Theatre Divine Spaces
In December, artists, critics, curators and scholars of theatre from all over the globe flock to Kraków to discover the finest contemporary Polish theatre.
Tomasz Domagała
The Divine Comedy International Theatre Festival is one of the most important events of its kind in Poland. Its main aim is to cast a fresh look at the latest productions, with the international jury awarding the Divine Comedian statuettes. The festival also serves as a showcase of Polish theatre and drives invitations to festivals abroad. The annual celebration of theatre is the perfect opportunity for Polish artists to present their works and meet their colleagues. Divine Comedy is simply a must!
The festival was launched in 2008 under artistic direction of Bartosz Szydłowski from the Łaźnia Nowa Theatre. Industry success translates into attendance success, with the system struggling to keep up with demand and tickets selling out within minutes. The popularity of the festival is clear at every performance, with dozens of keen young people queueing up by the entrance to each show with the hope of snagging any spare seats or even a space on the stairs, with the theatre’s permission of course. “I have a great sense of success – the formula is so effective I’m almost scared of thinking about the next festival,” Bartosz Szydłowski told Justyna Nowicka in the wake of the first Divine Comedy. Fortunately, in reality he isn’t really afraid of anything, hence the latest 14th edition of the festival. He coped admirably well with the incredibly difficult situation last year by hosting the festival online on PLAY KRAKÓW during lockdown, thus giving an important signal: we operate in whatever format is currently possible while we wait for better days. Polish theatre endures! I’m sure I don’t have to stress how important this message was to artists – and audiences – stuck at home.
Every year, the Divine Comedy is split into three sections: Inferno, Purgatorio and Paradiso (yes, their titles have not been chosen at random). The Inferno competition for Polish theatre showcases the most fascinating plays from the last season. The shortlisted spectacles compete for the statuette of Divine Comedian, funded by the Mayor of the City of Kraków. The section also features individual awards for actors and individuals behind specific elements of theatre such as stage design and music. Winners are selected by an international jury. The Paradiso section is a review of works by students and recent graduates. Finally, Purgatorio features the latest productions linked by an idea that resonates the most throughout Polish theatre during the season. Divine Comedy also includes meetings with artists, debates with guests representing myriad fields and informal meetings at the festival centre – formerly the legendary and sadly gone Bunkier Café.
At the festival centre at Bunkier Café, Divine Comedy 2016, photo by Tomasz Wiech
And while we’re on the subject of Bunkier, it’s time to move to a less formal section of the text. As I have the honour of being a part of Divine Comedy’s team, I would like to share a few of my favourite memories from the festival.
My adventure with the event started – as things often do – with an informal email from Bartosz Szydłowski in 2015, inviting me to the festival. What followed was one of the most beautiful theatre weeks in my life; I was completely absorbed by events, running from theatre to theatre, from play to play, and talking at Bunkier Sztuki long into the night. I’ve been to the festival a couple of times before, but only ever for a day or two. Like crowds of other hopeful young people I waited patiently by the entrance wondering if I’ll be able to see a long-sold-out spectacle. At the inaugural festival, my dream was to see Jan Klata’s The Danton Case. It was late, the doors to the auditorium were closing, and I was in a small crowd gradually losing hope of getting in, when a woman ran in and gasped that she had two tickets but her guest couldn’t make it so she would take in one of us. I was the first to shout “me!”, and it was the most beautiful event of the week. I sat on the stairs – our seats were long taken – and I’d never been so happy.
During the eighth festival in 2015 – the first event I attended in full – I had a true Eureka moment. One of the last spectacles shown as part of the competition was Elfriede Jelinek’s Winter Journey directed by Paweł Miśkiewicz from the greatly missed Polski Theatre in Wrocław and starring the outstanding Halina Rasiakówna. In one scene, Elfriede – with her trademark large dark glasses and combed-back fringe – sits in an armchair and exudes terrifying calm. The mysterious, self-absorbed figure was magnetic, and the sparse, condensed delivery, emanating irony, was unforgettable. Listening to Rasiakówna’s Elfriede I felt as though she was writing a secret, bitter journal. It turned out that the actress and the rest of the ensemble also captivated the rest of the audience and the jury, although behind the scenes the play wasn’t seen as a favourite. The standing ovation lasted a whopping ten minutes, showing that performances at Divine Comedy live by their own rules, and that Kraków and its keen audiences have the power to transform an ember into a huge fire.
Winter Journey, dir. Paweł Miśkiewicz, Divine Comedy 2015, photo by Natalia Kabanow
I had a similar experience with Michał Borczuch’s The Apocalypse. The performance was held on the last day at Łaźnia Nowa, and actors from Nowy Theatre in Warsaw just smashed the system: they enthralled the audience and the jury, and swept up all the awards.
The Apocalypse, dir. Michał Borczuch, Divine Comedy 2015, photo by Magda Hueckel
In 2016, I made by debut at Divine Comedy as author of the event’s official diary in which I noted everything that happened at the festival. But I also remember a private moment when I was feverish with flu on my way in a taxi to ICE Kraków to see Kumernis by Agata Duda-Gracz from Muzyczny Theatre in Gdynia. I remember the trip back even better, when I was sobbing thinking about the story spun by the director. I forgot all about my fever and about the real world, until the driver reminded me by saying, “Don’t worry, she’ll be back, they always come back…”
Kumernis, or How Holy Lady Grew a Beard, dir. Agata Duda-Gracz, Divine Comedy 2016, photo by Greg Noo-Wak
I have been one of the festival selectors since 2018, so I am partly responsible for what you see at Divine Comedy. My colleagues and I are truly invested in good theatre, even if we don’t always agree with some of the content or artistic expression. We and the festival director Bartosz Szydłowski trust our fantastic audiences and we believe in their extraordinary sensitivity and intelligence, revealed time after time at Divine Comedy through enthusiasm – or disapproval! – for our spectacles. Thank you, and join us at Divine Comedy in Kraków in December! We endure!
The 14th Divine Comedy International Theatre Festival is held between 3 and 12 December under the Latin motto Post tenebras lux (After darkness, light). As well as the usual sections of Inferno, Purgatorio and Paradiso held live, the programme also includes online streaming of performances, and meetings and debates with artists. Some of this year’s hits include Krystian Lupa's Austerlitz, Jan Klata’s Red Noses, Agata Duda-Gracz’s Between Lena’s Legs, or “Death of the Virgin” After Michelangelo da Caravaggio, Bartosz Szydłowski’s Snow, Grzegorz Wiśniewski's Autumn Sonata, Weronika Szczawińska’s Onco and Katarzyna Kalwat’s Purification. REad more here: [CLICK]
photo by Hektor Werios
Tomasz Domagała
Theatre critic, author of the blog DOMAGAŁAsięKULTURY, jury member of the Divine Comedy International Theatre Festival in Kraków and curator of the New Theatre Festival in Rzeszów. Juror of the 5th and 6th Competition for Staging Early Polish Literary Works “Living Classics”. He has been published in periodicals including “Teatr”, “Rzeczpospolita”, “Tygodnik Powszechny” and “Dziennik Gazeta Prawna”. Editor at Polish Radio between 2018 and 2020. He has been publishing reviews and interviews with representatives of the world of theatre on her website since 2014.
The text was published in the 4/2021 issue of the “Kraków Culture” quarterly.
