“Maria Skłodowska-Curie. Experience”/Stary Theatre in Lublin

The play “Maria Skłodowska-Curie. Experience” is a moving monodrama performed by Agnieszka Przepiórska, which instead of a dry juxtaposition of historical facts, offers an emotional portrait of an outstanding Nobel laureate.

The creators — director Justyna Łagowska and author of the text Piotr Rowicki — give up building another monument, focusing on the human dimension of Mary's life. The story takes the viewer through the amplitude of the heroine's fate: from her youthful years in Poland under the occupation and great scientific successes in Paris, to the painful loss of her husband, mourning and the struggle with depression.

The show's key theme is courage and the right to self-determination in a male-dominated world. The show portrays Skłodowska-Curie as the woman who was the first to blaze trails — both at universities and in everyday life — paying a high price for it. It is a manifesto of female genius and determination embedded in the herstoria trend, which remains relevant to this day. The production is another installment of the collaboration between Przepiórska and Rowicki, known for restoring the memory of extraordinary women in a modern and deeply human way.

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Justyna Łagowska, set designer, costume designer, theatre director, lighting director. A graduate of the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw. Active since 1993, her first performances by Jan Klata were her first performances: Revizor (2003) and Wrocław's “Dungeons of the Vatican” (2004) and Wrocław's “Dungeons of the Vatican” (2004). Until 2007, she worked exclusively with this director, defining the visual side of his groundbreaking productions for Polish theater, later she began to accept invitations from other creators of the younger generation — Wojtek Klemm, Wiktor Rubin, Remigiusz Brzyk. She co-created the costume, light direction and scenography of the show by Nikolai Kolada, Paweł Łysak, Marek Fedor, Maciej Wojtyszko, Robert Talarczyk and Mai Kleczewska. In 2018, she received a nationwide and multi-festival shower of awards for stage design and costumes for Wyspiański's “Wedding” directed by Jan Klata. She made her directorial debut in 2015 with Michał Kmiecik's “Alice” at the Fredry Theatre in Gniezno, and staged “Memory of Rutka” by the same author in Będzin. Her two other major directorial works were also well received: “Balladyna” in Bydgoszcz and “Monachomachia” at the Nowy Proxima Theatre in Kraków. She is the author of the concept and direction of the exhibition, which can be seen in the foyer of the Old Theatre in Lublin. She collaborated with Teatr Stary on the performances “Machia”, “Evenings” and the monodrama “LEAR”.

Agnieszka Przepiórska, theatre actress associated with the Juliusz Słowacki Theatre in Krakow, film and TV series, pedagogue, producer, curator of the CarPedi festival. For 10 years she has been creating a biographical theater, which the artist herself calls “bioteatru”, because the performances from this series are something like artistically and theatrically processed biographies of women — scripts were created based on recognized book publications. The actress has so far confronted on stage, among others, with Zuzanna Ginczanka (“Ginczanka. The recipe for simplicity of life”) and Simona Kossak (“Simon K. Calling in the Wilderness”). Her role as Barbara Sadowska in the play “In May It Doesn't Die” was honored by the monthly magazine “Teatr” with the Alexander Zelwerowicz Award for the best female acting performance in the 2022/23 season. The last months also brought her excellent roles in Wisława Szymborska in the play “Szymborska. Dots, commas, cigarettes” and Anna Walentynowicz in the play “My Name Is Anna Walentynowicz”. Her latest show, “Saved.” For her performance of Irenka K. in the monodrama “Saved” directed by Mai Kleczewska from 2024, she was nominated in the O! Shining Onet and the City of Warsaw and received the title of Best Actress at the 31st International Festival of Pleasant and Unpleasant Arts. Currently an actress of the Powszechny Theater in Warsaw.

Piotr Rowicki, playwright. He graduated in history at the University of Bialystok. In 2008 he made his debut with the play “Przylgnięcie” at the Drama Laboratory in Warsaw. Winner of many awards and distinctions, including, among others, a two-time winner of the competition for Polish contemporary art “Metaphors of Reality” organized by the Polish Theater in Poznań. Author of several dozen plays, including: “Painted Boy”, “Mothers” “And there will be Christmas”, “Infidels”, “Piszczyk”, “Dad does not return” “White power, black memory”, “Ćesky Diplom”, “So that there are no traces”, “Kings of shooters”, “Insubordinate”, “To Kill the President”, “Ginczanka. The recipe for the simplicity of life”, “Simon K. Calling in the Wilderness”, “Listen to Your Heart”, “Freak”, “You Don't Die in May”, “Szymborska. Dots, commas, cigarettes”, “Saved”.