THE EMPLOYEES Digital Program
PRODUCTION GUIDANCE
This production is performed in Polish with English surtitles.
Contains nudity, strobe lights, smoke, very loud music, and references to sexual violence.
The performance is not recommended for people with epilepsy.
Please note seating for this performance is general admission. Audience members are able to move around the space between acts so as to experience the performance from different points of view.
RUN TIME
Approximately 2 hours and 40 minutes with two short breaks.
CREDITS
Director Łukasz Twarkowski
Author Olga Ravn
Translation from Danish Bogusława Sochańska
Text adaptation, dramaturgy Joanna Bednarczyk
Scenography Fabien Lédé
Video Jakub Lech
Lighting Bartosz Nalazek
Costumes Svenja Gassen
Music Lubomir Grzelak
Movement consultation Rob Wasiewicz
Assistant director Adam Zduńczyk
Concept facilitation Szymon Adamczak
Camera operators Iwo Jabłoński and Gloria Grunig
Lighting operator Jan Zajączkowski
Sound operators Damian Kruszewski and Rafał Szydłowski
Video operators Adrien Cognac and Adam Kuznowicz
Production manager Monika Balińska
Stage manager Zuzanna Prusińska
Assistant producer Aleksandra Urban
Model and Objects Katarzyna Rytka
Set construction Piotr Szczygielski
Costume creation Aleksandra Andrychowicz
International distribution Anna Lewanowicz
CAST
Dominika Biernat
Daniel Dobosz
Maja Pankiewicz
Sonia Roszczuk
Miron Smagała (video)
Paweł Smagała
Rob Wasiewicz
Małgorzata Hajewska-Krzysztofik
(guest, audio recording)
ŁUKASZ TWARKOWSKI
Łukasz Twarkowski is a creator of multimedia performances combining theatre and visual arts. He places his projects in the context of extending reality through multimedia. A crucial element of Twarkowski’s creative work is investigating the ability and limitations of theatre as a medium and tool of communication. By permanent deconstruction of narratives, questioning the fixed habits of the audience and by meaningful usage of new media, Twarkowski creates a new, original language of stage performance based on multimedia and, more widely, digital technologies. In using these, Twarkowski analyses and observes increasingly complex relations between the Real, the Symbolic and the Imagined. Major works include: Kliniken / Love is colder than… (2012), Akropolis (2013), Black Sun (2015), Lokis (2017), Il était une fois … la vie / Es war einmal … das Leben (2019), Respublika (2020), Rohtko (2022), The Employees (2023), WoW (2023), Quanta (2024). Over the years, Łukasz Twarkowski has garnered numerous prestigious accolades in recognition of his innovative work in theatre. In 2014, he received a Special Award for young artist at the Festival of New Theatre for his direction of Akropolis. This was followed by the Golden Cross of the Stage Award in 2016 for best video for Heroes Square. In 2017, he was again honored with the Golden Cross of the Stage, this time for best director for Lokis. The 2021 edition of the same award recognized the best ensemble in Respublika. In 2023, he received the Spēlmaņu nakts Latvian Theatre Award for best director and the Grand Prix for best show for Rohtko. His international acclaim continued into 2024 with the Grand Prix for best show at the International Theatre Festival Kontakt for The Employees, along with two major European distinctions: the Der Faust award for Word on Wirecard and the UBU Prize for Rohtko. His projects are being programmed at the most important festivals and stages around the world, among others: Odéon – Théâtre de l’Europe, Ruhrtriennale, New York Skirball Center, Piccolo Teatro de Milano, Festival de Otoño de Madrid, Münchner Kammerspiele, Wiener Festwochen, Southbank Center London, Onassis Stegi Athens, Taipei Performing Arts Center.
ABOUT STUDIO TEATRGALERIA
STUDIO teatrgaleria is a theatre and a gallery of contemporary art, a place of creative exploration conducted by artists from various domains of art. Reaching for its avant-garde tradition, with Witkacy as its patron, Studio is a space of free expression, in which various disciplines merge: theatre, visual arts, music, film, dance. In line with the idea of the author of the Pure Form theory, creators invited to collaborate can conduct here their aesthetic experiments. Studio creates a PLACE in which you can reimag- ine the reality, because you want to change it. For us, the point of de- parture is the question about the future of artistic theatre in Poland and in Europe, and specifically, how it can defend its position in the current social, economic and political situation.
STUDIO was established in the 1970s and its roots are avant-garde, as its founders and directors were the great figures who created Polish avant-garde theatre history, like Jozef Szajna or Jerzy Grzegorzewski.
STUDIO has been among 5 top theaters in Warsaw.
SUPPORT
Co-financed by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage
This project is made possible in part with support from the Polish Cultural Institute.