Author of the play: William Shakespeare
Polish translation: Stanislaw Baranczak
Directed by: Jan Klata
Set design and costumes: Justyna Lagowska
Cameras: Tomasz Glowacki, Jakub Kowalczyk, Rafal Leszczynski, Wojciech
Sulezycki, Tomasz Szoltys
Actors:
Hamlet: Marcin Czarnik
Gertrude: Joanna Bogacka
Ofelia : Marta Kalmus
Claudius: Grzegorz Gzyl
Horacjo: Cezary Rybinski
Polonius: Slawomir Sulej
Laertes: Maciej Brzoska
Rosenkranz: Wojciech Kalarus
Guildenstern: Rafal Kronenberger
Actor 1: Alina Lipnicka
Actor 1: Arkadiusz Brykalski
Actor 2: Jan Sieradzinski
Voltemand: Maciej Szemiel
Ghost of Hamlet's father: Jerzy Gonko
Ozyrys: Dariusz Szymaniak
Fortynbras: Maciej Konopinski
About:
The Gdansk Shipyard, one of the most mythical and, at the same time, mystical
places in Gdansk. This historical space became the setting for the dramatic
Shakespeare-inspired events. The newest performance of the Wybrzeże Theatre
takes place in austere, gloomy space of an abandoned gantry room of the Gdansk
Shipyard. Based on Shakespeare's "Hamlet", the performance of "H." is directed
by one of the most famous directors of the young generation, Jan Klata, an
artist labelled "constructor of human catastrophes". The "H." of Gdansk is
played in the room, which still houses Anna Walentynowicz's gantry. The
architecture of the place is unusual. Two aisles and the nave turn the place
into a unique monumental sacral-industrial structure, where spirits of the past
hover with a vague specter of the future.
It is an ideal place to tell the story of Hamlet, says Jan Klata, and teases
that after all, Hamlet was a Pole. The titular hero enters the stage armed with
a golf club. Following the ball hit by Hamlet, the spectators reach subsequent
corners and recesses of the shipyard, which are as murky as the inner world of
the inhabitants of Elsinor. The performance, which is played on a number of
levels of the gantry room, does not lack momentum and impressive scenes: a
horse-mounted rider, drowning of Ophelia in a Motlawa canal, surprising
costumes, symbolism of colors and mysterious props: a globe-shaped alcohol
trolley (ironical reference to the Globe Theatre), a fencing mat and masks, or
the turbo-golfer gear... "I want to clash characters and attitudes to life in
such a way as to make it painful and impressive," says Jan Klata. "Something
must be going on, exploding, erupting." However, the impressive effects are
followed by a well thought-out, consistent reading of Shakespeare's story, which
Klata rewrites into tragedies of individual protagonists. What is most
important, protagonists who are not clearly specified and ambiguous.
"It is worth seeing. Particularly, dear reader, if you should doubt whether
the story of the Danish prince, which has been played-out a thousand times, can
still be read anew, or surprise the spectator in any way. Jan Klata, the
director of the Gdansk spectacle of "H.", gives us hope it is still possible.
(Katarzyna Fryc, Gazeta Wyborcza Trójmiasto)
