Onco

dir.Weronika Szczawińska

Directed by
Weronika Szczawińska
Dramaturgy
Piotr Wawer jr
Premiere
TR Online: March 21, 2021
TR Warszawa/Marszałkowska 8: June 19, 2021
Ticket
70 PLN – regular
30 PLN – concessionary

About

One man. One woman. ONCO.

One man. Sebastian Pawlak, an actor. He studies the reality, body, social relations and language from the perspective of a person who heard that he is the worst artist in the world and who has experienced an invasive direction.

One woman. Weronika Szczawińska, a director. She studies the reality, body, social relations and language from the perspective of a person who heard the “breast cancer” diagnosis and who has experienced an invasive treatment.

ONCO. A performance set in the personal experiences of the director – Weronika Szczawińska and the actor – Sebastian Pawlak, who share the belief that even the most difficult scenario written by life can be changed and a new role can be played in it. Or not.

Project developed as a part of a Sopot Non Fiction 2020 artistic residence program.

Weronika Szczawińska (b. 1981) – director, dramaturge, culture theorist and performer. Graduate of the College of Inter-Area Individual Studies In the Humanities and Social Sciences at Warsaw University, PhD from the Institute of Art of the Polish Academy of Sciences (PAN). She studied directing at the National Academy of Dramatic Art in Warsaw. She also has worked with a number of important theatres around Poland like Narodowy Stary Teatr in Cracow, Teatr Powszechny in Warsaw, Komuna Warszawa, Wrocławski Teatr Współczesny and also theatres behind the border like Slovensko mladinsko gledališče in Ljubljana. Assistant professor at the Theatre Studies Department of the National Academy of Dramatic Art in Warsaw. In 2019 she was honored with a prestigious award Passports of the Polityka for „the intimate and tender performances that combine the private themes with important social issues. For the commitment, transgressing one’s own career path”. Her latest performances, not counting Onko, are “Miejski Ptasiarz” (“The Urban Birder”, Wrocławski Teatr Współczesny 2020), “Po prostu” (“Simply Said”, Performing Arts Institute 2019), “Rozmowa o drzewach” (“A Talk about Trees”, Komuna Warszawa 2019), “Nigdy więcej wojny” (“No More War”, Komuna Warszawa 2018), “Genialna przyjaciółka” based on Elena Ferrante (“My Brilliant Friend”, Wrocławski Teatr Współczesny 2018), “Lawrence z Arabii” (“Lawrence of Arabia”, Teatr Powszechny in Warsaw 2018).

From the director

“I am very interested in the reality altered by cancer but I am not looking for a confessional, therapeutic or pedagogical project. I am wondering how one may make use of an oncological disease. Instead of creating a performance about cancer, I want to investigate what we can learn about the modern world thanks to cancer. What does a person with breast cancer learn about our and society? What can the audience find out?”

Weronika Szczawińska

Cast

Sebastian
Pawlak

Weronika
Szczawińska

Creators

direction, text: Weronika Szczawińska

dramaturgy, text, musical arrangement: Piotr Wawer jr

text: Sebastian Pawlak

set and costume design: Karol Radziszewski

choreography, conceptual cooperation: Agata Maszkiewicz

piano: Aleksandra Gryka

In the performance fragments (translated by Weronika Szczawińska) of the following books are used:
Jenny Diski, In Gratitude, Bloomsbury Publishing 2016
Anne Boyer, The undying: a meditation on modern illness, Allen Lane 2019