A German-Polish youth theatre project together with JugendKulturZentrum PUMPE (Berlin)

In 1935, the Polish writer Witold Gombrowicz published his first drama “Yvonna, Princess of Burgundy”: A grotesque, about form, custom, and ceremony, growing and limiting the individual who does not know how to and cannot free himself. The drama can still be seen as a valid metaphor of society today. This dimension was an important element of the production which was developed during workshops.

The following steps were used to realize the German-Polish collaboration project “Yvonne / Iwona”:

1.

The Youth Group of Teatr Mumerus was established with students of the XXI Lyceum in Krakow - Nowa Huta, a school with a strong creative arts profile. Together with the Polish stage director Wieslaw Holdys, the group started working on “Iwona” from May – September 2004.

The workshop was divided into two phases: First of all, the young participants chose words and catch phrases from Gombrowicz’s text. Secondly, short scenes were created based on those choices.

During this same period, the German group “Grüner Hund”, which for several years has been working with the stage director Ilona Zarypow, began rehearsing Gombrowicz’s” drama.

2.

From October 3 – 17, both groups met at the Youth Culture Centre in Berlin. The work that had been created between May and October in the respective countries, continued collectively during an intensive rehearsal period at the PUMPE.

Before their encounter at the PUMPE in Berlin, both groups had individually prepared the scenes by casting one or more persons for a role. The individual roles were divided among the two groups, yet there were also roles that were cast with a Polish and a German performer. For instance, the role of the queen is played by two persons. In her monologue, the queen stands in front of a mirror and communicates with her reflection, which respectively speaks in the other language. Both languages are present on stage, and it is guaranteed that the German as well as the Polish spectators are able to follow the scenes. In other cases, the problem of understanding was resolved by inserting commentaries in the respective languages. For instance, an argument develops between two Polish court ladies, commented on by Innozenz, who is portrayed by a German. One never has the impression that Innozenz is literally translating the argument.

There are also scenes where Polish performers speak in German and vice versa, although most of the times they only use catch phrases.

At the beginning of the rehearsals, the performers read their roles together, comparing the text passages from both scripts in order to avoid misunderstandings with the languages. The performers often had to learn key words in the other person’s language so that they would know their cue in the play.

In many of the scenes Tango music is heard, and practically all of the performers movements is based on a Tango rhythm. The result is a very moving, physical and pictorial production.

Finally, the joint performance of the Youth Studio Teatr Mumerus and “Grüner Hund” opened at Youth Culture Centre PUMPE in Berlin. A successful performance in Polish and German was presented to a sold out audience on October 16.