"GOLDEN ROCK" directed by Grzegorz Laszuk.

Premiere 20 September 2019 THEATRE STUDIO theatrgalerie

Before the premiere, I spoke to Grzegorz Laszuk, the show's director.

Tomasz Ostrowski: Since 2016, this is your third time directing at an institutional theatre. After "Myśli nowoczesnego Polaka. Roman Dmowski" at the Polish Theatre in Poznan, " Hannah Arendt: Escape" at the Powszechny Theatre in Łódź, now "Golden Rock, The Story of Robert Brylewski" at the STUDIO Theatre. You must be gaining fruitful experience working with ensembles of large institutional theatres. I remember that the actors of the Poznań performance, which in terms of stage style was somewhat similar to the current production, praised working with you very much and the possibility of opening themselves to new artistic perspectives. You are constantly accompanied on your journey through theatres by two people: Anna Wojnarowska, an actress and, in the play about Dmowski, also responsible for dramaturgy, and Bartek Rączkowski, who prepares the musical setting for the performances. I guess that they are a great support in your creative process?

Grzegorz Laszuk: We have known each other for a very long time. Both Bartek and Anna are members of the Warsaw Commune. First of all, we are friends. We understand each other very well. We watch the same shows, listen to similar music and have a good chemistry with each other. Anna, who is a professional actress, has played in various institutional theatres, and sometimes she is my guide through the world of large theatrical institutions, especially since I came to theatre from a slightly different background. Talking about a performance at Komuna Warszawa with actors who understand me well is completely different from what is required from actors who have graduated from theatre schools, who have been taught certain rules, what it's for, how it's done. My shorthand messages that I give in Komuna here have to be told as a certain narrative. So Anna is such my interpreter in these first contacts, so that the actresses and actors can enter more quickly into this world that I offer them. I don't think I'm an exception, because many theatre creators, such as Krzysztof Warlikowski or Krzysztof Garbaczewski, have their own composers, set designers and lighting designers. I work on most of my productions with Karolina Gębska, who makes great lights. Ewelina Ciuchta sews the costumes for me and helps with the set design, as does Piotr Szczygielski from Komuna. It's good to have such creative support behind us. We know in which aesthetic realities we are moving. They pick up on thoughts quickly. We can briefly agree on what we need, what sounds, what light. This makes the work more enjoyable. There are no disputes or explaining the philosophy of doing lights with yet another light director. It's natural to go with your own team to work effectively and pleasantly. Bartek Rączkowski and I have also been working together for about fifteen years. We have played music together in bands. He is also a composer. He also gets into my head, sucks out the sounds I need on stage. It's such a value that I don't have to prompt him. He watches the action unfold on stage with his instruments and offers us what we need, whether more silence or more sound. This is the kind of support that comes from our mutual understanding. He is a musician who knows how to play what is necessary for me on stage.

Komuna Warszawa, as we know, has recently improved its fortunes thanks to the systemic support of the Capital City of Warsaw. Komuna has also taken a breather having had the opportunity to present its performances not only in a small room overcrowded with spectators on Lubelska Street. You are presenting your performances more and more often in large institutional theatres. What are your plans for the near future?

G. L. Above all, we have become an institution. This is the first time in Warsaw, and perhaps even in Poland, that we have had a permanent, fairly large subsidy for successive years. So we can plan future seasons. And we already have these seasons planned for the next four years. It all revolves around the idea of the 'Hubs of Culture' that we are creating at Lubelska Street. We already have great curators invited for each year. Next year they will be: Tim Etchells from Forced Entertainment, Ania Smolar, Markus Öhrn, so really big names of European theatre. They will be creating performances with us, but they will also be working in workshops with young artists, whom we will be selecting to participate in our residencies through mini competitions. So this is kind of the basis of our activity.

We are constantly looking around at what is happening in theatre in Poland and around the world. We try to host people who need a room to rehearse, a room to make a show, like Wojtek Krukowski once hosted us at the Centre for Contemporary Art Ujazdowski Castle, or earlier at "Tęcza" when we didn't have a room. Thanks to his invitation we were able to make our first performances. Since we have such an opportunity, we try to support those who are just entering the artistic life and host them as well as possible, so that they can develop their talents and delight us with their presence, youthful energy, things we don't know because they are watching what doesn't always reach us. Often they are students from foreign art schools who bring a new thought with which we can get acquainted and be on the wave of what is happening in European or world theatre. So it's such a natural energy that we very much enjoy. We try to be as open as possible.

In addition to our theatrical activities, we have started to do an independent internet radio called 'Radio Capital', which is also our gesture and an invitation to many music collectives, people who want to try radio. This radio has been running for a few months now, temporarily at the Museum of Modern Art on Panska Street. We will be moving it to the Komuna in some time, once we have prepared a suitable studio there. So this is our multi-layered activity, which sometimes surprises us with how much there is, how much is done, because our team is still very small. We try to make the most of the grant money we get so that there's a lot going on in Lubelska Street, but also in other places in Warsaw. Thanks to our friendships with cool Warsaw theatres, such as Teatr STUDIO, we recently did a production of Anna Karasińska's "Dobrze Ci to nie opowiem" here. We are sometimes hosted by TR Warsaw. We were able to show our big show 'Holy Noodle' at the Nowy Teatr. It's also nice that we don't lock ourselves in our little room. The directors and curators of these big theatre institutions trust us, they know these are good productions. We mix this independent theatre that sometimes normal audiences wouldn't get to, because it's too far away, because it's too dark, because the auditorium is small and the chairs aren't comfortable and there are no more tickets. Thanks to the fact that we can perform in larger halls, audiences who have not had the opportunity to experience our theatre at Lubelska Street can come and see our shows in the large and comfortable halls of Warsaw theatres.

New premieres in your direction have recently been seen in major institutional theaters, but what are you planning on Lublin?

G. L. Yes, I still have two small shows to do this year. One will premiere in mid-October and another at the end of December. One completes our series 'Before the war, the war, after the war', which includes a total of 12 plays made by different directors and female directors. As part of the 'Hub of Culture' project, I am preparing a performance about landscape. It will be 'Specific Landscape or Fatamorgana', a world that does not exist.

Thank you so much for the conversation.

 

GOLDEN ROCK. THE TALE OF ROBERT BRYLEVSKY

CREATIVES:
Directing: Grzegorz Laszuk
light: Karolina Gębska
choreography: Weronika Pelczyńska, Aleksandra Osowicz
music collaboration: Bartek Rączkowski, Bartek Tyciński
costumes: Ewelia Ciuchta
set design: Rafał Dominik i Piotr Szczygielski
stage manager - Zuzannna Prusińska
production manager: Justyna Pankiewicz
production assistant: Monika Balińska

CAST:
Tomasz Nosiński, Robert Wasiewicz, Bartosz Porczyk, Ewelina Żak, Marta Zięba, Artur Lipiński, Teodor Olter, Łukasz Wójcicki, Anna Wojnarowska