Flames

Stanisław Brzozowski's writing was formative reading for my generation. In the early performances, we spoke in passages from “Flames”, we identified with Brzozowski's thought, with his attitude of rebellion. This brilliant thinker, who reads in six languages, left us constantly very modern reflections on our Polishness. He taught us how to liberate ourselves: from the “childish” Polishness, from the Polishness of shallow Catholicism, and finally from the nationalist Polishness. Brzozowski wrote his “Flames” in 1906, and the topicality of the problems contained in the novel is startling. Here again appears the face of Polish “genius” in squandering earlier intellectual achievements. Michał Kaniowski, the hero of “Flames”, performs the act of burnt offering in the name of the fight for freedom. This gesture will be tragically repeated.

On October 19, 2017, Piotr Szczesny committed an act of self-immolation at the Parade Square in front of the Palace of Culture. Brzozowski's prophetic words come true: that a person can be killed, thoughts cannot be killed. Believing deeply in these words, we want to tell the story of Michał Kaniowski and the revolutionaries associated with him.

We want to dedicate our show to people fighting for freedom around the world. Janusz Opryński

Screenplay based on Stanisław Brzozowski's “Flames” with excerpts from Stanisław Brzozowski's “Alone Among the People” and “Biesów” by Fyodor Dostoevsky.

Janusz Opryński — director, cultural manager, co-founder and director of the legendary Provisorium Theatre, director of the International Festival of Theatrical Confrontations, programme director of the Lublin Culture Centre. He is a laureate of, among others: the Artistic Award of the City of Lublin, the title of Ambassador of Lublin, the Konrad Swinarski Award given by the monthly “Teatr”, the “Culture Guarantee” award given by TVP Kultura and the Gloria Artis Gold Medal awarded by the Minister of Culture and National Heritage for special merits to Polish culture. Known to the audience of the Polish Theater for the adaptation of Joseph Conrad's “In the Eyes of the West”, realized on the Chamber Stage in 2018.