New Eastern Europe - November-December 2017

(Ben Green) #1

164


ject the chance for modernity, are ser-
vile and adopt the absolute rule getting
caught up in murderous plots.
The list of plays inspired by Russia
and Russians staged in Legnica goes on.
Among them include Anton Chekhov’s
Ivanov directed for the Modjeska Thea-
tre in 2012 by Linas M. Zaikauskas. The
Polish-Soviet experience of the city and
the dramatic elements that relate to it can
also be found in the Ballad of Zakacza-
wie (2000) and the Rise and Fall of the
Town (2003). These two plays, directed
by Głomb, were later filmed and shown
on Polish television.
One last unique event worth mention-
ing is the three-day festival called “Twenty
Years After” which was organised in Sep-

tember 2013 to commemorate the 20th
anniversary of the withdrawal of the So-
viet Army from Legnica. Its programme
included theatrical proposals (for exam-
ple from the Moscow “Teatr.doc” thea-
tre company), films, sessions and panels
as well as open-air concerts (the Russian
rock band Leningrad came to play) and
numerous re-enactments. Participants in-
cluded locals as well as people (and their
families) in Russia who had once lived in
Legnica when they had served in the So-
viet Army. Right before this event, during
the summer, the first (and last) Polish-
Russian Theatre School, under the aegis
of Andrzej Wajda and Krystyna Zachwa-
towicz, was organised for young actors
and directors of both countries.

Translated by Iwona Reichardt

Grzegorz Żurawiński is a contributor with the publication Akt – Legnicka Gazeta Teatralna.

Eastern Café Legnica with a view to Russia, Grzegorz Żurawiński
Free download pdf