Backstage is the area behind the curtains concealing what the creative team wish to keep hidden from their audience. The less accessible it is to the eyes and ears of those uninitiated, the greater the curiosity it arouses. Weronika Zajkowska – a dramaturg who has worked with, among others, Michał Zadara and the German director Emma Hütt – has created an adaptation of Stefan Żeromski’s Dzienniki / Diaries, focusing on the relationship between readers and the author who entrusts them with his private notes. What can be read today from the motes of the author of Przedwiośnie / The Coming Spring, Syzyfowe prace / The Labours of Sisyphus, and Ludzie bezdomni / The Homeless? Can his experiences resonate with our present day? The performative reading delivered by a choral ensemble of actors and soloists, becomes a tool for exploring both the literary dimensions of the Diaries and new forms of theatrical experience.

The production was developed as part of the Żeromski Dramaturgical Residency: a unique initiative of the Kielce-based theatre dedicated to strengthening the visibility and independence of dramaturgy as one of the key and continually evolving practices of contemporary theatre. The residency was awarded to Weronika Zajkowska as a prize at Kraków’s Forum of Young Directors organised by the Stanisław Wyspiański Academy of Theatre Arts.

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Photo by Tomasz Walczuk