28th Gdańsk Shakespeare Festival programme
28th Shakespeare Festival in Gdańsk
July 25 – August 4, 2024
And let the heads roll!
Performances from Peru, Ukraine, Great Britain, Romania, Italy, Croatia and Poland will be presented as part of the 28th international Shakespeare Festival in Gdańsk.
The program includes „Hamlet” directed by Declan Donellan, ’12. night ’ directed by Grzegorz Jarzyna, the Peruvian „Hamlet” by Chela De Ferrari and the post-apocalyptic version of Shakespeare’s saddest tragedy „Romeo and Juliet” directed by Rostyslav Derzhypilski.
In addition, as many as 10 premieres, including a new production of the Gdańsk Shakespeare Theater – „The Tempest. Prequel” by Malina Prześluga, directed by Joanna Zdrada.
“Let heads roll!” – this is this year’s motto of the Festival.
One of the main political players in Shakespeare’s „Antony and Cleopatra” calls the fight for leadership a „game for heads.” Not only the heroes of the stage conflicts that ignite our imagination, but also the accidental victims of these clashes discover how brutal this game can be. „Let the heads roll” sounds like a cynical call to participate in dirty political games, which we can watch like Shakespeare’s witches – taking pleasure in human misery.
In „head games” – both on and off stage – the stakes are the highest and there is no escape from them. Theater critic and Shakespeare expert, Jan Kott, writes that changes in power and conflicts are inevitable and at the same time terrifyingly ordinary. „Let the heads roll” – if they must and will roll. But do we have to helplessly watch the cruelty? Is the power to change history a cowardly passivity? Do we really have, as Hamlet wants, only two paths to choose from: passively enduring the „fierce arrows of fate” and active resistance to the „sea of misfortunes” that we must put an end to, even though it is impossible? Our slogan conceals rebellion and disagreement with this approach.
We also refer to rapid social changes, political turmoil, the capricious wheel of fate, the circle of history, the repetition of problems and mechanisms that crush individuals and destroy communities. Let heads roll. Let there be wars and political disputes, let the millstones of history grind us: these are their rules. This does not mean, however, that we must humbly accept what fate gives us. The attitude we adopt towards the injustices of the world makes us human.
“Let heads roll”: it also sounds like a silent consent to the passing of time. This consent appears only when we develop the habit of calm reflection, accepting the inevitability of fate and becoming resistant to things over which we have no influence. Shakespeare therapy? Why not.
Full programme available on Shakespeare Festival 2024 program – Shakespeare Festival (festiwalszekspirowski.pl)
D1 / THURSDAY, 25 JULY
19:00, 90 MIN, GDAŃSK SHAKESPEARE THEATRE (GTS)
“The Tempest. A Prequel”, dir. Joanna Zdrada, Gdańsk Shakespeare Theatre [P]
An island of wonder in a sea of realism. A multi-layered story based on a text by Malina Prześluga addressed to a young audience. It is about growing up, finding one’s own way, the power of friendship, the need for freedom and the relationship with parents.
D2 / FRIDAY, 26 JULY
17.00, 21.00, 70 MIN, SCENA MALARNIA
“Ophelia. An Object Study”, Kaczmarek / Pi Pa Piwosz / Romanova [OFF]
The object theatre brings the story of Ophelia to life: ethereal, modest, delightful. She transforms from an icon into a legitimate character.
19.00, 100 MIN, GDAŃSK SHAKESPEARE THEATRE (GTS)
“The Tempest. A Prequel”, dir. Joanna Zdrada, Gdańsk Shakespeare Theatre [P]
An island of wonder in a sea of realism. A multi-layered story for young audiences about coming of age, finding one’s own way, the power of friendship, the need for freedom and the relationship with parents.
21.00, 60 MIN, KLUB ŻAK
“To Bitch or Not to Bitch”, Hertz Haus [OFF]
Physiology meets philosophy. This Shakespeare dances, and the core of his work — the word — has been freed from leading in this dance. For the female creators, physicality is important: it allows them to breathe, to gain distance from the text.
D3 / SATURDAY, 27 JULY
18.00, 165 MIN, TEATR WYBRZEŻE
“All’s Well That Ends Well”, dir. Szymon Kaczmarek, the Wojciech Bogusławski Theatre in Kalisz [ZY]
On stage, the expected leitmotifs of the genre: the science of political gamesmanship, succession, intrigue, disease and its inept doctors, arranged marriages and lovers’ plots. There is flight into the army, ambitions of healing, love and dodging Cupid’s arrows.
16.00, 60 MIN, KLUB ŻAK
“To Bitch or Not to Bitch”, Hertz Haus [OFF]
Physiology meets philosophy. This Shakespeare dances, and the core of his work — the word — has been freed from leading in this dance. For the female creators, physicality is important: it allows them to breathe, to gain distance from the text.
21.30, 60 MIN, DZIEDZINIEC GTS/SCENA MAGAZYN*
“Hamlet Double Bill”, script, director, cast: Alberta Ierardi, Giorgio Vierda, Adrian Hughes, English Theatre Company, La Ribalta Teatro, UK/Italy, ShakeSphere 2024 competition winner [Z]
A humour-filled performance in the convention of a travelling troupe of actors.
Two different perspectives of Hamlet’s story: the point of view of the Gravediggers and the Actors. They are the performers of the fate that is decided at Elsinor: they represent the beginning and the end of the Prince’s story.
D4 / SUNDAY, 28 JULY
18.00, 120 MIN, GDAŃSK SHAKESPEARE THEATRE
“Hamlet”, dir. Declan Donellan, Cheek by Jowl UK/National Theatre in Craiova/Romania [Z]
Hamlet in the Romanian National Theatre’s version is a searching character. He searches through the centuries and wanders through the eras. And he is very tired of this drift.
16.00, 19.00, 60 MIN, SCENA MALARNIA
“Romeo and Juliet in the Fuckup Land”, Kolektyw Dom Utopijnej Pracy Artystycznej (selected by Theatre of Wilam Horzyca in Toruń) [NY]
It is 2137 and only battery-powered animals exist. Poland is transforming from a state into a Company with Limited Freedom. A musical about forbidden love in a discount store.
21.00, 60 MIN, DZIEDZINIEC GTS/SCENA MAGAZYN*
“Hamlet Double Bill”, script, director, cast: Alberta Ierardi, Giorgio Vierda, Adrian Hughes, English Theatre Company, La Ribalta Teatro, UK/Italy, ShakeSphere 2024 competition winner [Z] A humour-filled performance in the convention of a travelling troupe of actors.
Two different perspectives of Hamlet’s story: the point of view of the Gravediggers and the Actors. They are the performers of the fate that is decided at Elsinor: they represent the beginning and the end of the Prince’s story.
D5 / MONDAY, 29 JULY
19.30, 120 MIN, GDAŃSK SHAKESPEARE THEATRE
“Hamlet”, dir. Declan Donellan, Cheek by Jowl UK/National Theatre in Craiova/Romania [Z] Hamlet in the Romanian National Theatre’s version is a searching character. He searches through the centuries and wanders through the eras. And he is very tired of this drift.
19.30, 100 MIN, TEATR WYBRZEŻE
“Twelfth Night, or What You Will”, dir. Grzegorz Jarzyna, Zagreb Youth Theatre, Croatia [Z]
The Renaissance comedy of errors becomes a contemporary tale of love that crosses the boundaries of gender and sexual preference, changing everyone and everything.
22.00, 60 MIN, SCENA MALARNIA “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”, Ludmiła Dziasek (selected by Teatr Wybrzeże) [NY]
A journey through women’s daydreams, obsessive desires and deeply hidden secrets. Through the dreams of Titans, the show explores how the patriarchy operates in us today.
17.00, 21.00, 90 MIN, KLUB ŻAK “Hardcore”, Bijata/Pinkiewicz (Karol Bijata, Zofia Pinkiewicz) [OFF]
A play by the Stratford master in which the stage is strewn thickly with corpses and that’s how it has to be to keep things moving forward. Can death on stage be watched nonchalantly while eating popcorn?
D6 / TUESDAY, 30 JULY
16.00, 60 MIN, SCENA MALARNIA
“A Midsummer Night’s Dream”, Ludmiła Dziasek (selected by Teatr Wybrzeże) [NY]
A journey through women’s daydreams, obsessive desires and deeply hidden secrets. Through the dreams of Titans, the show explores how the patriarchy operates in us today.
17.30, 21.30, 85 MIN, STARA APTEKA
“Makbeth. Voices in the Dark”, dir. Aneta Adamska-Szukała, Przedmieście Theatre, Rzeszów [ZY]
The madness and downfall to which Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are driven confirms that the lust for power cannot be satisfied. And it is impossible to take your eyes off this bloody journey.
D7 / WEDNESDAY, 31 JULY
19.00, 150 MIN, GDAŃSK SHAKESPEARE THEATRE
“Makbeth”, dir. Paweł Palcat, Bałtycki Teatr Dramatyczny in Koszalin [ZY]
Paul Palcat examines how human nature can be redefined, where natural law is and where evil is born.
17.00, 22.00, 70 MIN, KLUB ŻAK
“Seven Cardinal Dreams”, Teatr Cinema [OFF]
An attempt to embarrass, amuse and sadden using Shakespeare’s work. An encrypted dreamland and an adventure of seeking instructions to search for meaning.
D8 / THURSDAY, 1 AUGUST
19.00, 135 MIN, TEATR WYBRZEŻE
“The Tempest. The Rules of an Island”, dir. Katarzyna Minkowska, the Jan Kochanowski Theatre in Opole [ZY]
Th theatre is a deserted island, and the castaways the creators of the stage. It is also an arena in which the ubiquitous and infesting power structures are reborn.
17.00, 21.30, 60 MIN, SCENA MALARNIA
“Expedition «The Tempest»”, Alexander Dulak (selected by Studio Theatre in Warsaw) [NY]
When an immobilised polar expedition is threatened by the spectre of slow annihilation, its crew stages William Shakespeare’s The Tempest on board to kill boredom and anxiety. The effort to perform becomes a survival effort for them: a way to keep from going mad in inhuman conditions.
20.00, 70 MIN, INSTYTUT KULTURY MIEJSKIEJ
“Hamlet’s Metamorphosis (Because It Must be Called a Metamorphosis)”, Piotr Mateusz Wach [OFF]
Hamlet undergoes a metamorphosis. He is a confused young man, afraid and overwhelmed by fears. He is powerless, paranoid, panicky and vengeful.
D9 / FRIDAY, 2 AUGUST
19.00, 150 MIN, GDAŃSK SHAKESPEARE THEATRE
“A Midsummer Night’s Dream”, dir. Jan Klata, the Nowy Theatre in Poznań [ZY]
Midsummer Night lures not intrigue and romance, but cruelty and nightmares. The play is mesmerising: it tells the story of love without shtick or googly eyes and exposes impure intentions.
17.00, 70 MIN, INSTYTUT KULTURY MIEJSKIEJ
“Hamlet’s Metamorphosis (Because It Must be Called a Metamorphosis trzeba nazwać to przemianą)”, Piotr Mateusz Wach [OFF]
Hamlet undergoes a metamorphosis. He is a confused young man, afraid, overwhelmed by fears. He is powerless, paranoid, panicky and vengeful.
D10 / SATURDAY, 3 AUGUST
16.00, 20:00, 75 MIN, KLUB ŻAK
“Very Cheap”, dir. Gruba i Głupia [P]
A stage treatise-cabaret about the paradoxes of capitalism and the price of art, in which female freelance artists try on the masks of Shakespearean (and not only!) sex workers.
18.00, 90 MIN, GDAŃSK SHAKESPEARE THEATRE
THE 28th INTERNATIONAL SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL CLOSING GALA [BY INVITATION]
20.00, 200 MIN, CENTRUM ŚW. JANA “Romeo and Juliet”, dir. Rostyslav Derzhypilski, The Ivan Franko National Academic Drama Theatre, Ukraine [Z]
A post-apocalyptic version of Shakespeare’s saddest tragedy.
Romeo meets Juliet in a nightclub. The iconic balcony kiss takes place in an industrial watchtower, and the battle between Tybalt and Mercutio erupts in a huge cage. After the start of the war in Ukraine, this play was moved from the stage to a shelter and presented despite the dangers.
D11 / SUNDAY, 4 AUGUST
18.00, 95 MIN, GDAŃSK SHAKESPEARE THEATRE
“Hamlet”, dir. Chela De Ferrari, Teatro La Plaza, Peru [Z]
The Peruvian ensemble are based on Shakespeare’s text and draw on their own experiences. What desires and frustrations do people with disabilities have?
D1-D11 / THURSDAY-SUNDAY FORUM “The Tempest AI” [Z]
“The Tempest” as a VR journey. A 3D scenographic experiment in virtual space, in which the Shakespearean universe is entirely generated by next-century technologie
