Doll '89. Capitalist romantic comedy

Tickets: 80-130 zł
Premiere: June 5, 2026
Duration: 120 min with a break

Directed by: Michał Walczak
Written by: Michał Walczak, Max Łubieński
Music: Wiktor Stokowski

Co-organizer of the show: House of Meetings with History

About the show

Bolesław Prus' “Doll” ends tragically: Izabela Łęcka goes to the monastery and Stanisław Wokulski commits suicide. And what if Wokulski survived, returned to Paris, where he and Professor Geist discovered not only metal lighter than air, but also — the riddle of immortality? Did Prussia create fictional characters, or did he rather encode in the novel the secret knowledge of esoteric Warsaw and experiments on the borderline of economics and parapsychology conducted by the intelligentsia of the 19th and 20th centuries?

We invite you to a version full of magic and conspiracy theories of “Dolls”, which takes place in 1989 — a year of rapid transformations, rapid careers and mysterious businessmen. One of them is a descendant of Wokulski, who returns to Warsaw to lift the family curse and find his Bella. Who is the contemporary Lęcka? Has the Free Market Healed Us of Romantic Myths? Or is it that beneath the surface of a rational city, in the abandoned tunnels of the subway, the ghosts that we long for are dozing?

As part of the program of events organized by DSH WE CHOSE FREEDOM 4.06.1989 on the occasion of the anniversary of the first partially free elections, the creators of “Fire in the Brothel” invite you to an erotic-vampiric version of “Doll”, read by “50 faces of Gray”, “Twilight” and “365 days”. We will go back to the times when there were no MSN and Zdrofit, gangs of Warsaw were roaming the streets and the young Burdeltata founded the famous le brodel artistique in Chłodna. A musical cabaret in which there is a change of generations but also the continuation of a crazy and passionate story about the capital: a city of eccentrics, businessmen and vampires...

We invite you to the first ever musical adaptation of “The Brothel Fire” and the next after “Bad. Warsaw Jazz Opera”, “The Forty Years” and “Witkacja. Wodewilu on the brink” journey to the Warsaw of the past.

The performance is realized as part of the event “WE CHOSE FREEDOM. 4.06.1989” organized by DSH in connection with the celebration of the 37th anniversary of the first partially free elections on June 4, 1989.

WE CHOSE FREEDOM. 4.06.1989

As actress Joanna Szczepkowska said in a famous television interview: “(...) 4 June 1989 communism ended in Poland”. This year marks 37 years since those first partially free elections. For 17 years, at the beginning of June, DSH has consistently recalled the historical dimension of this date, when in 1989 Poland “chose freedom”. As part of this year's program, we invite you, among others, to the Rampa Theater for the performance “Lalka”, as well as to the open-air exhibition “NIEPOKORNE 1976-89”, which will be on view from 1 to 21 June at the junction of Krakowskie Przedmieście and Karowa streets. Detailed information can be found at dsh.waw.pl.

Attention!
Pyrotechnic effects and strobe lights are used in the performance.

Directing
Michal Walczak

Scenario
Michael Walczak, Max Lubieński

Music
Viktor Stokowski

Scenography and costumes
Kamila Bukanska

Choreography
Alisa Makarenko, Mariusz Lubawy

Direction of lights
Alina Dolzhikova

Projections
Piotr Zacek

Illusionistic, pyrotechnic and stunt effects
Wojtek Rotowski

Co-production by Teatru Rampa
Karolina Pajak-Sieczkowska

Co-produced by DSH
Agata Kucharska, Weronika Komorowska

Marek Zimakiewicz's photography was used in the performance.