The Night

Teatr KANA, Sczecin, Poland, 1995
Author: Venedikt Yerofeyev
Directed by Zygmund Duzdyński

about the production

The stage production The Night was born on the basis of a poem Moscow-Petushka, a drama of Valfurgin's night or the steps of a nautical captain and based upon a Vasiliy Rozanov's essay In the Eccentric 's Eye. The fragments of a Jozef Brodsky's poem The Autumn Crying of a Hawk and a text by Zygmund Duczynsky were used as well.

“Democracy and élitism, vulgarity and subtlety, cruelty and tragedy, clowning, antics and mystery meet each other throughout the work...” (Andrzej Zorin)

creators

adaptation, stage design and direction: Zygmund Duzdyňski
music: Marek Kazan
cast: Jacek Zawadzki, Mariusz Blimel, Janusz Janiszewski, Slawoj Golanski, Dariusz Mikula

theatre

Theatre KANA was established in 1979 in Szczecin (Poland). Since then we have presented our work at many festivals and major theatrical centres in Poland. We were guest of " Theatre of the Eighth Day", at the Centre of Culture in Lublin and Warsaw. We were distinguished in alternative festivals, e.g. "START" and participated in the Days of Polish Culture at the Catholic University of Lublin. We also presented our work at the University of Berlin, in the Centre of Polish Culture in Moscow, London and Amsterdam. Our main performances: Performance (1979) – based on the poetry by E. Lipska, Abaddon (1982) –  based on J. Andrzeewski, F. Nietsche, O. Mandelshtam, The Book – About life, death and work of Osip Mamdelshtam (1982) – based on O. Mandelshtam, N.  Mandelshtam, A. Solzhenitsyn, Drama Fragment (1984) – based on Screens by J. Genet, Black Lights (1985) – based on The Thief's Diary and The Balcony by J. Genet. Sleeplessness (1987) – the street performance, Moscow-Petushki (1989) – a theatrical vision of the book by V. Yerofeyev, The Night (1983).

The main themes of our performances are:  the solitude of man, foreboding of death, looking far love and God. These subjects however, exist on a stage covered by self-irony, carnival laughter and foolery. In our way of working we try to connect literature that possesses high artistic ambitions with the reality of a new art.  Since 1991 we have existed as the Theatre Kana Association and we have been working on a project OUTSIDERS – the main purpose of which is to present important performances from the most innovative theatrical groups in Europe today. In accordance with that aim we have so far managed to invite: CRICOT 2, PLASTIC STAGE CUL, THEATRE PROVISORIUM, GRUPA CHWILOWA, EXMENT (Denmark), THEATRE NUCLEO (Italy), GREENLAND FRITEATER (Norway), THEATRE OF THE EIGHTH DAY, THEATRE DEREVO (Russia).