GLASSROOM director Iwona Kempa

Premiere 6 November 2021 - Theatre Academy in Warsaw

Diploma performance of the 4th year of the drama theatre acting course

Ahead of the premiere, I talk to Weronika Kozakowska and Paweł Gasztold-Wierzbicki the actors of the show.

Tomasz Ostrowski: Jordan Tannahill has written his play about the problems of a group of teenagers who can't find their way in the adult world in the language of young people. They are often very short sentences, reminiscent of environmental slang. How do you find your way around this stage material?

Weronika Kozakowska: After the first reading, I was overwhelmed with hope and felt that it was indeed fantastic graduation material because it was based on the collective, the group that we had to build here. For all ten of us, it was a fantastic challenge.

Paweł Gasztold-Wierzbicki: When I found out what kind of play we were going to do, I quickly borrowed the text and read it to myself. At the time I was horrified. The piece is quite unusual and it was hard to really catch the sense of the story when I read the words out of context. On reading it together for the first time, some hope entered me.

The language used by the author should be very close to young people if only from social media. The way the narrative is conducted is specific.

Pawel Gasztold-Wierzbicki: Yes, these are not unfamiliar words.

Weronika Kozakowska: The text illustrates very well the state of young people and communication. There's also a lot of cruelty here, which is terrible because it's always conscious, but it often occurs. Paweł Gasztold-Wierzbicki: This is a play about young people and about problems that sometimes seem trivial to adults. In this world of the young people involved, they go unnoticed or are downplayed. For young people, they are often very difficult, and this is what we are talking about.

What characters do you represent in the play?

Weronika Kozakowska: I am Rosa Mundi. The character is characterised by power, irony and a great need for warmth.

Pawel Gasztold-Wierzbicki: My character's name is Rice-oil. An important character. Paweł Gasztold-Wierzbicki: Yes, an important character. It's important to bear in mind here that at different moments in the play, once I'm the boy Rice-eye and at other times I'm the bird Rice-eye. The boy is sensitive, and the rice-eyed bird, like the rice-eyed bird, is very charming and sometimes touching. At least I try to make him that way. There are a total of ten characters in the play.

Would you swap for other roles?

Weronika Kozakowska: No.

Paweł Gasztold-Wierzbicki: No. I am not. I have already become attached to my rice paddy.

Weronika Kozakowska: I think the roles have been superbly chosen. Paweł Gasztold-Wierzbicki: Yes, the roles are super well chosen. So what was the selection of roles like? Weronika Kozakowska: We had no influence on the choice of roles. Paweł Gasztold-Wierzbicki: Iwona Kempa saw the recordings of our stage exams that we had over several years. According to these recordings, she selected us. I think mainly by face, but also based on an analysis of our acting temperaments. And she succeeded.

There are no big individual roles in the show, you are on stage all the time. There are collective scenes alone. Don't you regret the individual creations?

Weronika Kozakowska: It makes history very well that we are a community and a group. No individuals stand out from among us. And it does art very well. If it does art good, what's there to argue with?

Pawel Gasztold-Wierzbicki: Yes, that's what cool acting is all about, to support the story and not win your own on stage.

What are you thinking about next, what to do after university? Are some of you already performing in theatres?

Paweł Gasztold-Wierzbicki: There are plans, but for the time being it's one big unknown, at least for me.

Weronika Kozakowska: The situation is similar for me.

In addition to THE GLASSROOM, are you performing in other Theatre Academy productions?

Paweł Gasztold-Wierzbicki: I, here at the Theatre Collegium Nobilium, am also playing in a production of Jean Baptiste Racin's FEDRA directed by Olga Sawicka. You are cordially invited.

Is this a graduation performance?

Pawel Gasztold-Wierzbicki: It's not a graduation performance, but it is a performance by our year, plus one student from the senior year.

The premiere of THE GLASS is coming up, on 6 November, the first confrontation with the audience. What are your expectations?

Weronika Kozakowska: I think it will translate well, that there will be something of value for the audience to take away. That's what I'm hoping and hoping for.

Paweł Gasztold-Wierzbicki: Yes, I am waiting with baked goods for the audience, for how they will react. Weronika Kozakowska: How we will react. Paweł Gasztold-Wierzbicki: How we will react to the audience, how we will get along with the audience. It will be something amazing after these two months of rapping, talking to empty chairs. You're welcome, here's the art we've created for you.

Are you waiting for another graduation performance?

Weronika Kozakowska: This is how we start rehearsals for our second graduation in December. It will be the drama TOP DOGS by Urs Widmer, directed by Wojciech Malajkat. The premiere is in February.

Paweł Gasztold-Wierzbicki: The premiere is on 4 February, and we start rehearsals in early December. Also, you're invited. We are cast together.

That is, we will meet at the next media trial. All the best.

Weronika Kozakowska: All the best.

Paweł Gasztold-Wierzbicki: Thank you

GLASSROOM

CAST:
White Rose – Sylwia Achu
Fox - Waleria Gorobets
Rose Pink – Magdalena Kekenmeister
Rosa Mundi – Weronika Kozakowska
Rose Red – Kamila Najduk
Sofa – Robert Czerwiński
Rice eater – Paweł Gasztold-Wierzbicki
Greenhouse – Szczepan Kajfasz
Jan – Jakub Pruski
Rose Bush – Jan Wieteska

CREATIVES:
author of the text: Jordan Tannahill
author of the translation: Krzysztof Puławski
directing: Iwona Kempa
sets, costumes, and projections: Jeanne Zemanek
assistant director: Kinga Chudobińska-Zdunik