomasz Lulek, Cezary Łukaszewicz, Dariusz Maj, Paweł Majchrowski, Dagmara Mrowiec-Matuszak, Michał Mrozek, Katarzyna Neugebauer-Jastrzębska, Aleksandra Ochman, Michał Opaliński, Sean Palmer, Paulina Panas, Marcin Pempuś, Edwin Petrykat, Bartosz Porczyk, Iwona Rólczyńska, Ewa Skibińska, Justyna Skoczek, Eryk Skonieczny, Michał Stawiski, Katarzyna Strączek, Adam Szczyszczaj, Mikołaj Szmeichel, Anna Tomaszewska, Martin Vischer, Janka Woźnicka, Wojciech Ziemiański, Marta Zięba
Puppeteers ― Jakub Kowalczyk, Anna Makowska-Kowalczyk, Wojciech Stagenalski, Anna Zych
Set design ― Robert Rumas
Costumes ― Julia Kornacka, Arek Ślesiński
Lighting design, video ― Artur Sienicki
Music ― Jacek „Budyń” Szymkiewicz, Jan Duszyński, Maja Kleszcz, Wojciech Krzak
Premiere of the full production ― 20 February 2016

Choreography for the Ball scene in Forefathers’ Eve, Part III ― Romana Agnel
Pianist and coach (Forefathers’ Eve, Part III), music director (Forefathers’ Eve, Passages and The Poet’s Explanatory Notes) ― Justyna Skoczek
Director’s assistants ― Nina Karniej, Maciej Rabski (Forefathers’ Eve, Part III), Jarosław Wójtowicz (Forefathers’ Eve, Part III), Katarzyna Dudzic-Grabińska (Forefathers’ Eve, Passages and The Poet’s Explanatory Notes)
Set designer’s assistant ― Jakub Strykowski (Forefathers’ Eve, Passages and The Poet’s Explanatory Notes)
Choreographer’s assistant ― Ewelina Adamska-Porczyk (Forefathers’ Eve, Part III)
Puppet design ― Robert Rumas (Parts II and IV)
Puppet maker ― Rafał Budnik (Parts II and IV)
Puppeteering consultant ― Agata Kucińska (Parts II and IV)
Language consultant ― Anna Szoc (Forefathers’ Eve, Part III)
Vocal consultants ― Michał Kowalik (Forefathers’ Eve, Part III), Magdalena Śniadecka-Skrzypek (Forefathers’ Eve, Part III)
Flute playing ― Romuald Szałek (Forefathers’ Eve, Part III)
Project consultant ― Jacek Cimicki
Stage manager ― Ewa Wilk
Prompter ― Magdalena Kabata
Make-up ― Mateusz Stępniak, Marianna Bartnicka, Barbara Paska
Dressers ― Danuta Bartyna, Anna Dobosz, Lucyna Domańska, Grażyna Marcinkiewicz, Beata Mazurkiewicz, Joanna Zborowska
Set-up ― Adam Buraczek, Wojciech Czerepak, Bogdan Dyląg, Mirosław Gołębiowski, Grzegorz Kloc, Jakub Kreczmer, Paweł Stanaszek, Grzegorz Sznajder, Łukasz Szyszka
Props master ― Marek Iwanaszko
Lighting engineer ― Dariusz Bartołd, Wojciech Bratos, Paweł Olszewski
Projections ― Dariusz Bartołd, Kazimierz Blacharski
Sound ― Tomasz Zaborski (Parts I, II, III and IV and the poem Phantom), Maciej Kabata (Parts I, II, III and IV and the poem Phantom), Marcin Niebojewski (Parts I, II and IV and the poem Phantom), Wojciech Bielach (Forefathers’ Eve, Part III), Piotr Gmerek (Forefathers’ Eve, Passages and The Poet’s Explanatory Notes)

The performance, including the breaks, runs for over 14 hours. The actors made it to the end in fine form, and the audience kept their exquisite energy high, awarding the artists with a long standing ovation. Mickiewicz carried the day – his text has emerged from all this unscathed.

Edwin Bendyk | antymatrix.blog.polityka.pl
Michał Zadara is a unique director. He is technology savvy, but he does not use Mickiewicz to express his own fears or enact scenes from his favourite films. Zadara grasps the meaning of texts. He studies the original punctuation to decipher the poet’s intended meaning. His humility towards the classics brings to mind Konrad Swinarski.

Mirosław Kocur | teatralny.pl
[…] Mickiewicz’s explanations of the most obscure terms (never spoken from the stage) prove how splendid, rich – in language and content – heterogeneous and captivating is the work that we typically associate with school reading.

Aneta Kyzioł | Polityka
The theatre as an institution made a friendly nod to the audience, and the audience made a friendly nod to the theatre. […] When somewhere around 1 am, during Gustaw’s mammoth monologue in Part IV, Bartosz Porczyk disappeared behind the priest’s house for a moment to emerge with a carton of juice in hand, take a gulp with an apologetic smile and resume his monologue, the audience heaved a sigh of relief. He’s going to make it. The actor’s throat dried up for a moment, but he’s going to finish telling the story of his love...

Joanna Targoń | Didaskalia