Witkacy's “Mother” with Krystyna Janda — Teatr Polonia

Witkacy's “Mother” with Krystyna Janda in Poznań — a performance by Teatr Polonia on 7 January in the Artis Hall.

Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz's famous grotesque drama, full of sarcasm, absurdity and biting humour, is back in the staging of Waldemar Zawadziński. It's a perverse parody of a family psychological drama in which emotions are sharpened, reality warped, and the line between what's serious and what's grotesque is constantly shifting.

At the center of this story are Mother and Son. She sacrificed almost everything to him. He wants to live by his own rules. They love each other. They need each other. They hurt each other. And the more they try to break out of this relationship, the more they get entangled in it.

Witkacy takes the family drama and deliberately blows it up. It turns up tension, exaggerates emotions, deforms everyday life and makes what is initially familiar rub more and more strongly against the absurd. Under the layer of grotesque and sarcasm, however, there is something very contemporary: unfulfilled ambitions, mutual expectations, dependence and love, which can be both a refuge and a trap.

In the center of the play stands Krystyna Janda as Janina Węgorzewska — the titular Mother. The heroine is tragic and uncompromising, at times grotesque, and moments later poignantly helpless. On stage she is accompanied by outstanding actors of the Polonia Theater.

🎭 Cast: Krystyna Janda Katarzyna Gniewkowska Małgorzata Rożniatowska Agnieszka Skrzypczak/Agnieszka Żulewska Jarosław Boberek Tomasz Tyndyk Bartosz Waga

🎬 Creators: 📖 Author: Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz 🎬 Director: Waldemar Zodawziński 🎨 Adaptation, scenography, light direction: Waldemar Zawadziński

⏱️ Duration: approx. 85 minutes (without interruption)