POLSKA! YEAR 12 Month Celebration Of Polish Art & Culture Announces Lineup

The theatre programme of POLSKA! YEAR, a 12 month celebration of Polish art and culture across the UK, is announced.

The theatre programme includes productions; Gospels of Childhood, The Triptych and
4.48 Psychosis at the Barbican, The Table and Macbeth: Who is that Bloodied Man? at Ulster Bank Belfast Festival at Queen's and The Table at Canterbury Festival.

The purpose of POLSKA! YEAR is to bring the communities of Poland and the UK closer together, to strengthen cultural relations and dispel some of the stereotypes attributed to Poles.

A 12 month cultural festival aimed at strengthening ties between the UK and Poland has announced an exciting line up of Polish Theatre Projects that will be performed across the country from spring 2009. POLSKA! YEAR comprises more than 200 projects showcasing the outstanding works and achievements of Polish artists to the British public from the fields of theatre, visual art, music and film.

The theatre programme features the return of several acclaimed Polish productions and new works never before seen in the UK. Teatr ZAR, the resident artistic company at the Jerzy Grotowski Institute in Wroc?aw, present their hauntingly beautiful triptych Gospels of Childhood at the Barbican as part of the bite09 season. Teatr Biuro Podró?y celebrate their 20th year with the innovative outdoor production Macbeth: Who is that Bloodied Man? at the Ulster Bank Belfast Festival at Queen's, after opening the National Theatre's Square² season in July. Karbido's award winning, musical spectacle The Table will thrill audiences at the Ulster Bank Belfast Festival at Queen's and Canterbury Festival. And in early 2010 the Barbican will host the critically acclaimed production of Sarah Kane's final work 4.48 Psychosis by TR Warszawa.

The cultural programme of POLSKA! YEAR is coordinated by the Adam Mickiewicz Institute, a government institution in charge of promoting Polish culture abroad and initiating internationAl Cooperation in the field of culture. The programme is organised in cooperation with the Polish Cultural Institute in London. It has involved 18 months of preparations including visits to Poland by more than 150 curators, cultural managers, artists and journalists.

The purpose of POLSKA! YEAR is to bring the communities of Poland and the UK closer by strengthening cultural relations and establishing new contacts between artistic institutions, artists and organisers of cultural events. It will feature theatrical performances, art exhibitions, classical, jazz and contemporary music concerts, screenings of feature films, documentaries and animation and conferences and seminars.

POLSKA! YEAR draws on interdisciplinary projects promoting Poland abroad since 2000. Such projects have already been held in 24 countries all over the world including Austria, Belgium, Spain, Sweden, France, Russia, Germany, India, China, Algeria and Morocco. The projects have encompassed more than 2.5 million concerts, exhibitions, film and theatrical performances seen by more than 14 million people.

Poland is a contemporary country with rich tradition and culture. POLSKA! YEAR aims to highlight the similarities between Poland and the UK and to dispel some of the widespread opinions and stereotypes attributed to Poles.

For more information on POLSKA! YEAR, log on to www.PolskaYear.pl 

POLSKA! YEAR Theatre Highlights:

1. Gospels of Childhood, The Triptych by Teatr ZAR

September 24th - October 2nd 2009 at 7pm

Bite09, St Giles Church and the Pit

Audiences should collect their tickets from the box office at St Giles Church, Fore Street, Barbican, London EC2Y 8DA

Price:
£20

Age guidance: 12+

Press night: September 25th

All three parts are presented in one evening, Part I and Part III are performed in St Giles Church opposite the Barbican Centre, and Part II is performed in the Pit. Duration 215 minutes including two intervals.

www.barbican.org.uk/bite

Bite's September -

December season opens with the London debut of Teatr ZAR's triptych, Gospels of Childhood. Creating a meditative and almost transcendental experience for the audience, the triptych is a ritualistic lamentation on the cycle of life and death told by a cast of 13 through song, chanting and movement.

To create the score for Gospels of Childhood, director and founder of Teatr ZAR, Jaroslaw Fret, and actor Kamila Klamut, went on expeditions to Georgia, Armenia, Greece and Iran, conducting research into the oldest forms of religious music of Eastern Christianity. Fret is also the director of the Grotowski Institute in Wroc?aw, a centre devoted to documentation and research of the artistic activities of Jerzy Grotowski, from whom Teatr ZAR draw much inspiration.

2. Macbeth: Who is That Bloodied Man? by Teatr Biuro Podró?y

October 22nd - October 31st 2009 at 7.30pm

Ulster Bank Belfast Festival at Queen's Barrow Square, Dock Street, Belfast BT15 1LF

Price: £16.50 / £13.50 concession

Age guidance: 12+

This is an outdoor event.
All tickets are standing. Duration 60 mins.

http://www.belfastfestival.com/

Following their recent highly praised season at the National Theatre's international outdoor theatre space, Square², and sell-out runs at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2007 and the National in 2008, Teatr Biuro Podró?y's innovative outdoor production Macbeth: Who is that Bloodied Man? returns to the UK. The breathtaking interpretation of Shakespeare's famous tragedy features armies on motorbikes, witches on stilts and a spectacular burning castle. The action takes place on the borderline between reality and nightmare, where earthly characters co-exist with witches and ghosts.

With an enviable international reputation for outdoor theatre, Teatr Biuro Podró?y are celebrating their 20th year. Founded by Pawel Szkotak in 1988, their intention is to go against the model of traditional repertoire theatre, create new modes of expression and explore and extend theatre's possibilities.

3. The Table by Karbido

October 24th 2009 at 7.30pm, October 25th at 2.30pm and 7.30pm Ulster Bank Belfast Festival at Queen's

The Baby Grand, Grand Opera House, Great Victoria Street, Belfast, BT2 7HR

Price:
£15 / £11.75 concession

Duration 60 mins.

http://www.belfastfestival.com/

October 27th 2009 at 7.45pm, October 28th at 3pm and 7.45pm

Canterbury Festival

Gulbenkian Theatre, University of Kent at Canterbury, Kent, CT2 7NB

Price: £12

Duration 60 mins.

http://www.canterburyfestival.co.uk/

Four men sit around a square table. For the next hour, they transform the wooden table into a multifaceted musical instrument. As they scrape, tap and rub their instrument with infinite precision, these amplified chimes reverberate around you. Using strings, bows, coins and wine glasses, as well as fists and fingers, the group creates music you never thought possible from a piece of wood.

Karbido's
The Table is an award winning, musical spectacle that wowed audiences and critics alike at the 2007 Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Karbido was formed in 2003 by musicians associated with bands such as CEZ, Kormorans, and Formacya Bochianni.

4. 4.48 Psychosis by TR Warszawa

Tuesday 23rd - Saturday 27th March 2010

Bite10, Barbican Theatre, London EC2Y 8DS

Further details to be announced. Performed in Polish with English surtitles.

Following critically acclaimed performances as part of the 2008 Edinburgh International Festival the Barbican brings TR Warszawa to bite with a hard-hitting production of Sarah Kane's final work, 4.48 Psychosis. Directed by TR Warszawa's award-winning Artistic Director Grzegorz Jarzyna, this is an uncompromisingly autobiographical approach to Kane's elusive and elliptical prose poem.

The central character, a woman in the throes of a terrifying mental illness, is played with startling vigour by Magdalena Cielecka. Well-known in Poland for her theatre and film roles, including the Oscar-nominated Katyn (2007), she frequently adorns the front covers of Polish glossy magazines.

 

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