FA - Bethlehem Polskie +Rozm.

Juliusz Osterwa Theatre in Lublin

Lucjan Rydel

Polish Bethlehem

Adaptation and dramaturgy of the third act of the play: Maciej Wojtyszko

Directed by: Rafał Szumski

Scenography and light direction: Magdalena Gajewska

Costumes: Adrian Lewandowski

Choreography: Aleksander Kopański

Music: Marcin Nagnajewicz

Vocal preparation: Izabela Urban

Assistant director: Michał Czyż

Inspector: Monika Jabłońska-Sowa

Inspector: Klaudia Wierzchoń

Production: Maja Biała

Premiere: January 17, 2026.

Duration: 90 min.

Cast:

Nina Biel, Tomasz Bielawiec, Hanka Brulinska, Michał Czyż, Jolanta Decz-Pudzianowska, Wojciech Dobrowolski, Włodzimiesz Dyla, Paweł Ferens, Artur Kocięcki, Jerzy Kurczuk, Marta Ledwoń, Krzysztof Olchawa, Edyta Ostojak, Beata Passini, Wojciech Rusin, Oskar Rybaczek, Jolanta Rychlowska, Daniel Salman, Jowita Stępniak, Marek Skoda, Magdalena Sztejman, Magdalena Zabel

Contemporary Pilgrimage in Spectacular Edition

Lucjan Rydel is a young Polish poet and playwright, as well as a translator (including fragments of Homer's “Iliad”). Interestingly, he was also the prototype of the character of the groom from Stanisław Wyspiański's “Wedding”. Rydla's “Polish Bethlehem” is a unique nativity scene that combines patriotic and Christmas themes. In a symbolic way, it speaks of community. It refers to the tradition of Krakow nativity scenes, and the text can be supplemented with current historical contexts.

The play, directed by Rafał Szumski, combines the tradition of Christmas with the folk on stage. This is an extremely colorful, humorous story set to the rhythm of modern music (arrangements of carols in club and electronic sounds!) , with a reflection on today's society. The authors raise questions about how we understand Bethlehem today? What place do minorities occupy, what about the intolerance of the other? Who comes to look for hope today? Special here is Act III — added for the purposes of staging by Maciej Wojtyszka as a reference to modern times. We invite you to a stunning and energetic performance with a positive message - a spectacle that will remain in your memory for a long time!

ATTENTION! The show features lighting effects, including strobe light. Stage smoke is used in the performance. The show is recommended for viewers from the age of 10.

“The return of “Bethlehem...” to the Lublin stage provokes the question of the meaning of this text today. The director Rafał Szumski — using the old practice of adding current fragments to the third act — invited Maciej Wojtyszka, author of the new adaptation of the final, to collaborate. It is in this place that the spectacle strays the most from the construction of Rydel.

At the same time, Szumski undertakes a demanding task: he proposes a clearly team show. Twenty-two people perform on the stage (almost the entire ensemble of the Osterwy Theatre), and the performance from the first minutes to the end keeps the pace. The best example of this strategy is the scene for the song “But we are like that”. It is a precisely composed sequence: dynamic, cleanly sung and embedded in the folk idiom of the Krakowiak movement”.

Malwina Kiepiel on “Bethlehem of Poland”