CLOSE YOUR EYES NEL. IN THE DESERT AND IN THE WILDERNESS — EPILOGUE

The show is recommended for people from 16 years of age. A performance with subtitles in English. The script used excerpts from Grzegorz Łysia's reportage “Colonial Bzik. II Rzeczpospolita overseas cases”, Wydawnictwo W.A.B, 2023 After the performance, there will be a meeting with the creators.

When three adult siblings bring their sick mother from the hospital, it turns out that she is no longer their mother, but the heroine of the school reading, and they themselves are Stasi, Kali, Mea, and if necessary - even an elephant. Piotr Domalewski — director of the award-winning films “Silent Night” and “Ministranci” — builds a bittersweet, but at the same time funny story about family, community building, as well as the need to conquer and expand one's borders. As one of Henryk Sienkiewicz's most controversial books, “In the Desert and in the Forest” is directly accused of spreading racism and colonial resentments, and its unwavering position on the school reading list for years is often questioned. Domalewski takes a critical look at the narratives it contains, juxtaposing them with the intimate family history and imperial impulses that the Maritime and Colonial League spread among Poles.

“Close your eyes Nel...” is simply a story about a family, with an anti-colonial but also anti-patriarchal message sewn into the spectacle with an elaborate, discreet, almost invisible stitch. (...) Domalewski and his team managed to make an acrobatic turn in which the ideologically suspicious story of children wandering through the desert is barely (or even) a reference point for a new, overwritten story. Family, intimate, full of shame, trauma, but also tenderness (...). This show is a bit like a dream, a bit like a funny-scary cabaret, at times like a cruel psychodrama. Great written, with excellent work by actresses and actors. Justyna Nowicka, Radio Krakow

Since the premiere of “One Long Day” there has not been such a psychologically good performance in the Old Theater. This is not a play about “In the Desert and in the Woods.” Just as well, in order to outline the contexts needed by the director, the mother could immerse herself in any other reading. Dorota Pomykała can now confidently claim the role of the season. The way the actress conducts this character causes such a wide range of emotions in the viewer that after the end of the performance it is impossible to pull yourself together for a long time. Piotr Gaszczyński, teatradlakich.pl