In a powerful production, this award-winning Polish cast produce a compelling piece of political theatre which challenges the audience in a variety of ways.

The play starts with an audio-visual statement from Tadiusz Rozewicz, the author of the play, putting the piece in the context of the Warsaw uprising of 1944, towards the end of the Second World War. The story is told in a series of scenes which are framed by a haunting song, sung in Polish (with English sidetitles). The scenes (played in English) depict the everyday life of soldiers in a "guerilla" army, and their struggles with (or acceptance of ) the indignities and challenges of the situations in which they find themselves.

 

The strong visual production is offset by a comparatively weaker English translation and transmission (particularly in the recorded sound files used in the piece). There were opportunities to bring out the subtleties of the context of the original piece, originally written in 1979 and first performed by a student company in Poland, which were missed. This rebellious work challenges conventional thinking about collective ideologies such as communism and catholicism, not to mention its attempt to debunk the myths around the Warsaw Uprising itself (although apparently accepting anti-Semitism). In the context of repressive nationalist, political and religious cultures, in which these ideologies flourished, it is no wonder the play generated a lot of interest, debate and censure. However, opportunities were missed in the translation to make this point come across to audiences outside Poland in this adaptation. Nearly 30 years on, the play remains an important piece of international theatre. While it may fail to pull the same punches as it did when it was freshly written, the piece is still worth seeing.

 

There is unquestionably something about this play which makes it great. Whether as a piece of theatrical history, or as a piece of live theatre, I'm not sure. Powerful solo performances from the singer (who plays a hurdy gurdy and provides an emotive ostinato drone at key points during the action) and the soldier who gives a muted speech about the background to communism both carry the show forward. See the play in the context of a communist culture, in which Marxist-Leninist study was compulsory and hurdy gurdy players banned, the text - and performances - rise to the dimension in which theatrical action and political activism merge indissolubly - and it shines. Outside this context, it is perhaps harder to enter into the spirit of the play. To what extent the play still speaks to audiences outside its specific timeframe is a moot point.