THE SECOND DAY
The second day (June 24) is the continuation of the theatrical rite: the contemporary intercultural “Polish-Japanese Forefathers’ Eve / Soreisai” – celebrated from the perspective of a woman, dealing with the past, talking to her Spirits, reaching to the music of the sources – is a dialogue between what shapes us and who we are and at the same time an attempt to redefine our own identity.
Polish-Japanese Forefathers’ Eve
Inspired by Jerzy Grotowski’s “Forefathers’ Eve” (1961) and Włodzimierz Staniewski’s and Gardzienice Theatre’s “Gusła” (Sorcery) is a theatre event combining a country dance / town dance and the Japanese Obon Festival. Ruling supreme are music, the atmosphere of a dance and, most importantly, the power of women, which has so far been overlooked in Forefathers’ Eve. Sorcerer (Guślarz) is as much Leader of the Dance as he is Priest. However, he is watched over by a woman and a band. Will he succumb to their power? Invited ghosts – the forefathers – finally appear. What kind of ghosts? What kind of souls? Dance liberates them from their muteness and immobility and they take control of the party. The spell “Souls from the purgatory, any side of the world. . .” will bring ghosts from the end of the world, while others: “let your shine of your shield stay in the eyes for a long time " will be fulfilled as the spectre of Terror.
In Japan, from the earliest times, there has been the custom of a supper feast and dances for the dead celebrated during O-bon - the feast of ancestors, when souls visit family homes and watch how the descendants live. In the entire country, there are summer family reunions, common evening parties and dances of whole communities – districts in cities, villages in provinces. Even amateurs play instruments, crowds drift down the streets and squares forming parades. There are many prominent theatre artists in Japan, such as Shūji Terayama, who refer to ritual contacts with souls of ancestors. These contacts are the foundations of performing arts in Japan: nō, kabuki and jōruri.
Here, our sensitivity is identical to the Japanese. On the hundredth anniversary of the establishment of official relations between Poland and Japan, our subsequent eves of forefathers are dedicated to the Old Men and Old Women, who fed with real life the relationships between the two kingdoms of theatre – Poland and Japan - in the past.
Director, concept of the piece, script, set design, costume concept: Jadwiga Rodowicz-Czechowska
Lorenc Trio: Maniucha Bikont (singer, actor), Maciej Filipczuk (viola, violin), Jacek Hałas (percussion instruments, lyre, flute), Marcin Lorenc (violin, viola)
Choreographer, dance leader, actor: Piotr Zgorzelski
Singers, actors: Maniucha Bikont, Beata Passini
Japanese women’s dance arrangement, singer, actor: Hana UmedaNō
Sound design: Envee
Premiere: 17th November 2018, Zbigniew Raszewski Theatre Institute in Warsaw
Duration: 120 minutes
The project co-finances the capital city of Warsaw.
Partners: Aleksander Zelwerowicz Theatrical Academy in Warsaw, Zbigniew Raszewski Theatre Institute in Warsaw. The presented works were created thanks to the support of Andrzej Szczypiorski Fund for the Support of Creativity of the Association of Authors ZAiKS.
THE SECOND DAY
The second day (June 24) is the continuation of the theatrical rite: the contemporary intercultural “Polish-Japanese Forefathers’ Eve / Soreisai” – celebrated from the perspective of a woman, dealing with the past, talking to her Spirits, reaching to the music of the sources – is a dialogue between what shapes us and who we are and at the same time an attempt to redefine our own identity.
Polish-Japanese Forefathers’ Eve
Inspired by Jerzy Grotowski’s “Forefathers’ Eve” (1961) and Włodzimierz Staniewski’s and Gardzienice Theatre’s “Gusła” (Sorcery) is a theatre event combining a country dance / town dance and the Japanese Obon Festival. Ruling supreme are music, the atmosphere of a dance and, most importantly, the power of women, which has so far been overlooked in Forefathers’ Eve. Sorcerer (Guślarz) is as much Leader of the Dance as he is Priest. However, he is watched over by a woman and a band. Will he succumb to their power? Invited ghosts – the forefathers – finally appear. What kind of ghosts? What kind of souls? Dance liberates them from their muteness and immobility and they take control of the party. The spell “Souls from the purgatory, any side of the world. . .” will bring ghosts from the end of the world, while others: “let your shine of your shield stay in the eyes for a long time " will be fulfilled as the spectre of Terror.
In Japan, from the earliest times, there has been the custom of a supper feast and dances for the dead celebrated during O-bon - the feast of ancestors, when souls visit family homes and watch how the descendants live. In the entire country, there are summer family reunions, common evening parties and dances of whole communities – districts in cities, villages in provinces. Even amateurs play instruments, crowds drift down the streets and squares forming parades. There are many prominent theatre artists in Japan, such as Shūji Terayama, who refer to ritual contacts with souls of ancestors. These contacts are the foundations of performing arts in Japan: nō, kabuki and jōruri.
Here, our sensitivity is identical to the Japanese. On the hundredth anniversary of the establishment of official relations between Poland and Japan, our subsequent eves of forefathers are dedicated to the Old Men and Old Women, who fed with real life the relationships between the two kingdoms of theatre – Poland and Japan - in the past.
Director, concept of the piece, script, set design, costume concept: Jadwiga Rodowicz-Czechowska
Lorenc Trio: Maniucha Bikont (singer, actor), Maciej Filipczuk (viola, violin), Jacek Hałas (percussion instruments, lyre, flute), Marcin Lorenc (violin, viola)
Choreographer, dance leader, actor: Piotr Zgorzelski
Singers, actors: Maniucha Bikont, Beata Passini
Japanese women’s dance arrangement, singer, actor: Hana UmedaNō
Sound design: Envee
Premiere: 17th November 2018, Zbigniew Raszewski Theatre Institute in Warsaw
Duration: 120 minutes
The project co-finances the capital city of Warsaw.
Partners: Aleksander Zelwerowicz Theatrical Academy in Warsaw, Zbigniew Raszewski Theatre Institute in Warsaw. The presented works were created thanks to the support of Andrzej Szczypiorski Fund for the Support of Creativity of the Association of Authors ZAiKS.