"FEDRA FITNESS"directed by Daria Wiktoria Kopiec.

Premiere 1 March 2019 Academy of Drama in Warsaw

,,Przed premierą rozmawiałem z Darią Wiktorią Kopiec reżyserka spektaklu

Tomasz Ostrowski: Ancient phaedra, modern phaedra, phaedra in the philharmonic hall? Where do we find ourselves?

Daria Wiktoria Kopiec: Tak naprawdę znajdziemy się w nieokreślonej przestrzeni gry po to, żebyśmy mogli przenosić się w bardzo wiele miejsc w bardzo krótkim czasie. Przechodzimy taką podróż od powstania świata mitycznego. To jest pewną ekspozycją tego spektaklu, gdzie aktorzy opowiadają o tym jak ten świat się rozpoczął. Gdzie mamy swój początek? Gdzie te postaci mają swój początek? I potem przenosimy się w bardzo wiele miejsc. Czyli ta przestrzeń musi być na tyle abstrakcyjna i uniwersalna żebyśmy mogli być w tej Fedrze antycznej, w tej Fedrze Istvána Tasnádiego, czyli w szpitalu gdzie chory ojciec leży w śpiączce. A jeszcze do tego wszystkiego, żebyśmy mogli być w grze wirtualnej. Ponieważ właśnie w tej grze będąc w śpiączce przez cały czas, przez kolejne wieki odbywa on swoje wirtualne podróże.
The place we are in is the labyrinth in which the Minotaur roamed. This was our starting point for the idea of having some sort of colonnade in the set design. The set design, which was realised by Anna Wunderlich, was heavily consulted on a scenographic and musical level. We knew from the beginning that there would be instruments hidden in the scenography. The task for the creators was to find a solution to hide the musical instruments in a visual space with reference to the text. Here the collaboration between the musicians and the set designer was special. Normally there are no such correlations. These vertical risers, are at the same time some kind of organ. The drums resemble fragments of columns that are remnants of antiquity that we can still see today. It all somehow alludes to this world that is no longer there. Everything is non-literal, metaphorical like a sketch outlined only to mark the space but not to define it definitively.

Are we dealing with a stage design that is 100 per cent utilitarian?

D.W.K. Yes stage design is one hundred per cent utilitarian. It assumes many functions, i.e. it builds the scenic world of the image and it builds the musical and acoustic world. As in the ancient theatre, the actors take on many tasks, in addition to dramatic acting they are also dancers and above all musicians and singers.

The costume refers to antiquity?

D.W.K. The costume refers to antiquity although it is a paraphrase of it. A modernised form. The set was designed by Anna Wunderlich and Patrycja Fitzet is responsible for the costumes.

Will the narrator be mostly a chorus?

D.W.K. He plays exactly this role, but not only, as the whole staging opera is based on a story. This storytelling intermingles, shimmers with strictly dialogic situations, staged for strong confrontations. So it balances all the time on such a level of telling and entering into the story so strongly that staging becomes possible without a narrator.

Are there opportunities for acting individuality in this staging?

D.W.K. I think so, because everyone has a certain character that they can perform. So yes, although I say this from my own point of view. This is the first time I have the honor of making a graduation performance at a theater academy, or in general directing young people and giving them this chance to build a role. This is actually quite difficult. The director who usually comes to the theater does not have such a sense of responsibility that everyone has to create one of the main roles. This aspect is quite important here. It seems to me that this form of statement and the text selection itself helped this decision. This text by Istvan Tasnadi gives very full-blooded characters. Already in the very letter of the text. Hungarians have it, they write juicy. These characters are always full, strong, sexy and charismatic. They are very rich. This is not a nuance, it is a kind of characteristic of a Curved mirror. Here, too, the choice of text itself helps to build some kind of personality.

Why did you choose this title for your graduation performance at the Theatre Academy?

D.W.K. Firstly, I really like Hungarian drama. Secondly, I was looking for a text in which the actors could play characters more or less their age. I know that Phaedra was an older woman, but here we are in a kind of 'contract' with the audience that we are telling the story. The actors step into these characters in front of the eyes of the audience and there is a kind of 'contract' created as to who we are going to be, we are presenting and playing theatre.

Live music, music group?

D.W.K. Here the actors do live music, all by themselves. They are students. Choreographer Jacek Owczarek and two musicians: Natalia Czekała and Krzysztof Guzewicz are the people who, together with me, created a very polyphonic staging according to Chorea's idea. We thought about this polyphony of movement, singing and words, so that they would resonate. We are the producers, but in general it is the actors who create the worlds, they build the changes of places, they create the musical world.

In the lead roles of the Fedra Fitness performance we will see?

D.W.K. The role of Phaedra will be played by Julia Szewczyk, the role of Hippolyte will be played by Maria Juzwin.

What are your next artistic plans?

D.W.K. Dramatyczny Theatre in Warsaw performance of 'Children of Priests'.

So the context for your 2017 play 'Nuns leave quietly' from the Kochanowski Theatre in Opole?

D.W.K. Specifically, Marta Abramovich's second book entitled " Children of Priests".

Thank you so much for the conversation

 

FEDRA FITNESS

Diploma performance by fourth-year students of the Acting Department, majoring in musical theatre acting.
author – István Tasnádi
translation – Iolanta Jarmolowicz, Jerzy Cech
DIRECTING AND ADAPTATION – Daria Wiktoria Kopiec
MUSIC, MUSIC TRAINING – Natalia Czekała, Krzystzof Guzewicz
CHOREOGRAPHY – Jacek Owczarek
SET DESIGN – Anna Wunderlich
Costumes – Patrycja Fitzet

CAST:
PHAEDRA – JULIA SZEWCZYK
IPPOLIT – MARIA JUŹWIN
SAUROS – ROBERT MRÓZ
THE PRIESTESS – ALEKSANDRA LECHOCIŃSKA
THESEUS – BŁAŻEJ STENCEL
MINITAUR – MIKOŁAJ KŁOSIEWICZ
WOMEN'S CHOIR / DOCTOR / COACH – MAGDALENA HOWORSKA
WOMEN'S / WOMEN'S CHOIR – PAULINA WRÓBLEWSKA

DARIA WIKTORIA KOPIEC - director of theater and cinema.
The play directed by her, entitled 'Fairytales of the Robots', produced at the Pinocchio Theatre in Łódź, was awarded the GOLD MASK.
Winner of the 2017 MODELATORNIA competition, the prize was the realisation of a performance entitled "ZAKONNICE ODCHODJE PO CICHU" at the Kochanowski Theatre in Opole. Winner of a scholarship from the "Young Poland" programme (2018). Her TV performance "SPRAWA RITA G." realised within the framework of TEATROTEKA won the Grand Prix at the TEATROTEKA FEST 2018 festival.