Michał Borczuch – an artist repeatedly awarded at Boska Komedia / Divine Comedy and a director whose productions such as Apokalipsa / Apocalypse, Wszystko o mojej matce / All About My Mother, Żaby / The Frogs and Kino moralnego niepokoju / The Cinema of Moral Anxiety have left a distinctive mark on contemporary Polish theatre – has this time turned to James Joyce’s legendary, monumental novel. From the immense literary material, dramaturg Tomasz Śpiewak has selected threads focusing on the relationship between the married couple Leopold and Molly, and Stephen – a young poet and student. As Leopold and Molly each, in their own way, mourn the death of their son, Stephen becomes for them a substitute object of love and fascination. For Borczuch, the trio become the centre around which he spreads a constellation of grotesque and tragic figures, portrayed by the outstanding actors of the Słowacki Theatre, Dominika Bednarczyk, Wojciech Dolatowski, and Magdalena Osińska among them.

Audiences familiar with the works of Borczuch and his regular collaborators will recognise the distinctive traits of their style in Ulysses. Dorota Nawrot’s poetic set design, which allegorically reflects the themes of the adaptation together with Bartosz Dziadosz’s electronic sounds build the atmosphere of the production. Humorous touches are added by video inserts showing the lives of AGH University of Science and Technology students living in dormitories named Olimp / Olympus, Akropol / Acropolis, Itaka / Ithaca and Odyseja / Odyssey – names that, like the title of Joyce’s monumental novel, evoke the mythological order. Krzysztof Zarzecki, In appearing in the title role, is the actor most closely associated with Borczuch’s works and artistic sensibility – while Molly Bloom is portrayed by Martyna Krzysztofik, whose monologue, a tour de force of the stream-of-consciousness, provides the artistic and emotional climax of the performance.

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Photo by Bartek Barczyk