\u201cPolitical roots were very important from the beginning,\u201d says Szkotak, explaining that because at the outset they had to contend with censorship in Poland, they had to \u201clearn how to communicate with the public not only by words, learn to avoid language.\u201d Scripts were subject to censorship, leading the director to rely on means beyond the written text to convey his vision. His close connection to visual imagery is clear as he describes his first play, \u201cEin Mal Ist Keinmal\u201d (which won first prize in a festival for young artists): \u201clife is like a sketch for a painting which will never be painted. We never know which is the right way, and we cannot repeat. Maybe we would change something if we could.\u201d Coming from a tradition of visually expressive theatre, trained by Growtowski actors, Szkotak says, \u201cThinking about acting as a whole process of body, emotion and soul is very close to me.\u201d<\/p>\n
The company\u2019s history is inter-woven with the political history of Poland. Biuro Podr\u00f3\u017cy did not start out as an outdoor theatre company, but the collapse of communism in 1989, while ushering in a new era of freedom and opportunity, brought about some unexpected changes that were less welcome. \u201cCensorship was gone, most of us were very happy; we can read everything, stage anything. But theatre before was in a special position, speaking about freedom, desire\u2026[now theatre] started to have something common, normal, nothing special. Many doors open \u2013 careers, travel \u2013 people didn\u2019t come to the theatre. We wanted to find the people where they were on the street.\u201d<\/p>\n
In their first outdoor production (about Giordano Bruno, Italian philosopher and astronomer\u00a0executed by the Inquisition), Szkotak \u201ctried to imagine how the public execution could work in this time as public theatre.\u201d As part of their aim to reach audiences who otherwise might not see theatre, they sometimes perform \u201cwithout tickets\u2026people passing by, the theatre is active and keeping their attention. The interaction depends on the country \u2013 sometimes very alive, people shout out.\u201d<\/p>\n
Through these interactions Szkotak has \u201ctried to find our language for the theatre. [outdoor performance] is fantastic for the director, a great opportunity: you can use motorbikes, fire\u2026lots of possibilities.\u201d On working with Shakespeare, he says: \u201cfantastic, beautiful poetry. Powerful language to translate into powerful images. Open air acting [relies on] visual power and music.\u201d\u00a0 Banquo\u2019s son, here presented as a young boy on his bicycle (in contrast to the soldiers on motorcyles), wearing shorts and suspenders, is \u201cmuch more important\u201d in Szkotak\u2019s interpretation: \u201cIn his hands is the answer for the future, what will he make from this crown? He can be another Macbeth.\u201d<\/p>\n
Particularly moving is a scene between Macbeth and the boy, where the ominous and playful meet on the battlefield\/playground. For a moment, they seem almost like father and son, emphasizing Macbeth\u2019s yearning not only as a king without heirs, but as a man longing for a child. This interpretation is part of the attempt to \u201ctry to discover the mystery of a human person even in the murderer.\u201d Enhancing the audience\u2019s ability to understand Macbeth as a human being, enabling them perhaps to identify more closely and reflect on the implication for their own lives: \u201cthe innocence of children \u2013 as adults, what do we give them? How do we nurture them?\u201d<\/p>\n
Szkotak typically spends a year creating each new production, doing a lot of research, much of it visual. For Macbeth, he says, \u201cI looked at thousands of photos and paintings. It\u2019s inspiring…it\u2019s my food. I looked at a lot of photos from war. Victims, soldiers, dead horses, destroyed buildings, Goya\u2019s series of \u201cThe Disasters of War.\u201d He is currently thinking about a new project, still too ephemeral to discuss. \u201cEvery time I try to make something optimistic, colorful\u2026[but it ends up being] normally again, sad and cruel.\u201d Perhaps a partial reason may be found in his comment regarding the audience\u2019s response to Macbeth: \u201cIn each country, for the public it\u2019s about a different war.\u201d<\/p>\n
Szkotak himself radiates an energy and warmth. There are moments of humor in Macbeth, and perhaps, a certain expression of hope. Szkotak says, \u201cMacbeth has the blood on his hands, he killed himself [in this interpretation] \u2013 so maybe he understands. I think conscience builds our hope. Art especially, that is one of the possibilities to discover more about our souls. Dark, not sweet, bitter knowledge \u2013 something which builds us as a person.\u201d<\/p>\n
Image credit: Arale<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Torches burn against the night sky, silent women in black and the eerily beautiful lament: \u201cwe did little good to each other.\u201d In Pawe\u0142 Szkotak\u2019s \u201cMacbeth: Who is that Bloodied Man?\u201d weird sisters summon destiny in a forest of tall poles erected on the pavement. Against the backdrop of a metal fortress on wheels, men […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-695","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-theater"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/695","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=695"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/695\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=695"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=695"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=695"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}