Polish culture festival winds down in London
PR dla Zagranicy
Grzegorz Siwicki
06.07.2019 09:30
A festival of Polish culture entitled Shakespeare and Poland comes to a close in London on Saturday with a performance of "King Lear" by the Song of the Goat Theatre from the western Polish city of Wrocław.
Polish playwright and painter Stanisław Wyspiański (1869-1907)Stanisław Wyspiański, self portrait. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
The show, directed by Grzegorz Bral, had its international premiere during the Fringe Festival in Edinburgh in August 2012, where it won three prestigious awards. It presents the tragic stories from Shakespeare’s play in music, movement and song.
The Shakespeare and Poland festival, held at London’s Globe Theatre, has been a celebration of Poland’s particular affinity and fascination with Shakespeare. Highlights have included special events focusing on two Polish dramatists, Shakespeare’s contemporary Jan Kochanowski and Stanisław Wyspiański, who was born 150 years ago.
The Kochanowski event featured a reading of his play The Dismissal of the Grecian Envoys and of his collection of verse Laments, written after the death of his two-year-old daughter.
The Wyspiański tribute consisted of a panel discussion focusing on the playwright’s life and work, extracts from his Hamlet Study read by actors from the Globe Theatre, and a world premiere in English of his one-act play The Death of Ophelia.
(mk/gs)