LEAR, dir. Janusz Opryński

Andrzej Seweryn first approached the role of Lear in 2014 at the Teatr Polski in a monumental, costumed performance by Jacques Lassalle. And just as Gustaw Holoubek once locked his Lear in a gallery of constant psychological transformations, changes of mood, rhythm and tonality, so Andrzej Seweryn led the king of Britain through the process of aging and the breakdown of personality. A strong man in his prime, with a powerful will, escalated his madness, his body betrayed him as well, there was sufficient weakness, uncertainty of gesture, and fear of the traps of the world. Lear Severin was stretched from a noisy vital manifestation to a silent and unimportant agony. And now Andrew Seweryn returns to the character of King Lear. In order for the old, long-dead hero to look again at his downfall, to lean somewhere in the afterlife over the lost life and wretched fate of man.

We want to tell you about Lear in a peculiar way. We see him after death constantly hearing the voices of his daughters and the clown. Lear must face his fate once again. Relive the tragedy of your life again. This re-fulfillment of his Fate is a bitter memory, entering into a dialogue with Gonerilla, Regana, Cordelia, the Jester, and himself.

The first performance on Jezuicka Street was played on October 20, 1822, and was presented by the troupe of Karol Bauer. We do not know the title of the play that inaugurated the activity of the stage. Certainly one of the first performances was the staging of William Shakespeare's King Lear. The title role was played by actor Jan Kochanowski, who, although according to the aforementioned correspondent of “Gazeta Warszawska” was quite talented, unfortunately he was “often neglected”. What did it consist of? Let's look at the accounts of the first weeks of the theatre's activity at Jezuicka Street: As for the actors, we forgive them for mistakes that are beyond their power to avoid, but the unconscious play of an actor or actress can never be justified. (...) It happens with us (...) that an actor, having left the stage, has to return after a while, in order to refuse He had forgotten what he had previously forgotten, or when it was his duty to go out the other door. Our actors do not remember grammatical correctness and our language corrupts indiscriminately; you would hear yourself here: “go! “Tell him,” or something like that. However, the audience in Lublin AD 1822 was quite understanding and, to the indignation of the correspondent of “Gazeta Warszawska”, nevertheless “generously gave” Bauer actors applause. It can be seen that in the newly built theater it was easier for Lublinians to forgive linguistic errors and stage stumbles.