What do Shakespeare’s Desdemona, intermedia artist Ana Mendieta, and Gabby Petito have in common? All three were murdered by men and became heroines of stories that, in different forms and on various scales, are present in our culture. Stories that shock, horrify, yet – above all – fascinate. It is this perverse entanglement of emotions that Wiktor Rubin and Jolanta Janiczak explore in their production.

The true-crime Netflix series recounting the story of Gabby Petito – a young woman who wanted to share her life on the road through video blogs – served as the inspiration for the director and playwright duo. Neither Rubin nor Janiczak need introduction to Kraków audiences or to festival regulars. At the festival, they have presented such acclaimed productions as Caryca Katarzyna / Catherine the Great, the interactive Każdy dostanie to, w co wierzy / Everyone Gets What They Believe In, and more recently Dobrze ułożony młodzieniec / The Well-Behaved Young Man – a pioneering play devoted to the biography of Eugeniusz Steinbart, a transsexual man from Łódź. In Foreplay, staged in Wrocław, the audience will again find the duo’s signature criticism of patriarchy, fascination with female biographies, and strategies for pushing the viewers out from their comfort zones. It is a musical piece which, through a form reminiscent of popular entertainment, raises questions about the darker side of media portrayals of love – and about our very presence on social media as an act of self-creation and exposure to often hostile gazes. The cast features the outstanding actresses and actors of Wrocław’s Capitol Musical Theatre, who at last year’s festival have dazzled both audience and jury with their performances in Złote płyty / Gold Records. The live music is performed by Krzysztof Kaliski.

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The production makes use of strobe lighting and smoke effects.

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Photo by Łukasz Giza