about the production
I talk about myself, about my understanding of the world. About what is stuck inside me, what bothers me, what prevents me from maturing, from finding peace with the world ... In a way I become the main protagonist of my own theatre.I wanted The Cherry Orchard to be a refuge for people "who have gone astray'', who have for various reasons found themselves on the edge of their own life. (...)
I think about a HOUSE. House which you can only reach today by making your way through an old orchard which has gone wild. House, which is not only a place where one Iives, eats and sleeps, but a place where a person gets born and dies. House, which is marked by jo y and sadness of the previous generations. Those who were born there, grew up, experienced their first love, grew old and left. That house simply had to leave some trace behind! It had to preserve the atmosphere of experiences and the scent of life!
Pawel Miskiewicz, director of the production
Death in Miskiewicz's world the keeps coming back through various symbols. Miskiewicz filled the story (the history) of Chekhov by tragedy with much stronger impact than the author himself had planned: it is only Firs who died in the play, while in the Wroclaw production it is also Ranevska who dies. One by one she loses everything that was of any value for her: hope, memories, the cherry orchard...
Monika Zólkos, theatre critic, Przekrój, 27/5/2001
The topic of Pawel Miškiewicz's theatre production is the quest for human maturity. And it was in The Cherry Orchard that this issue could be fully and inherently depicted for the first time and melted through the characters of the play itself. The hero of Miskiewicz's theatre accepts the laws of this process and agrees with them. A consistently kept differentiation of the worlds presented makes it possible to claim that in The Cherry Orchard we encounter one experience – death. (...) In the theatre, Miskiewicz has always been most interested in people themselves, in their most intimate experiences with the world. His hero has most often been an independent unit, excessively sensitive, characterised by abounding in "strangeness". He was struggling with himself, with what remained of the clash of ideals and reality, stereotypes and one's own memory. He had difficulties communicating with the other person, with making a real contact, although there was nothing else he would have longed for quite so much.
Joanna Biernacka, Didaskalia No. 43/44
creators
adapted and directed by Pawel Miskiewicz
translation: Czeslaw Jastrzbiec – Kozlowski
music: Boleslaw Rawski
stage and costume design: Andrzej Witkowski
characters and cast:
Lyubov Andreyevna: Halina Skoczynska, Gayev: Igor Przegrodzki, Varya: Katarzyna Strączek, Lopakhin: Adam Cywka, Anya: Monika Bolly, Petya Trofimov: Marcin Czarnik, Charlota: Krzesislawa Dubielówna, Firs: Cezary Kussyk, Yepichodov: Henryk Niebudek, Yasha: Tadeusz Szymków, Dunyasha: Agata Skowrońska, Simeonov Pishchik: Stanislaw Melski, Dashenka: Ilona Ostrowska, Wanderer: Wojciech Dbrowski, Guests: Danuta Balicka, Jadwiga Skupnik, Halina Smiela-Jacobson, Ferdynand Matysik, Andrzej Mrozek, Albert Narkiewicz, Andrzej Wilk and others
director
Pawel Miskiewicz (1964)
In 1989 he graduated from the Jagellonian University in Cracow (Polish Studies and Theatre Studies) and the State Theatre Academy (Acting). In 1995he finished the studies of Directing at the same university. As an actor he worked in the Old Theatre in Cracow. He acted in the productions of Krystian Lupa the Brothers Karamazov (Dostoevsky) and Sleepwalkers (Broch). He participated in the lstropolitana Festival in Bratislava with a student performance of Waiting for Godot (S. Beckett).
Since 1994 he bas created more then 15 productions in theatres all over Poland – K. Hamsun: Hunger, W. Gombrowicz: Universe, J. Lukosz: Comeback (Prize for the best performance at the Contemporary Drama Festival, granted by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of the Polish Republic), Y. Reza: Art, H. Ibsen: Hedda Gabler, J. Genet: Les Bonnes.
In 2000 he became the art director of Teatr Polski in Wroclaw, where he directed T. Rozewicz: Little Paradise (which received an invitation to Mittelfest 2001 in Italy, and Theater der Welt 2002 festival in Germany), A. P. Chekbov: The Cherry Orchard (participation in tbe Dialog festival in Wroclaw). He bas been preparing the Polish premiere of Dey Loher's The Chance of Klara.
The Cherry Orchard has won the Grand Prix – Golden Adalbert at the Kalisz Festival. Five actors (impersonating Ranevska, Charlota, Varya, Dunyasha, Yepichodov) have won awards for their acting in this production.
Materials available
Video of the production: no
Scripts of the production: SK, PL
If you are interested in these materials, write to archivy@nitrafest.sk