MATEUSZ NOWAK

sacrifice

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Wednesday, November 14 | 18:00 | Schauspielhaus (Studio)

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Language: Polish (with english surtitles) | Länge: ca. 60 min.

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from STANISŁAW MIEDZIEWSKI and MATEUSZ NOWAK
Performed by MATEUSZ NOWAK

SACRIFICE is inspired by Piotr Woźniak’s memories Zapluty karzeł reakcji (A reactionary thug) with fragments from Adam Mickiewicz’s epic poem Pan Tadeusz (Sir Thaddeus) and a poem Śniła się zima (A dream of winter).

During the occupation of Poland by Nazi Germany, the Polish Home Army (Armia Krajowa), with a force of over 350,000 soldiers, was considered the largest resistance group in Europe. After the invasion of the Red Army, its members, who opposed the pro-Soviet regime, were brutally persecuted for years and murdered by the thousands.

In his impressive monodrama SACRIFICE (ŻERTWA), Mateusz Nowak approaches a subject that is still taboo in his home country: from the perspective of a jailed member of the anti-Communist Home Army, he poses the inconvenient question of how Poland could harass its own compatriots and erstwhile protectors: „It is Poles who did that to Poles. Nobody else but Poles. Not Martians. Poles. Always Poles.“

The theater-maker and linguist Mateusz Nowak has received over twenty international prizes for his three monodramas to date. In Poland, he was awarded the Bronze Cross of Merit.

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Directed by Stanisław Miedziewski
Costume Design Magdalena Franczak
Light Design Marcin Kabat Kowalczuk
Sound Design Łukasz Szulc
Audio-recording Konrad Biel
Photo Jacek Świerczyński

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Polen Poland