Malkovich in Poland

John Malkovich in Lodz.Photo:PAP/Grzegorz Michałowski

Malkovich’s arrival to Poland yesterday was delayed by several hours because he had been robbed of his documents and personal belongings in Prague, the previous leg of his tour.

Despite this, he attended a meeting last night with students of the Łodz Film School and film buffs, which included the screening of his directorial debut feature ‘Dancer’.

The Infernal Comedy - Confessions of a Serial Killer is a drama for one actor, two opera singers and an orchestra, recounting the life of Jack Unterweger, the Austrian writer and serial killer who murdered a number of prostitutes in Europe and Los Angeles.

He was arrested in 1992 and put to jail in Austria, where he hanged himself in 1994. In the play, he comes back from the dead as part of a book tour to promote his latest memoirs.

For much of the production, Malkovich is seated at a table where he recites a comic monologue about his character's life and love affairs. He interacts with two opera singers who perform arias by Vivaldi, Mozart and Haydn. They represent the various women in the murderer's life, including his mother and some of the prostitutes he killed.

The show is scripted and directed by Michael Sturminger. Malkovich is partnered by Bernarda Bobro from Slovenia and Aleksandra Zamojska from Poland.

Tomorrow, The Infernal Comedy - Confessions of a Serial Killer is shown in Warsaw, but, to a huge disappointment of theatre and film fans, the performance is a closed event, to mark the 20th anniversary of a major consulting company, with no tickets offered for the general public.

Malkovich has received Academy Award nominations for Places in the Heart and In the Line of Fire and appeared in such successful movies as Empire of the Sun, The Killing Fields and Dangerous Liaisons.

The actor came to Poland in 1995 for the location shooting of Volker Schlondorff’s Der Unhold (The Ogre). (mk)