The National Culture Festival “Memory and Identity” is a unique initiative that was created with the aim of strengthening the sense of national identity in Poland by presenting carefully selected TVP productions and co-productions. This year’s gorgets were awarded in eight categories: feature film and series, documentary film and series, cultural and historical journalism, reconstruction, Little Pole, concert and spectacle, theater and romanticism.
Read more: “Theater Ides 2023”. Festival programme. “Though thought out and adapted to the needs”
| photo Richard Grig
Golden gorget for “House on the border”
In the “Theatre” category, the best production was awarded to “Dom na border” directed by Edward Kiejzik. An equal award for the performance “Comedians, or Konrad is dead” was received by the author Bronisław Wildstein and the director Andrzej Mastalerz.
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– This is a very important distinction, firstly because of the group of nominees in which we found ourselves. There were eight really good performances put on by great teams, so we really have reason to be proud. In addition, this is our first award of this kind in Poland, which proves that our theater has risen to a much higher level in recent years. We grew out of the passion of specific people as an amateur theater, but we grew just like the needs of the Polish viewer in the Vilnius region. Now, thanks to the huge commitment of our team, as well as a lot of support and trust from TVP, we compete with the best – says Edward Kiejzik. — When TVP Vilnius once again proposed to us to prepare a performance for September 17, a day that for us is a symbol of betrayal, appropriation of our homes and homeland, I proposed Mrożek’s “House on the Border”, a performance that is particularly important to me because it binds my beginnings as a director go back to him,” he adds.
As he explains, he directed “House on the Border” for the first time in 2009 and at that time it was his graduation work at the Lithuanian Theater Academy in Vilnius. Sławomir Mrożek is one of the authors most frequently used by the Polish Theater “Studio”. The repertoire of the theater already includes such performances as: “Serenade”, “Widows”, “The Tailor”, “Fun”, “Emigrants” and “On Foot”.
— This production, which we worked on in the shadow of Russian aggression against Ukraine, has its specific overtones, of course. Simply, this text once again takes on a new, even more current overtone, which proves its timelessness – assesses the director.
Read more: Vilnius theater comments on reality. Frost is still valid
Theater Festivals for the entire Vilnius region
The Festival “Idy Teatralne 2023” has been going on since the beginning of March. The program included theatrical performances and film screenings—– a really rich program offer was prepared. Theaters from Lithuania and Poland will perform on the stages of Vilnius, Trakai, Nowa Wilejka, Solecznik, Jaszun and Nowe Święciany.
— We go beyond Vilnius for two reasons: we are looking for an audience and a place for our performances. The theater hall in DKP is still not ready, the stage in Pohulanka is too expensive to host all the performances. However, such districts as Nowa Wilejka or smaller towns around Vilnius meet our needs. It is all the more valuable because we reach viewers who do not have as many offers in Polish as in the center of Vilnius. We have always been a theater that is guided by a certain mission, so it is very important for us that we can influence the entire Vilnius region – says Edward Kiejzik.
— On March 1, we presented “Notes of an officer of the Red Army”, on March 7 we hosted a great, well-known in Poland theater and film actor, Stanisław Górka, with a musical performance “Songs of Love and Hate”, directed by Sławomir Gaudyna based on the prose, poems and songs of Leonard Cohen . The performance took place at the Baliński Palace in Jaszuny in cooperation with the Šalčininkai District Cultural Center, explains the interlocutor of “Kurier Wileński”.
The festival will last until the end of May. International Theater Day will be celebrated with the comedy of the Royal Theater in Trakai “Strange couple” (lit. Keista pore) at the Cultural Center in Trakai. The performance is about friendly solidarity in the face of life’s difficulties.
On March 31, TVP Vilnius will premiere the documentary “Lila Kiejzik – Portrait” directed by Agnieszka Wąsikowska. “The most important thing for me that happened in this film is the friendship with Lila and Edward. And a beautiful thing that happened in Lila’s heart at that time. But Lila will tell about that one day, not me. Maybe a bit in our portrait,” the director wrote about the film on her FB profile. As the protagonist of the film explains, Agnieszka Wąsikowska’s initiative came as a complete surprise to her.
— The invitation to the interview was a surprise, but the film will probably be even more surprising, because I don’t know the effects of working on it at all. We will also present this film as part of the festival, it will be shown in the “Pasaka” cinema, I hope that it will also prove to be an interesting proposition for our audience, it will also be an opportunity to meet friends of our theater again – says Lila Kiejzik.
| photo Richard Grig
Expected releases
The Polish “Studio” Theater also prepared two premieres as part of the festival. The first one is “Helver’s Night” according to Ingmar Villqist, directed by Jonas Vaitkus, which will take place on April 25 at the Old Theater in Vilnius.
– This is a very difficult work by one of the best Polish playwrights of the last quarter of a century. Ingmar Villqist is a Polish playwright, art historian, theater director, publicist who chose a Scandinavian pseudonym because his work refers to psychological realism straight from Ibsen or Bergman. This text was selected by Jonas Vaitkus. This is an extremely topical drama. It can happen practically anywhere, because almost everywhere we are dealing with an ideology that destroys a person. It tells the story of two people, a woman and an adult man, we are working on it with Agnieszka Rawdo. Of course, working with Jonas Vaitkus, who is a director with a very individual approach, huge experience and achievements, is a unique experience – says Edward Kiejzik.
Read more: The premiere of “Helver’s Night” on April 2nd is canceled! It will take place on April 25 at Vilnius Old Theatre
The next premiere, planned for May, is a musical spectacle whose script was written by Sławomir Gaudyn especially for Ewelina Saszenko.
– Ewelina has often visited our festivals with her recitals and this meeting with the theater inspired her to look for a more theatrical form. The performance will be a story about the life and work of Hanka Ordonówna, so its premiere at Pohulanka is certainly a very good choice and I have no doubt that it will be very attractive to our audience, notes the festival’s organizer.
There will also be many guests during the festival. Among them will be OKT/Vilnius Theater with the performance “Liučė čiuožia” directed by Oskaras Koršunovas. On May 3, an exhibition will be opened at the Palace of Culture in Trakai and a documentary film about Jerzy Orda will be shown: “Anarchist in the spirit of St. Augustine.” At the end of the festival, the spectacle for children “Mała ojczyzna” will be presented by the Ideadalnia z Rumi Foundation.
“So there will be proposals for a very diverse viewer. We always try to ensure that Poles in the Vilnius region have the widest possible offer, assures Kiejzik.
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