HALKA at Teatr Wielki - Opera Narodowa, Moniuszko Auditorium

In the race between the Achilles of actualization and the turtle of the national opera tradition the latter may have a chance. The old fashioned machinery of Moniuszko’s work liberates unexpected musical energies and due to its difficult genesis the seemingly simple story of a Tatra higlander girl in love, a gentry dandy seducer and his peasant rival reveals a potential of ambiguity and puzzling twists of meaning. In this imperfection posterity found some hope. This performance directed by Natalia Korczakowska explores these paradoxes achieving an astonishing effect of lining the Sarmatian-folk plot with the dramaturgy of modern motivations. This is something more from what we heard from the Polish rock bank Skaldowie: ”Hey, a sheepskin on the outside and an evening suit within“ – inside we find our present, at times aching, skin.