ZAMEK Culture Centre

directed by Ewa Szumska  / Nowi w Nowym Dramatic Group

After the enchanting At the Dump, a piece laden with fairytale-like magic, and the surrealist tale of desires, thoughts and emotions entitled The Centre is Where I Am, Ewa Szumska and her actors assume the roles of cultural anthropologists who delve into the secrets of Everything.  

The performances are also accompanied by educational activities and workshops. COMMON THEATRE aspires for an equally powerful effect on the active participants and the audience alike. The effort of overcoming barriers and stereotypes should be made by both.

Performance is a part of the COMMON THEATRE - authorial performative project realize by Zamek Culture Centre in Poznan, which brings us performances created by people from milieus facing social or disability-related exclusion. The eponymous “commonness” denotes first and foremost the universal need to find oneself in a creative process. It is also a token of our intentions and efforts to make theatre created by the disabled or persons facing social exclusion a fully-fledged artistic phenomenon.

When they accepted our invitation to collaborate with CK ZAMEK, the actors had already started working on their next piece, entitled At the Dump, a performance conceived by the members of the company and the director, Hanna Rynowiecka. It premiered in autumn 2016. Since then, NOWI W NOWYM have created three more performances. Ewa Szumska, actress of Teatr Polski in Poznań and contributor to numerous fringe theatre pro­jects, took on herself the responsibility for their artistic form. In 2019, the company was joined by Janusz Orlik, one of the leading Polish dancers and choreographers.

NOWI W NOWYM is a group with quite a history. Its mem­bers are participants of the Occupational Therapy Workshop Przylesie, run by the Association Na Tak. Therapist Hanna Ryno­wiecka, who since 2006 has been using elements of theatre in her practice, started a collaboration with Wojciech Deneka, the late actor of Teatr Nowy in Poznań. As a result, the actors of Przylesie appeared on a real stage, performing in front of numerous spec­tators gathered in the auditorium of a professional theatre. When Common Theatre came into being, the company had already made a name for itself, having staged the much talked about The Loony Bin, among other things.

premiere: November 26th, 2018

The fairy-tale quality of the story, the simple form and lucid message makes the performance ideally suited for children and young theatre goers. The fact that adult artists develo­ped a piece for the youngest viewers represents an additional asset of the performance, and marks yet another step in breaking apart stereotypical notions and attitudes concerning people with disabilities.