• Marszałkowska 8

Ragazzo dell’Europa

dir.René Pollesch
  • Directed by 

    René Pollesch

  • Dramaturgy

    Szymon Wróblewski

  • Premiered

    May 26, 2007

  • Duration

    1 h 20 min

About

Behind a dressing room door, a conversation between four actors and actresses is in progress. We can hear quotes form “The Opening Night” by John Cassavates – from time to time, the artists stop their discussion to reenact their favorite fragments of the movie. During one of the scenes it comes out that one of the actresses – Ola, has lost her great gift, the “personal charm”. Fortunately, her friends come to her rescue. The great search for the lost charm ensues. It leads the audience through a labyrinth of movie plots and drama motives, and provides them with a healthy dose of laughter and good humor.

“Ragazzo dell’Europa” is the first performance produced by a German director René Pollesch (associated with the Volksbühne Theatre in Berlin) produced in Poland. Pollesch, born in 1962, is considered to be one of the best post-drama theatre directors. In his productions he criticizes human relations based on consumption and pop-culture models. His original stage language is based on parody and self-exposure. He contrasts telenovela motives with contemporary social and political theories. At the same time, he has given up on any illusion – his actors do not play the characters, they get to stay themselves – performers, whose job is to deliver the text. They improvise and demonstrate their own attitude towards the performance and the problems it discusses. In “Ragazzo dell`Europa” the actors play themselves – actors who try to understand their own role. They examine what the traditional theatre forces them to do, what it prevents them from doing and what is their place on the market.

For organized post-gymnasium school groups we offer introductory workshops to the performance (please contact the education department edukacja@trwarszawa.pl for more details).

Cast

Aleksandra
Konieczna

Tomasz
Tyndyk

Piotr
Głowacki

Creators

direction: René Pollesch

“Cappuccetto Rosso” translation: Dorota Sajewska

“Pablo w markecie Plusa” translation: Hanna Krogulska

set and lighting design: Bert Neumann

costume design: Nina von Mechow

lighting consultations: Hanna Krogulska

cameraman: Adrian Hutyriak

dramaturgy: Szymon Wróblewski

director’s assistants: Natalia Korczakowska / Paweł Kulka / Marcel Schwald

scenographer’s and costumographer’s assistant: Anna Met

Gallery

01

fot. Stefan Okołowicz

Reviews

  • “Agnieszka Podsiadlik, Aleksandra Konieczna, Tomasz Tyndyk and Piotr Głowacki talk in the backstage while being filmed (there is a screen on the stage). What we get is nearly two hours of an excellent fun, served at the dizzying pace. With parts and costumes passed from hand to hand, actors discuss representation mechanisms, examine the possibilities of being themselves in their parts, cry over losing their charm – the kind of charisma which made them stand out in the crowd and enabled them to go out on the stage every evening.”

    Aneta Kyzioł, Polityka

  • “Pollesch’s project is a subversive commentary on the reality that keeps on losing its realness. A reality that gets lost in multiplicity and excess. It gets diluted in copies, quotes and simulacrums. Although Pollesch shows in “Ragazzo”, that you cannot find the truth in a theatre, we believe him. Because it seems that the truth is long gone. Or maybe there are too many truths to be of any consequence.”

    Agata Tomaszewska, krytykapolityczna.pl

  • “It used to be said, that Pollesch’s speaks only on the problems that are important to the left-wing. Pollesch’s theatre is often described as leftist, extremely liberal, even anarchistic. I’m not sure if discourse constructed by Pollesch is limited to any group. I think it should appeal to the imagination of every intelligent participant of the social life. To every human, even a traditionalist, who understands that everyone is always subjected to various psychological and cultural determinants, and the continuous stress of traditions, habits, norms and plain biology.”

    Marek Radziwon, Teatr

Tours

Le-Maillon, Strasburg, France (12-14.12.2008)

Partners

  • The performance was coproduced by the Goethe-Institut Warschau, with the support of The Foundation for Polish-German Cooperation

  • All rights in “Ragazzo dell’Europa” are exclusively represented by Rowohlt Theater Verlag, Hamburg, Germany: theater@rowohlt.de

Patrons