CLUB directed by Weroniki Szczawińskiej

Premiere 26 June 2021. Academy of Theatre in Warsaw

Before the premiere, I spoke to Weronika Szczawińska, the show's director.

Tomasz Ostrowski: press materials of the Theatre Academy, I learned that the performance 'CLUB' is being created as an initiative of the fourth-year students. They influenced the choice of the text as the basis for the preparation of the forthcoming premiere. I know that you were not the only one to suggest this literary item for selection.

Weronika Szczawińska: At the outset, I would just like to point out that I don't use the word students when I do this production at school. These are actresses working with me. At AT I teach a course in Theatre Knowledge, whereas here I simply feel that I am a hired director. I don't mean, naturally, to correct your statements - for me it's simply an important structural issue. Because this is not a graduation play. And it's very important that it's simply a performance I'm making with actresses who, while still at school, were able to come up with a grassroots initiative and invited me to work on their special project.

A big topic for me on this occasion is the division of responsibility. As a director, I bear the responsibility of designing the framework of an artistic event - which in this case was created in the context of a truly democratic movement of girls from the AT. I found that I could not impose anything on them, but at the same time I had to propose; that we would choose together. So I presented several potential starting points for our performance. Two somehow involved texts: I proposed adapting Leonora Carrington's novel 'A Trumpet to Listen to' or realising some Shakespeare or Chekhov with an all-female cast. The third was about creating a show from scratch, based on our experiences.

The choice was decided by the actresses themselves.

They are all from one year. And that was their need?

Yes it was their need, because in a sense they recognised the kind of structural discrimination that exists in the theatrical environment, in the foundations of our theatre, somewhere from the beginning of the artistic journey of training. That women, when they are put into the classical repertoire, find much less space of expression for themselves. Therefore, by all means, their need was to speak up and make a statement, to have their subjectivity and voice on stage. To do theatre consciously and responsibly. And the great thing is that the Academy has followed their lead. Our performance is being produced as part of the school's "Change - Now!" programme, which is part of the broad implementation of the anti-discrimination policy.

Women in theatres have it harder, in terms of the artistic path itself, the path to break through, but also in terms of pay.

This is fortunately changing a lot, but of course it's still a theme. I think it depends on the theatre in question, the city in question, etc., but indeed these glass ceilings are there. It reflects both on the stakes and on the roles on offer. And above all, the lack of reflection on the theatrical canon: that it is nonetheless historical, that it was created in specific cultural conditions, that it is not universal, that it cuts out someone's experience, thoughts, bodies, voice.

We say it's not a graduation show, but what's important is that they have their show, they have their roles, they get to show themselves in public, and most importantly they get to face their own stage expectations.

Well, of course! When working on 'The Club', I had to keep in mind that this is the most important context of the show: that it is made by female artists just entering the profession. The primary function of this show is to create a space for them. Maybe not so much to show off, because 'showing off' carries a bad connotation, such a display of actors at an acting exchange. Sure, the reality of the profession is still that directors and directors choose and invite (although it was the actresses of 'The Club' who invited me), but I have the impression that here they nevertheless show themselves from the subjective side. As people who shape the meanings of the show, shape its communication. And it seems to me that this is what they wanted most. They recognised that they were very often offered roles that were additions to male roles. We could jokingly say that they should play such mothers, wives and mistresses. They very much wanted to play the cause. The people and the cause. I think this is an important aspect of our work together.

In ensemble theatres, the number of which is slowly expanding in Poland, the actors' inventiveness is important. They can influence the script, the adaptations of works. They often add their own texts. How did the young actresses make their mark in this production?

Their influence is enormous. Not only did they choose the text on which I wrote the script, they also co-wrote it. I wrote it after very long conversations we had over the winter, both as a group and individually. Their thoughts, were very important dramatic guidelines for me, designing the shape of what we wanted to do. Later, once we started working on the show, of course I brought the framework of the text and the concept of the whole thing, explained what was of them and what was of me. And then a very big part of the show came out of improvisation, out of reflection, out of the original conceptual work of the actresses. I'd just like to add that I'm very impressed with their thinking, their inventiveness and their workshop.

There is no leading role in this play?

There absolutely is not. It is a completely ensemble performance. With one main role played by ten people. So both collective and individual.

Do social themes often run through your work?

And what does community theatre mean to you?

I am more thinking of social themes. Themes that address the problems of vulnerable people, women's problems, issues of gender identity, feminism, violence.

I'm asking so playfully because I teach a class on political theatre in my Theatre Knowledge course, which is heavily hooked on social issues. And I always wonder what political theatre or social theatre means. I'm very afraid of labels and very much run away from labels. I have the feeling that if I say social theatre, some of the audience will imagine something that the show is not.

I am afraid to use the word political theatre or political themes because, unfortunately, by a section of the public, it can be associated with the ruling group and the patterns it imposes.

This is a great point. I deal a lot with defining the political in the context of theatre, but audiences when they hear something like this in the previews of a show can get discouraged. They often think it implies a negation of theatre, of art, of aesthetics in favour of a message. And for some reason I do this kind of thing in the theatre and not in a newspaper, because I feel that theatre has a very different means from cinema, from television, from journalistic conversation. In the theatre these social themes, political themes, can resonate fully. Theatre is not only about the message, theatre is about the body, theatre is about sound, theatre is about contact with the audience, and for such a difficult subject as we are tackling, which affects the whole community, I think that is absolutely fundamental. It is this specificity, what theatre can give to these social themes, how it embodies them.

Women in theatre. This theme also runs through your work.

Since the beginning of my work in theatre, I have dealt with such a theme of 'Woman as a human being'. Why is this not obvious in theatre all the time? I was once asked at a press conference for my play 'The Brilliant Friend': Is this a play for women only? I asked: if we were doing 'Hamlet', would the question be asked: Is it only for men? I feel that despite all the kind of emancipatory discussion that has taken place, the theatre community is somehow still very conservative. There are endless possibilities for doing theatre - so that everyone and anyone can find their place - and I still have this feeling that the voice of women is still not heard as a universal voice for the community.

Meanwhile, even specifically female experiences can tell everyone a lot about super important topics like the distribution of power, like attitudes to violence, like the relationship between violence and culture, like the role of discussing violence in the community. There is another topic that was important for us in rehearsals. It is the image of women on stage, very often reduced to an icon. For example, some directors cannot imagine that a woman can play a woman without wearing stilettos and a dress. Why does the theatre still not understand that women are very different, as people are? How to salvage their subjectivity, how to use this diversity of looks, experiences, positions, bodies, aesthetics for their own - this was very important to us in our rehearsal conversations.

For the past few months there has been an ongoing discussion about violence in theatre schools and cultural institutions in which you are speaking. I took note of an important sentence from one conference "From violence we are not better creators and artists, only more battered people". A process of accountability has begun, and hopefully the development of transparent anti-violence procedures. Do you think there will be another form of friendly welcome to the walls of the university for first-year students in the future, instead of the discredited fuchsia?

The most important thing now is to listen to people who have been structurally harmed and to reflect on that, the most important thing now is the welfare of people. Not the traditions, not the thoughts, not the attachments of us all. Maybe that can come back one day as we address what is most urgent now. That is to listen to the stories of people who have suffered violence and to think about what we, as people of privilege, with a public voice, by virtue of age, by virtue of position, by virtue of experience in the profession, can do for them and for all of us. I am very happy that this discussion is finally spilling out. It has accompanied me from the beginning of my work in theatre, only it was conducted in such a curt way. It was conversations underground, in small groups, stifled, with no hope of change.

More like a sensation than a problem.

Exactly. Not connected to each other. Fuchsia as integration, yes it is a beautiful idea, whereas it has taken on such monstrous dimensions, driving people into alcoholism, into PTSD, breaking very young people as they enter what should be their adventure of a lifetime. Maybe one day we will rethink this and some friendly rituals will emerge. The most important thing for today is to address this experience and create a space for conversation. We all need to reform the way we work and I think then there will be a chance to stabilise this, but now this pendulum has gone the other way and we need to address the crisis that is.

Your immediate artistic plans?

Of course, I want to get 'CLUB' to premiere as polished as possible. We also just played the premiere of my play ONKO at TR Warszawa at the weekend.

A performance in which you also appear.

Yes, finally with a live audience and not streaming. ONKO we will still be playing at the beginning of July, which I am very happy about. Extended lockdowns have taken us away from all previous sets with audiences.

As long as we are at TR Warszawa, it is impossible not to say that the play 'KLUB' will also be on the TR Warszawa stage.

Yes, TR is our co-producer, from September 'The Club' will be played both at AT and at Marszalkowska Street. We will be adapting and inviting audiences there. And in the meantime, I'm going to Wrocław and I'm starting to work on my graduation play with the students of the acting department of the Academy of Theatre Arts.

Do we know what title? Will the choice of play also be analysed with the actors?

I am already in talks with them. Myself and the show's co-director Piotr Wawer junior met the actors at the zoom and we are now looking for a theme for them on the basis of these conversations, on the basis of the themes they have signalled. I'll admit that I already have an idea, but I can't talk about it yet because I don't know if we'll get the copyright to it. But we are following the tropes of ecology and related spirituality.

Thank you very much for talking to me, and I wish you much success in your work with young academics, who, as I can see and hear, very much appreciate working with you.

Thank you! I really, really enjoy working with them. Thank you for the interview.

 

CLUB
Screenplay based on the book Matilda Voss Gustavsson "Klubben" in translation Justyna Czechowska

Screenplay and direction:
Weronika Szczawińska
Co-authoring of the stage concept, therapeutic consultations and work with breathing: Dobrawa Borkała
Music:
Teoniki Rożynek
Costumes, space
Marta Szypulska
Production Manager:
Agnieszka Zajk-Tworkowska
Assistant Director:
Marta Szlasa-Rokicka

Conceptual collaboration and composition:
Julia Biesiada
Julia Borkowska
Maria Kozłowska
Katarzyna Lis
Adrianna Malecka
Magdalena Sildatk
Bernadetta Statkiewicz
Monika Szufladowicz
Helena Urbańska
Emilia Walus

Project coordination „Zmiana-Teraz”
Katarzyna Renes
Project consultations:
Agata Adamiecka
Vanessa Coffey
Cooperation:
Monika Przespolewska