• Directed by 

  Grzegorz Jarzyna

• Premiered

  June 5, 2001

• Duration

  2 h 15 min. (1 intermission)

About

What will happen when a dark, family secret is revealed? What if such a reveal occurs at father’s 60^th birthday party? And what if the head of the family is the key suspect? “The Celebration” directed by Grzegorz Jarzyna uncompromisingly reveals dark ins and outs of family relationships, balancing between tragedy and farce. It is a suspenseful story about the fight for truth – a fight that everyone has to fight for themselves. 

Jarzyna’s groundbreaking performance is based on a renowned movie “Festen” directed by Thomas Vintenberg and Mogens Rukov – the first and best picture of Danish Dogma.

The performance has been successfully presented at major international festivals. The cast includes the most recognized Polish theatre and film actors and actresses: Andrzej Chyra, Jan Peszek, Magdalena Cielecka, Aleksandra Popławska, Marek Kalita, Ewa Dałkowska, Katarzyna Herman, Zygmunt Malanowicz, Adam Woronowicz.

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

Creators

Gallery

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fot. Kuba Dąbrowski

Reviews

• “An amazing theatrical machinery, a pure gem.”

  Frederic Ferney, Le Figaro

• “(…) Grzegorz Jarzyna’s, aka H 7, performance is a shocking accusation against a society that lives in a lie.”

  Roman Pawłowski, Gazeta Wyborcza

• “Jarzyna, a fan of Hitchcock, turns out to be quite the master of suspense himself. He builds up and stresses the tension, brings the scenes into crescendo and then makes them crash just before the climax. He contrasts mass scenes with individual pictures brilliantly editing them into a whole using movie methods. “The Celebration” becomes a thriller on stage. (…) the entire time something rustles, whispers and crackles spookingly. The music and lights are used to create a distressing atmosphere, there the ghosts of the past are present.”

  Renate Klett, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung

• “Jarzyna (…) is directly addressing that corner of our minds that remembers the shudder-inducing family reunions, where unresolved grievances rattle like spook-house skeletons. This dysfunctional-family drama is unfolding in front of the audience like a naturalistic horror in the Grand Guignol theatre. Such approach has its cathartic potential. Grzegorz Jarzyna has structured the play to resamble an exorcism that takes its protagonists — and its audience — through an inky, phantom-filled darkness (…).”

  Ben Brantley, The New York Times

• “Jarzyna’s work is top-notch, with no reservations. This is a phenomenal play.”

  Jeremy M. Barker, Culturebot

Tours

• Copyright to the play “The Celebration” is represented in Poland by Elżbieta Manthey ADiT agency.