Ambroży Grabowski, or everything you want to know about Krakow, but if you don't google

In 1796, Ambroży Grabowski — the son of an organist — was fourteen years old. He left his native Kety and went to Krakow to make an appointment at one of the local bookstores. Although he graduated from only 4 four-year general school in Kęty, urgent work with the famous Antoni Grőbel allowed him to become a subject after a few years and, after the death of a bookseller, to become a partner of the new owner. Later, for almost twenty years, he ran his own bookstore at the Main Market Square at number 13.

Liked and known in Krakow, he would have been perhaps only one of the colorful figures living in our city in the middle of the 19th century, and no one would have mentioned him today, if it were not for the fact that Ambroży Grabowski became the first collector of “Krakow's historical antiquities”.

Self-taught, historian and collector, he was passionate about the history of Krakow, which he recorded in numerous works. Often illustrated with contemporary engravings, the works have beautiful baroque long titles that convey the contemporary spectrum of interests of the bookseller. Because doesn't such a theme of one of them sound encouraging: Old monuments of the city of Krakow. Reminders of the past about some of the ancient customs of the hymns [!] Kraków, about the gates, towers and all the defenses of this once capital of the country. With the addition of various mementos belonging to the field of news (1850)?

These titles, seducing with their archaic and at the same time revealing charm, as well as the stories and curiosities about Krakow collected in them, seduced the director — Mikołaj Grabowski, and became the canvas for his theatrical adaptation.

“Ambroży Grabowski, or everything you want to know about Krakow, but you won't google it”, is a performance whose main theme is Krakow and its inhabitants. Ambrose's lyrics, filtered by the wit and intelligence of Nicholas, complemented by today's delicacies, form a play that tells, with a big grain of salt and distance, about our city.

A number of colorful, often slightly “crazy” characters — who have liked to live in the City of Krakow for centuries — appear in typical, recognizable places for the city. Against the backdrop of the impressive “Panorama of Krakow”, the most diverse stories take place, not at all, so ancient, despite the stylized costumes. The sung passages of the lyrics, to music composed by Zygmunt Konieczny, present a kaleidoscope of Krakow's oddities, customs, histories and dictatorships, so that Grabowski's performance (their) ironically and wittily leads the audience through such an important genre word as “history”.

“Ambroży Grabowski, or Everything You Want...” will premiere at a special moment for Bagatela. On the day of the premiere of the play, whose scenography (Paweł Dobrzycki) and lights (Michał Grabowski) paint a dreamlike Krakow, the Bagatela Theatre will celebrate its 105th anniversary.

ATTENTION!

In the performance, the smokehouse of the stage (smoke generator) is used.

Duration: 135 minutes (1 20-minute break)

Premiere: 25, 26 October 2024, Big Stage

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The play takes part in the 10th Competition for the Staging of Past Works of Polish and European Literature “Klasyka Żywwa