The Sunshine Boys

In a joint production of the KTO Theatre and the Municipal Theatre in Leszno, Leszek Piskorz and Jacek Strama celebrate the 50th anniversary of their artistic work. It will be their first meeting on stage since their studies at the Academy for the Dramatic Arts in Krakow.

As the director Paweł Szumiec points out, it only makes sense to work with this text when you have two seasoned actors with a great deal of experience, and they still got the bug.

For decades, Willy Clark (Leszek Piskorz) and Al Lewis (Jacek Strama) have entertained the audience with hilarious routines fuelled by their not-so-easy offstage relationships. Divided, they have not spoken to each other for years. When they get a chance to return to their beloved stage with their signature routine from years ago, they have to spend some time together again, despite their resentments.

The protagonists of the play are great actors in the autumn of their lives, still hungry for theatre, with vast and beautiful professional experience. They belong to an era that is passing away with them, replaced by new generations, trends, fashions and styles. I would like to save that expiring theatre world, at least for a moment. I have a great tenderness for theatre people, the oldest generation of theatre family, still full of energy and appetite for work. This text seems to be dedicated to them, says the director.

Neil Simon’s play, written at the height of his career, has seen a number of acclaimed film and theatre adaptations around the world, including John Erman’s 1996 film starring Peter Falk as Willy and Woody Allen as Al, and Thea Sharrock’s 2012 London adaptation starring Richard Griffiths as Al and Danny DeVito making his West End debut.