-
Director
Katarzyna Minkowska
-
Dramaturgy
Tomasz Walesiak
-
Premiered
October 2, 2020
-
Duration
90 min (no intermission)
-
Tickets
Normal ticket: 80 PLN
Concessionary ticket: 65 PLN
Normal group ticket (over 10 people): 70 PLN
Concessionary group ticket (over 10 people): 55 PLN
The performance is recommended for audiences aged 15 and over.
About
A performance about digital e-generation, for whom virtual space becomes more important than life. Inspired by Greek myths and real events. Kore, a contemporary e-girl, runs away from her chronically sick mother – Demeter, into the world of Internet posts and streams. Together with Narcissus, whom she’s met online, they dream of death. When the teenager’s virtual fantasies manifest in real life, the Greek gods get involved. Will the water from Lete – the river of unmindfulness, cure their pain?
STREAM is a story about loss, understood as a tragedy, but also as a change. Passing away, vanishing, veneration and keeping the dead in our memories are the universal human experiences. What forms do they take in the digital era? How does the contemporary man/woman go through the rite of goodbye? How does he/she cope with the emptiness and oblivion?
The play draws dramatic material form the story of a mythological goddess Demeter, whose daughter – Kore is abducted by Hades, when the girl bends down to pick a narcissus flower in Enna. It also refers to contemporary acts of violence – e.g. an incident that took place in 2019 in Utica (New York), where a twenty-year-old Brandon Clark murdered Bianca Devins, an eighteen-year-old e-girl, and posted photo evidence on Discord. Mythical themes are reflected here in the virtual spaced and the opposite – Facebook and Instagram phenomena fit perfectly in the stream of the ancient universe.
Cast
Creators
direction, set design and text: Katarzyna Minkowska
text and dramaturgy: Tomasz Walesiak
music: Wojciech Frycz
movement dramaturgy: Aneta Jankowska
costume and set design: Julita Goździk
stenographer’s assistant: Łukasz Mleczak
video: Agata Rucińska
concept and the execution of the statue of Demeter and Kore’s bust: Agnieszka Adamska i Julita Goździk
Production
director’s assistant: Aleksandra Śliwińska
lights: Konrad Kajak
sound: Miłosz Pawłowski/Jerzy Szelewicz
video operator: Łukasz Jara
stage manager: Wojciech Sobolewski
production manager: Karolina Pająk-Sieczkowska
Gallery
fot. Maciej Jaźwiecki
Stream.
A collection of imaginings
An online exhibition complementing the performance
Creators of “Stream” decided that the performance’s set shall be a peculiar kind of an art exhibition, including sculptures, video art, photos and poetry. “Stream. A collection of imaginings” is an extension of the set design and, simultaneously, its catalogue and an online exhibition. “Stream. A collection of imaginings” throws more light numerous contexts included in the script – both the ancient ones – like the sculptures of Demeter and Kore (exhibited in the Museum of the University of Warsaw) and the contemporary ones, e.g. murder of Bianka Devins. The presented objects, their descriptions and references broaden the reception of the story and encourage further exploration of the timeless myths and the cross-linking but also immersive digital era.
Check out the exhibition at stream.trwarszawa.pl.
Acknowledgement
Special thanks for cooperation to: Adrian Bush, Ewelina Cnota, Andrzej Dąbrowski, Pani Danuta, Tomek Haładaj, Kuba Hampel, Aneta Jankowska, Adam Kubisz, Jakub Ligęza, Bogna Świątkowska, Kasia Wardyńska, Gosia Wrzosek, Rafał Ziemiński
-
In the script fragments of the following works are used:
Roberto Calasso, “The Marriage of Cadmus and Harmony”, translated by Stanisław Kasprzysiak, Czuły Barbarzyńca Press 2010.
Fragments of “Niobe” by K.I. Gałczyński, silesius.wroclaw.pl/2014/12/06/wiersze-zebrane-galczynskiego/
Karl Kérenyi, “Eleusis: Archetypal Image of Mother and Daughter”, translated by Ireneusz Kania, Wydawnictwo Homini, Kraków 2012.
“Fear Poem, or I Give You Back”, copyright 1983 by Joy Harjo. From “She Had Some Horses” by Joy Harjo. W.W. Norton (New York: 1983). Used by permission of the author.
Partners
Production of the performance is co-financed by the Aleksander Zelwerowicz Theatre Academy in Warsaw.
Support from the COVID-19 Counteract Fund.
The new talents line / TR debut
The performance was produced within the frame of TR DEBUT Award, established in November 2015 in TR Warszawa. The award is announced annually at the Young Directors Forum in Cracow held by the AST National Academy of Theatre Arts in Cracow. The award programme is intended to support artistic development of young theatre creators. Directors awarded the prize are invited to stage a performance in TR Warszawa in the following theatre season.
So far, within the TR DEBUT programme the following performances have been produced: “Puppenhaus. Treatment” based on Magda Fertacz’s text, directed by Jędrzej Piaskowski (2017), “The Chinese” inspired by Jean-Luc Godard’s movie scripts and Dostoyevsky’s “Demons”, directed by Klaudia Hartung-Wójciak (2018), “Woyzeck” by Georg Büchner, directed by Grzegorz Jaremko (2019), “Stream” text by Katarzyna Minkowska and Tomasz Walesiak, directed by Katarzyna Minkowska (2020).
TR Debut is one of the elements of the New Talents Line programme. TR Warszawa for many years now has been promoting new artistic talents through such projects as: Warsaw Area [orig.: Teren Warszawa], TR/PL, Field TR [orig.: Teren TR], Young TR [orig.: Młody TR], TR Debut [orig.: Debiut TR], artistic residencies, guest showings of diploma works and performances, repertoire showings of performances co-created by new artists and production of selected projects in cooperation with foreign partners. TR Warszawa provides artistic shelter, where artists may experiment and implement their ideas for theatre. Within the New Talents Line in the past artistic seasons, the following directors presented their productions: Wojciech Blecharz (“Soundwork”), Klaudia Hartung-Wójciak (“The Chinese”), Grzegorz Jaremko (“Woyzeck”), Katarzyna Kalwat (“Holzwege”, “Rechnitz. Opera – The Exterminating Angel”, “Maria Klassenberg. Ecstasies”, “Staff Only” – coproduced by Biennale Warszawa and TR Warszawa), Anna Karasińska (“Ewelina’s Crying” and “Fantasia”), Katarzyna Minkowska (“Stream”), Jędrzej Piaskowski (“Puppenhaus. Treatment”, “David Is Going To Israel”), Piotr Trojan (“Grind/r”), Magda Szpecht (“The Possibility of an Island”, “Always Coming Home”), and Małgorzata Wdowik (“The Footballers” and “Fear”).
