XXIV FDW | DIAMONDS ARE COAL THAT GOT TO WORK

At the center of the history of DIAMONDS... stands a group of people who have long heard that they are not living the way they should.

For the second time, the theater reaches for the drama of Paweł Demirsky. Its premiere took place on 30.05.2008 on the Chamber Stage directed by Monika Strzępka.

At the center of the history of DIAMONDS... stands a group of people who have long heard that they are not living the way they should. That we need faster, we need it more efficiently, we need it more economically and logically. But what to do when the rules of the game were established long ago and completely somewhere else, and here in Walbrzych, there is only the feeling that someone is about to turn off the light and ask to pay the bill? But in this show, no one wants to be a victim. Demirski's heroes (at least for the most part) do not dream at all about big metropolises, startups, coaching and other inventions that the people of the capital talk about before ordering another flat white on soy. They have their reasons for not getting down to work and being careful about becoming a diamond: Wojnicki, who for years has been unable to hit any goal (neither in life nor with a gun), Astrov drowning in a therapeutic monologue, Nanny with an infallible sense of practical sense, and Tielegin, who is the last man in the world to still believe in culture and art. And then there is Sonia, I think she alone lives in the belief that success is a duty, and failure is a fault and the biggest reason to be ashamed.

Pamela Leończyk's performance does not ask about transformation and collapsed mines, but the moment in which we are now. About turbocapitalism, which runs through us like a roller, about social inequality, economic exclusion. The team wants to talk about alternative communities and whether we are ready for any changes?

DIAMONDS... is a comedy about people who do not want to prove their usefulness in the global food chain. This is a spectacle for those who have listened enough that “you just have to try”. And for those who know how absurd it sounds, especially when they see the speed at which the world is moving.

Because maybe we don't all have to turn into diamonds at once, maybe it's enough that we stop willingly burning ourselves like coal in the furnace of someone else's success.

The performance is one of the 16 Finalists of the 32nd National Competition for the Exhibition of Polish Contemporary Art.

An updated version of the drama from two decades ago.

He still talks about the effects of transformation, but he also touches on much more contemporary issues. It's a comedy by design: it has a lot of bravely played funny moments, but the laughter fades more and more in the face of more poignant scenes of social exclusion, class injustice and the ordinary human need for a dignified life. The stage houses a chic provincial salon, a horse and a boxing ring, and the world of performance is well complemented by stylish, unobtrusive music.

Przemek Gulda

I like to watch theatrical comebacks. Usually it is the directors who return to old texts, such as Jan Klata after eleven years to “Polish Thermopylae” at the National Theatre.

The audience is also waiting for February 28, 2026 — when Maja Kleczewska will exhibit Stanisław Wyspiański's “The Liberation” at the Słowacki Theatre in Krakow on the 123rd anniversary of the premiere, closing her anniversary triptych after “Grandfathers” and “Wedding”. The Jerzy Szaniawski Drama Theatre in Wałbrzych is also returning to its premiere. Seventeen years later, we were again able to watch the second staging of Paweł Demirski's drama “Diamonds are coal that took to work”. Pamela Leończyk was responsible for this “Polish” remake of Anton Chekhov's “Uncle Wana”.

Katarzyna Lemańska Theatre Notebook