Świat, wydanie drugie at Willa Decjusza

Stowarzyszenie Willa Decjusza [The Villa Decius Association] would like to invite you another edition of Ogrody Twórczości 2013 [Gardens of Creativity] this Sunday, the 4th of August at 5 p.m. This time, within the interiors of Willa Decjusza, the Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz Theatre from Zakopane will present Katarzyna Pietrzyk’s recital based on Wisława Szymborska’s …Świat, wydanie drugie [The World, Second Edition]. Entrance with free tickets available at the InfoKraków venues (ul. św. Jana 2, Wyspiański Pavilion ‒ pl. Wszystkich Świętych 2) and immediately before the show. The number of seats is limited.

“I was bewitched by the poet’s sense of humour, her tendency towards self-irony, her wisdom and ability to discover the unusual in the usual. I perceive the generally intimate poems as small masterpieces with a consummate form and a surprising, apt point. Excerpts from some of these poems fit together into a logical whole to me,” says Katarzyna Pietrzyk.

The following poems by Wisława Szymborska were included in the recital: Allegro ma non troppo, Koniec i początek [The End and the Beginning], Konkurs piękności męskiej [Male Beauty Contest], Nic darowane [Nothing’s a Gift], Obmyślam świat [I Meditate Upon the World], Odzież [Clothes], Pierwsza fotografia Hitlera [Hitler’s First Photograph], Podziękowanie [Gratitude], Portret kobiecy [Portrait of a Woman], Prospekt [Prospectus], Przemówienie w biurze znalezionych rzeczy [A Speech at the Lost and Found], Urodziny [Birthday], Uśmiechy [Smiles], Życie na poczekaniu [Life While You Wait].

“Katarzyna Pietrzyk does not “play Szymborska” in this show and she actually refers to the poet only by wearing this little hat. She is a character who experiences life like we all do, a typical everyman, or everywoman in this case. But this “typical woman” is aware that “after every war someone has to tidy up”, so that, say, in the grass, overgrown in causes and effects, someone can be stretched out with a blade of grass in his mouth gazing at the clouds…

The selection of texts is extremely well thought out. It does not include the commonly known poems which were quoted by all the media after the death of the Nobel Prize winner, but each piece forces us to reflect on life and us within this life. The tension is relieved several times with tiny, less serious bits, because Wisława Szymborksa wrote also ironic, or even self-ironic poems, while her distinctive sense of humour was also her mark.”

Maciej Pinkwart

The Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz Theatre in Zakopane
Wisława Szymborska
…Świat, wydanie drugie

Screenplay and performance: Katarzyna Pietrzyk
Music: Jerzy Chruściński
Choreography consultant: Anita Podkowa
Stage design: Ewa Dyakowska-Berbeka

Photography: R. Parma