IT WAS POLISH

Tickets: 80-100 zł
Premiere 10 January 2026
Duration: 100 minutes

Written by Max Łubieński, Michał Walczak
Music by Wiktor Stokowski
Directed by Michał Walczak
Media puppets Konrad Czarkowski
Costumes, set design by Kamila Bukańska
Kobas Laksa Visual Effects and Animations
Choreography by Alisa Makarenko

Poster design and photo session: kobaslaksa/kobasfilm.pro,
graphic collaboration: Artur Konicz

Costume elements for the performance were also used in the performance
“Casanova. Warsaw Enchantment” designed by Agata Stanula.

The show is recommended for viewers from the age of 15. There are profanities in the performance.

On the occasion of the 1000th anniversary of the founding of the Polish state, the creators of the cabaret “Pożar w brothel” invite you to a crazy lesson in the history of the pilot of a new theater series about the beginnings of Polishness and Warsaw. “Once Upon a Time Poland” is an expedition to the times when there was no internet, the Palace of Culture, MSN and Galeria Wileńska and the area of the capital was covered with forest. Wild boars, moose and turkeys lived in harmony with people who did not go to therapy, bathed naked in the Vistula and welcomed the New Year with a carnival in honor of the Slavic gods, which took place in the pre-Warsaw settlement of Bródno. Dolls, costumes and masks found at the construction of the metro indicate a developed theatrical and musical culture, which grew out of the joy of life and the legendary, Slavic promiscuity, which brought destruction to the Vistula River. Archaeological research by Professor Max Hardkor in Wiecha Park indicates that the Slavic Golden Age was interrupted by the invasion of missionaries who, unable to baptize Slavic women, desecrated their temple together with the Vikings, whose camp was located where Ikea is today. The great battle of the Vikings with an army of russians gave rise to a war of tribes that continues to this day. Will it be possible to lift the curse that turned the carnival republic into traumaland: the homeland of uprisings and partitions? Were the Slavs dancing proto-hippies and the creators of the Vistula Wakanda, or primitive pagans, making human sacrifices? Will it be possible in the year 2026 to lift the curse from History and unite the warring tribes with a common celebration?

Thanks to AI technologies, cooperation with archaeologists, reconstructors and Varsavianists, on January 10, 2026, we will open the National Amusement Park in Rampa, where we will reconstruct the Slavic carnival and ask a question about the origins of Poland and Warsaw. Was Mieszko a Viking? Who were the Amazons of Mazovia? Did mermaids really exist?

In the year 2026, we invite all the seekers of the lost carnival lost in the urban jungle to an expedition to the pre-Slavic and pre-Warsaw forests.
Start the year with Carnival!

The project was created thanks to KPO

The performance takes part in the 32nd National Competition
for the Exhibition of Polish Contemporary Art.

The National Competition for the Exhibition of Polish Contemporary Art aims to reward the most interesting repertory research in Polish theatre, to support domestic dramaturgy in its stage productions, to popularize Polish contemporary drama and to broaden the field of theatre criticism thanks to the presence of members of the Artistic Commission at performances in theatre centres throughout the country and their review activities.

The competition is organized by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage
and the Zbigniew Raszewski Theatre Institute in Warsaw.

The substantive coordinator of the Competition is Dominik Gac,
The organisational and financial director is Maria Stępkowska.