Isle

Before the territory is flooded, it must first be cleaned. Trees are cut down, cemeteries are disinfected, stone buildings are moved, and wooden cottages are burned. This is the most effective way to get rid of wooden cottages — burn them with all their belongings, with all the furniture, tablecloths, icons and memories, so that nothing can stand in the way of building a new future. Perhaps the water approaching the threshold of our homes is a sign of the future that is coming. Perhaps, after flooding, only a patch of land will be left, surrounded on all sides by water.

The island.

To one of the thousand such places that disappeared from the map in the name of a great idea and progress, a newcomer goes. Thus begins the story of the village and its identity. About residents who have to leave their homes to make way for a body of water, and what remains of them. The newcomer collects traces of the past, writes down traditions and folk songs. Unfortunately, he ends up in a place where no one sings anymore. The island is what remains after the disaster.

Eugenia Balakireva about 'The Island': “My main inspiration for this show is the story of my family, which takes its roots from the small village of Pachomovo. The village, which was flooded in the sixties, because a large reservoir of the Vileyka-Minsk water system was built on this place. When I was a child, my grandmother often told me about how she spent her childhood in this village. About her grandparents, about family gatherings and about how she cooked eggs in the sand by the lake, on the shore of which their house stood. She told it with great sadness, because she knew that for me it was just another fairy tale and that I would never be able to experience what was once taken away from her — as a child. My mother is sure that this generational wandering, uniting her, my grandmother, aunt and me (we live in different countries and do not have our own private homes) is due to the trauma experienced by my grandmother, which this story inflicted on her. Whether it's true or not, I don't know. All I know is that all my life I have missed something that is not there, and in this performance I would like to touch it for a moment. Inspired by the past and taking the impulse from the present, however, I would like to try to touch in this performance a future that, from the perspective of my generation, does not look the best. I would like to ask the question, are we as humanity ready for it? Will we pass the test of humanity when whole countries go under water?”

Cast:

Bożena Adamek - Halina Marta Konarska - Ala Wanda Skorny - Maria Karol Kubasiewicz - Igor Krzysztof Zarzecki - Damian