Polish Powerhouse Play from Theatre Company TR Warszawa

“The play develops almost without words in a series of hypnotic and disturbing images.” Dziennik, Poland

"A director with sophisticated intelligence" L'Humanite

Europe’s trailblazing theatre company TR Warszawa and its white hot writer-director Grzegorz Jarzyna bring their latest work T.E.O.R.E.M.A.T. to the New Zealand International Arts Festival next March.

T.E.O.R.E.M.A.T. has yet to be seen outside of Poland and will make its premiere in the United States at the end of November 2009.

“This will be the most talked about production of the 2010 Festival. Exquisitely staged and hauntingly beautiful, it will linger in one’s memory long after the Festival closes,” says Lissa Twomey, Artistic Director of the New Zealand International Arts Festival.

At 41 years old, Jarzyna was Poland’s youngest ever artistic director when he was appointed to the TR Warszawa Theatre 10 years ago. Previously he was apprenticed to Polish Master Krystian Lupa.

Jarzyna’s theatre debut brought about a revolution in Polish theatre and he has single-handedly built TR Warszawa into a popular and celebrated company, with its actors also the stars of the Polish screen.

Since his career began Jarzyna has received numerous prizes and distinctions in Europe and the United States and his work has been invited to festivals in Moscow, St Petersburg, Jerusalem, Berlin, Munich, Vienna, Stockholm, London, Dublin, Toronto and New York.

In 2008 his production of Macbeth was performed on a purpose built stage under New York City’s Brooklyn Bridge, his work 4.48 Psychosis was staged at the Edinburgh Festival, and Giovanni was presented in St Petersburg.

T.E.O.R.E.M.A.T. is Jarzyna’s suspense-filled production inspired by the highly controversial Italian film director Pier Paolo Pasolini’s 1968 cult film Teorema.

T.E.O.R.E.M.A.T. begins with a telegram being delivered announcing an unexpected visitor. The following day the unknown visitor arrives at the home of a wealthy family. He proceeds to seduce the whole household – the maid, the son, the mother and finally the father - before leaving the Gold Partners: New Zealand Post Group, TV3, Clemenger BBDO, Pacific Blue. Funders: Absolutely Positively Wellington, Creative New Zealand

family in complete disarray a few days later. Who was the visitor? Did he deliver salvation or destruction?

While Pasolini’s film boasted a nominal 923 words, T.E.O.R.E.M.A.T. is almost without words. The spare dialogue is in Polish with English subtitles. At once menacing and erotic, T.E.O.R.E.M.A.T. contains adult themes and nudity that push right to the edge but remain discreet.

“Jarzyna’s thick and focused performance spreads inside the viewers’ heads as mercury spills on the floor...it is impossible to free oneself from images and words, even though they enter our minds lightly...” Łukasz Drewniak, Przekrój, Poland

WHEN: 13-19 March (no show 15 March)

WHERE: TSB Bank Arena

ENDS