Martyrdom and Death of Marat

Coulmier - ***

nuns - Wiesław Bieda, Krzysztof Karàs, Łukasz Rutkowski

In a psychiatric facility in Charenton, patients prepare a show dedicated to the last moments of Jean-Paul Marat, one of the most radical figures of the French Revolution. The Marquis de Sade watches over the whole enterprise, who guides the residents through the reconstruction of the events of 1793.

The play becomes a multi-part story about the mechanisms of revolution and the question that recurs in every era: can the struggle for freedom justify everything?

“When the show seemed to be heading towards climax (as in Marat's amazing scene with an armful of severed heads), a 180-degree twist ensues and we return to a calmer, more balanced narrative. The audience is thus led by the nose several more times. The creators squeeze the most out of the insane convention — since the drama is staged by the patients of the mentally ill, let's not expect a calm, linear plot.”

Piotr Gaszczyński, Theatre for All

“The problem of the inability to draw conclusions from historical catastrophes and the fact that societies and nations continue to commit the same ones, leading to more tragedies and mistakes, is shown in this play in a very beautiful, aesthetically interesting and original form. Set designer Marika Wojciechowska designed costumes for actors of great beauty, composed of many elements, allowing the performers to function independently as well as to team up in many scenes with huge, human-sized dolls; introduced here primarily to emphasize the momentary division of the personalities of the patients of the psychiatric hospital, who play the characters of the Great Reich. The French Revolution. A similar role in accentuating the dual nature of stage figures is assigned to music; partly performed live and partly emitted mechanically. It's a very interesting show, especially in terms of form.”

Anita Nowak, e-teat.pl

“This magnificent artistic perspective, complemented by the costumes of the patients, contributed to the creation of a masterful, multidimensional stage work — the adaptation of Peter Weiss's play The Martyrdom and Death of Jean Paul Marat presented by the acting team of the Charenton asylum under the direction of Mr. de Sade, whom he was not afraid of under the new direction of Karol Suszczyński take on the Grotesque ensemble — and in such a perfect, dramatic way corresponding to the scene! (...) The aforementioned Lech Walicki in the role of Marat, Zbigniew Kozłowski as the charismatically rambunctious Pan de Sade, the Mephistophelic Caller by Paweł Kuzma or finally the first-class, absolutely supreme acting attempt Jagoda Jasnowska in the role of Karolina Corday, who approaches the stabbing of Marat three times. Her third, definitive approach with a dagger to the bathtub with the hero of the revolution is Konrad Dworakowski's masterful directorial mastery of building tension caused in the viewer by an inner thrill that is difficult to control.”

Aram Stern, Theatre for All

“There was certainly an attractive spectacle set in a psychiatric institution, whose residents, under the direction of the Causer (very interesting Paweł Kuźma), play a play about Marat, especially shaking up the negative characteristics of the revolution, each revolution and the associated attributes of power, brutality, violence and psychopathic reactions. In it you can find, for example in a dramatic composition, echoes of famous plays from the past, for example Piotr Tomaszuk, reworking musical works of classics, inspirations by painting (Jacques-Louis David, Eugène Dalacroix). Of course, the developers add a lot of themselves.”

Marek Waszkiel, www.marekwaszkiel.pl

“If anyone still thinks that the Grotesque Theater is a theater only for children, let him abandon this belief. Last year's premiere, Martyrdom and Death of Marat, proves that the director, creators and cast of the Krakow theatre have much more to offer to the mature audience than many think. The extreme emotions that the show serves and the stubbornly recurring question about the meaning of the revolution, the rift, loudly and firmly spoken sentences - left me in a sense of gratitude that here the Krakow theater speaks, asks questions, has the courage to be uncomfortable, finally provoking me to think. I quarreled with myself many times after the show, and also when writing these few sentences. This is a unique value to me.”

Georgina Gryboś, Radio Krakow Culture

Prizes:

Puppetry Award LAJK POLUNIMA Certificate of Quality for the performance Martyrdom and Death of Marat

Award for Best Scenography for Marika Wojciechowska for the coherence of artistic vision with directing and scenographic || award given during the 30th International Festival of Puppet Theaters “Spotlights”, organized by Teatr Baj Pomorski in Toruń | 23.10.2024

Distinctions:

The performance was highlighted in the summary of the 2023/2024 theater season of the Theater Monthly in the category best puppet theater performance.

Honorary distinction for Piotr Klimek for showing the madness and brutality of the depicted world through the music that triggered the theater machine in the play Martyrdom and Death of Marat || distinction awarded during the 30th International Festival of Puppet Theaters “Meetings”, organized by the Baj Pomorski Theater in Toruń | 23.10.2024

Martyrdom and Death of Marat was included in the list of the best performances of the 2023/2024 season according to Aram Stern's Subjective Theater Alphabet. In addition, individual awards were given to:

Departures:

Performance presented at the 32nd National Festival of Puppet Theaters, organized by the Opole Puppet Theatre and Actor named after Alojzy Smolka | 19-20.10.2025

Performance presented at the 3rd Puppet and Form Theatre Arts Festival, organized by Teatr Tęcza in Słupsk | 8.04.2025

Performance presented at the 30th International Festival of Puppet Theaters “Meetings”, organized by Teatr Baj Pomorski in Toruń | 23.10.2024