Larvae

“Larwy” is the second — after the loud “Heksach” — theatrical adaptation of the text by Agnieszka Szpila, one of the most expressive and uncompromising authors of contemporary Polish literature. This time, her language—embedded in post-pornographic sensitivity—becomes the starting point for the story of the body as a space of pleasure, control and power, but also of conscious choice and its limits.

The protagonists of “Larva” are single mothers who end up in the Cocoon, an institution that, under the guise of care, takes control of their lives. Economically dependent, institutionally supervised and subject to social and religious pressure, they work in silkworm breeding. Under the influence of contact with the larvae and pheromones secreted by them, the bodies of women begin to change - they become susceptible to pleasure and insatiable.

What was supposed to be a surveillance system begins to break it down from the inside.

“Larvae”, however, is not a simple tale of oppression. It is a spectacle that breaks down obvious divisions: between domination and submission, violence and pleasure, emancipation and its appearance.

“We are most interested in the moment when the body ceases to be exclusively a battlefield, but begins to be a space of consciousness and agency,” says Pamela Leończyk. - We do not want to dwell on threads about conflict and violence. Above all, we want to talk about consent — the practice of consent and disagreement, conscious sexuality, including that present on the stage.

The show combines dramatic theater, choreography, post-opera elements and electronic music, creating a form that balances between narrative and experience. At the center remains the body — as a field of negotiation, conflict and transformation.

Fig. Karolina Jozwiak