WARSAW LEGENDS directed by Joanna Drozda

Premiere 4 June 2021 SYRENA Theatre

Before the premiere, I spoke to Joanna Drozda, author of the script and director of the show:

Tomasz Ostrowski: We are talking just before the premiere of the play Legends of Warsaw. Almost in parallel with the Siren Theatre, this topic was taken up by the Lalka Theatre, which prepared 7 Warsaw legends based on Arthur Oppman's Or-Ot tales. These legends are addressed to a young audience of 4+. The legends we will see directed by you are addressed to an audience of 16+, i.e. older teenagers and adults. To what extent did you use Arthur Oppman's literary material, and to what extent other sources, other authors?

Joanna Drozda: We used legends already collected by the Museum of Warsaw, which published an anthology of them several years ago; Oppman's texts are also included. Before I started preparing the performance, I familiarised myself with this hefty publication. This 'legendary collection' was a great inspiration for me. But my performance is for adults, or perhaps it is even better to say: 'not for children'. I already explain why.
We usually come into contact with legends in childhood. I am a native Varsovian and I experienced this many times as a child - legends were discussed at school, sometimes also in the form of excursions in their footsteps. These were my first encounters with the "Golden Duck", the "Little Mermaid" or the "Basilisk". And that's pretty much the end of it - when we're teenagers, we're no longer interested. By that time, you don't take anyone on a guided tour of Warsaw, because it seems too childish.
This is what we are trying to grapple with - are legends really childish? Are they aimed exclusively at children? Yes, they operate with archetypes, but that does not at all mean that they describe only those behaviours that should be taught to children. Some of the legends are pagan, so they deal with that bodily vitality that comes from lust. There are descriptions of pagan creatures, if only in old legends from the time when the stronghold of Wars and Sawa was founded. So we have the juxtaposition of russets, freaks, water goddesses with an already Christian culture and with this Christian conquest. It's very interesting the way it's described. And that's really why our show is more for people maybe not adults, but what we call '16+'. So that they get to know the context, the theme, but also be able to draw their own conclusions.

Did these ancient legends on which you based your work have authors, or were they anonymous legends?

Differently. What was interesting for me was to observe how some legends differ. There is the one about Wars and Sava as a pair of lovers, but there is also the one about the twins Wars and Sava. Which to choose? Of course, we approach this in a humorous way.

Artur Oppman was not discovering America either; when he lived in Warsaw, in love with the city, he often went to the Old Town to get to know the life of the plebs, observed their customs, listened to the legends told from generation to generation. These were his research works - today we say: research - from which he used the materials he collected in his works. In a similar way, probably more contemporary researchers collected material.

And at last the legends have been written down. We, too, try to show the audience how much affection we have for Warsaw. We begin our performance in a small flat in Mariensztat. Various creatures slowly begin to emerge from this flat: moles, freaks, mermaids. In this flat we begin our adventure.

Which famous legends will we spot on stage?

Certainly the legend of Warsh and Sava. We will pay attention to the Golden Duck. There will also be a variety of stories about the Siren. We will even go as far as mythical mermaids, who appeared for example in Homer. There we will also look for the prototype of our Mermaid. There will be a story about the Mermaid who reigns over the Vistula boulevards today, and Beatrice Łukaszewska will play her role. She will tell what she sees as this mermaid, who watches Varsovians taking selfies against her background.

Why is the Mermaid swimming in a jar in the poster?

Because there are different legends.

Or is it a hint of an influx of the Warsaw community?

Also. We will also be telling new legends, including the Warsaw jar. Who is he, what does the 'Warsaw jar' mean? I will not tell you that yet. We also have a song entitled. "We also have a song called 'Słoikowa Syrenka', which tells, among other things, whether she should be freed from the jar.

Will we see dramatic scenes in addition to the songs?

Yes. We are returning to a formula that was very popular at the Siren Theatre - the theatre programme formula. Programmes were staged at the Sirena from its first premiere back in Łódź in 1945, because that was where the theatre was founded by Jerzy Jurandot and Stefania Grodzieńska. Programmes were also staged after the move to Warsaw in 1948, in fact until the 1990s. They consisted of thematically linked sketches, dramatic scenes, monologues or songs. And it will be like that with us too. We're going back to this format because I think it's light and enjoyable enough to respond to the needs of the audience after all the closure, withdrawal and hardship we've endured over the last year and a half. It's a good formula for welcoming back, audiences who are returning to the theatre.

A play for audiences 16+, a mermaid in a jar, does this mean there will be plenty of contemporary touches in the show?

Yes, we're not going to kid ourselves that we live in a different time to the present. We talk a lot about nostalgia, about nostalgia, and that certainly guides us, but we're as grounded as possible in today's 21st century. We notice, for example, that there is such a thing as Wikipedia and how residual knowledge it offers us, so we try to fill in some of the gaps.

Judging by the instruments on stage, the show will feature a musical ensemble, will there be live music?

No, we are provided with music thanks to a great sound system, but in addition to this, live actors will be performing on instruments of all kinds. Here we see two double basses and a drum. Many more will appear. The actors sing and sometimes even play themselves, like a proper Czerniakow band.

How large will the show's acting ensemble be?

The ensemble is six: Przemyslaw Glapinski, Agnieszka Rose, Beatrice Lukaszewska, Anna Terpiłowska, Marek Grabiniok and Filip Cembala. They will play at least twenty characters.

Doesn't the 16+ age criterion limit the possibility of targeting schools with the show?

As much as possible, the show is aimed at schools, but secondary schools. A well-educated young person should see it and think for themselves, because what we are proposing is already a kind of subjective view. We are not aiming at didacticism or the propagation of basic education. We are proposing something from ourselves here and we encourage you as much as possible to come along. And at sixteen plus and sixty plus.

Did you prepare the script for this performance and are you the director?

Yes, I prepared the script, wrote most of the scenes, all the lyrics are my own. The music was committed by Michal Aftyka, making his debut as a theatre composer, who is by day a jazz double bass player and a member of many different ansambles, and has won many awards. Now, for the first time, he has written compositions for a theatre programme.

The production Legends of Warsaw is a joint production of the Syrena Theatre and the WARSawy Theatre.

We have the SYRENA Theatre and we have the WARSAW Theatre, or Wars and Sawa - legends unite our stages. In addition, this co-production is being carried out as part of the Social Debut Stage programme. Hence, for example, the figure of the composer Michał Aftyka, as well as Anna Macugowska, who is just graduating from the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw's Department of Stage Design, and it is her set design that we will have the opportunity to see in the performance.

What is the involvement of the two partners, the producers of the show, in the selection of actors for this production?

WARSawy Theatre does not have a full-time acting company. The production will feature four full-time actors from the Siren as well as Filip Cembala and Marek Grabiniok, whom we have invited to join us in this venture.

Does co-production mean that the show will be presented on both stages?

No, we chose a bigger stage, better for staging, especially with the current audience percentage limitations. I'm delighted that we can make use of the wonderful theatre machinery at the Siren: stilettos, ample lighting, sound and an excellent technical stage maintenance team.

On Friday, June 4, the premiere will take place, and what are your plans after the premiere?

As soon as we premiere on Friday, which I am very much looking forward to, I start work at the Stefan Jaracz Theatre in Olsztyn. There we will also be preparing an original text. It will be about the pioneering work of Poles on the subject of sexuality, and is based on the biography of Michalina Wisłocka and the stories of many Poles who have contributed to the wonderful development of sexuality in the world. For example, the man who invented the condom, an essential element of intimacy, was a Pole. And he was the one who had the opportunity, admittedly on German territory, to take care of our psychological comfort when the desire to get close without consequences that could be difficult. And I'm not talking about the children, I'm talking about the health issue. We will be doing this together with Michal Wybieralski, who will be in charge of the script this time (in the play Legends of Warsaw he is in charge of dramaturgy), and I will be in charge of directing. We will be concerned with taming the Poles with the successes we have had. This is a wonderful theme. Nice, warm and good.

It is associated with Polish traditions and the achievements of Poles.

Above all, with the pioneering of Poles in the world, this time in the sexual sphere. We have some very important achievements to celebrate.

Immediately after that I start working again at the Siren Theatre. Here, on the big stage, we will be preparing a musical. The premiere is scheduled for February 2022.

Title unknown?

Not yet known, as it will also be an original performance. I will be creating it together with Wojtek Kaniewski and Dr Jędrzej Burszta. We will write a completely new text, a Polish musical, where there will be Polish names and Polish things. For Poles, with Poles. It's not about being patriotic, but it's not about us being in these 'Westend' or 'Broadway' formats all the time. It's important that we have our musicals, which maybe one day will be played not only at the Siren, but also on other stages in Poland.

How do we encourage audiences to attend a performance of Legends of Warsaw?

This is something you have not seen before. It will be light, colourful and varied.

 

WARSAW LEGENDS

CAST:
Filip Cembala, Przemysław Glapiński, Marek Grabiniok, Magdalena Placek-Boryń/Beatrycze Łukaszewska, Agnieszka Rose, Anna Terpiłowska

CREATIVES:
Joanna Drozda - directing, screenplay and costumes
Michał Wybieralski - drama and screenwriting collaboration
Michał Aftyka muzyka-theatrical debut
Anna Macugowska - production (theatrical debut)
Gustaw Trzciński - Light Direction:
Aleksandra Tomaszewicz – characterization
Tomasz Filipczak - vocal training
Aleksandra Ślązak – production facilities
Marta Skoczek - stage manager

A performance for audiences aged 16 and over.

Knowledge of Warsaw legends is definitely not required!