So Wifi sorted and up and going.
Yesterday began with a lovely breakfast of smoked salmon and brown robbers bread - made by my long lost friend Maciej at his appartment in central Wroclaw where he lives with his sister and elderly mother.
One of my reasons for this brief visit to Poland was a suggestion by Maciej that we might look at chronicling the history of the Wroclaw International Festival of Theatre 1965-1993. This was a major project for the communist regime, who gave permission but were not keen to help the organisers. Because of the military takeover of 1981 much of the archive and stories of this groundbreaking festival are not recorded anywhere.
So we thought we would have a stab at remembering and capturing the world as it was in Poland and Eastern Europe in the last years of the cold war and the international theatre that came here at that time, including the iconic Bread and Puppet Theatre and Richard Schechner' s Performance Group who Maciej brought to Poland for the festival in 1971. We have decided to make a series of short video diaries to get started with. So over breakfast we began with number one - we plan to do one every day whilst I am here.
Maciej tells me that he has a daily rendezvous with a load of 'old crocs' at the Kluba Literatka at 12. Most of them are retired, have no work or are artists or all three! The cafe is right on the main square of the town, and as we went in I was struck by the dense smoke hanging in the air, apparently the Poles ignore any laws about not smoking in public places! But somehow it fits with the mood and feel of the place. This is what I remember about my early visits to Poland in the eighties. A group of about ten sit round a table and talk. One of them is Lech Twordoswki, a painter. He is showing Maciej photographs of his new earthworks installation - its reminiscent of Stonehenge, and so we get to have a bit of a chat about ideas. There may be some possibilities for a further conversation whilst I am here.
Later in the afternoon we pop into the opening of an exhibition. A little too ornate for me but some interesting religious images on drift wood.
A brief walk through the town square and we happen upon an english busker - Peter Fairweather in full flight, I captured him here. According to Maciej he gives his all everyday in the square.
When I was here in the early eighties with TAT we did a number of performances of Ulysses (James Joyce) at Jerzy Grotowski's Laboratorium, now Institute so we passed by there and had a chat.
Tomorrow they are publishing all 152 of Grotowski's books in Polish for the first time. I am meeting them again on Monday to see what further renewed links can be made. They are over in the UK later this year at the Barbican and Battersea Arts Centre.
A quick walk on from the Institute to do a rekky and meet the Artistic Director at the aptly named Theatr Arka where I am running a workshop on Monday. And then to the Monopole Hotel for a walk down memory lane!
Those of you who have read my Frozen Poland blogs 14 and 17 may remember my mention of this hotel where we stayed and where we watched the bread queues outside.
Its been hugely refurbished over the past 30 years and yet the doors, arches and layout remain
the same. We had a brief pause here to sit by the same windows and have a coffee and do some more video diary and a bit of an argument about the chronology of things!
The evening ended at the Kalambur bar, where we met up with Maciej's friends Marco and Patricia. Marco is still good friends with some of the old Grotowski actors and we plan to get together with some of them before I leave.
All in all a hugely interesting and lovely day. I am reminded that what I love about Poland is that it is a nation of poetry and soul. It seeps out of every pore.
Off to Krakow to Theatr Stu and a second visit to Auschwitz after 30 years. Mixed feelings.
Yesterday began with a lovely breakfast of smoked salmon and brown robbers bread - made by my long lost friend Maciej at his appartment in central Wroclaw where he lives with his sister and elderly mother.
One of my reasons for this brief visit to Poland was a suggestion by Maciej that we might look at chronicling the history of the Wroclaw International Festival of Theatre 1965-1993. This was a major project for the communist regime, who gave permission but were not keen to help the organisers. Because of the military takeover of 1981 much of the archive and stories of this groundbreaking festival are not recorded anywhere.
So we thought we would have a stab at remembering and capturing the world as it was in Poland and Eastern Europe in the last years of the cold war and the international theatre that came here at that time, including the iconic Bread and Puppet Theatre and Richard Schechner' s Performance Group who Maciej brought to Poland for the festival in 1971. We have decided to make a series of short video diaries to get started with. So over breakfast we began with number one - we plan to do one every day whilst I am here.
 |
| Maciej |
Maciej tells me that he has a daily rendezvous with a load of 'old crocs' at the Kluba Literatka at 12. Most of them are retired, have no work or are artists or all three! The cafe is right on the main square of the town, and as we went in I was struck by the dense smoke hanging in the air, apparently the Poles ignore any laws about not smoking in public places! But somehow it fits with the mood and feel of the place. This is what I remember about my early visits to Poland in the eighties. A group of about ten sit round a table and talk. One of them is Lech Twordoswki, a painter. He is showing Maciej photographs of his new earthworks installation - its reminiscent of Stonehenge, and so we get to have a bit of a chat about ideas. There may be some possibilities for a further conversation whilst I am here. Later in the afternoon we pop into the opening of an exhibition. A little too ornate for me but some interesting religious images on drift wood.
A brief walk through the town square and we happen upon an english busker - Peter Fairweather in full flight, I captured him here. According to Maciej he gives his all everyday in the square.
When I was here in the early eighties with TAT we did a number of performances of Ulysses (James Joyce) at Jerzy Grotowski's Laboratorium, now Institute so we passed by there and had a chat.
 |
| Grotowski Institute |
 |
| Grotowski Publications |
A quick walk on from the Institute to do a rekky and meet the Artistic Director at the aptly named Theatr Arka where I am running a workshop on Monday. And then to the Monopole Hotel for a walk down memory lane!Those of you who have read my Frozen Poland blogs 14 and 17 may remember my mention of this hotel where we stayed and where we watched the bread queues outside.
Its been hugely refurbished over the past 30 years and yet the doors, arches and layout remain
 |
| Door to Restaurant at Monopole Hotel |
The evening ended at the Kalambur bar, where we met up with Maciej's friends Marco and Patricia. Marco is still good friends with some of the old Grotowski actors and we plan to get together with some of them before I leave.
All in all a hugely interesting and lovely day. I am reminded that what I love about Poland is that it is a nation of poetry and soul. It seeps out of every pore.
Off to Krakow to Theatr Stu and a second visit to Auschwitz after 30 years. Mixed feelings.
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