Hamlet

Krzysztof Garbaczewski brilliantly reconciles the oppositions: a faith in the text and its rejection, faith in drama and a conviction of its anachronism, the virtuosic director and the anarchic stage. No other Polish director has such an impressive visual imagination – and Hamlet, with its sets designed by Aleksandra Wasilkowska, is further evidence.

“Hamlet is a spider's web, it center is Elsinore, an alien environment, far from the civilized world, to the which the Prince is desperately trying to give meaning. William Shakespeare molds his work doubting the purpose of revenge. What can vengeance mean when the authority of Hamlet/the Ghost ceases to hold?” the artists ask.

“Krzysztof Garbaczewski brilliantly reconciles the oppositions: a faith in the text and its rejection, faith in drama and a conviction of its anachronism, the virtuosic director and the anarchic stage. No other Polish director has such an impressive visual imagination – and Hamlet, with its sets designed by Aleksandra Wasilkowska, is further evidence. Over the stage hangs an enormous mirror-screen that recalls a rosette – it turns on its axis and casts flashes of light. This play scatters Hamlet like a prism. Out of the maudlin 'to be or not to be' Cecko makes an open-ended 'to be, or not: to be decided.' This is why the subsequent scenes create variants on an idea for Hamlet, separate dense worlds that more stand as neighbors than result from one another,” concluded Witold Mrozek in Gazeta Wyborcza.

Directed by - Krzysztof Garbaczewski
Translation - Stanisław Barańczak
Script - Marcin Cecko, Krzysztof Garbaczewski
Dramaturgy - Marcin Cecko
Set design - Aleksandra Wasilkowska
Video, lighting director - Robert Mleczko, Marek Kozakiewicz
Costumes - Svenja Gassen, Sławomir Blaszewski
Choreographic consultation (butoh dance) - Sylwia Hanff
Stage manager / prompter / assistant director - Hanna Nowak