Monday evening at Kraków’s KTO Theatre was an event people will be talking about long after leaving the Theatre
The legendary Centre for Theatre Practices “Gardzienice” appeared on the stage on Zamoyskiego Street – one of the most important and widely recognised ensembles in the history of Polish theatre, founded by Włodzimierz Staniewski.
From the very first minutes, it was clear that we were witnessing something more than an ordinary performance. The KTO Theatre was filled to capacity – the auditorium was packed to the brim, and the overflow audience created the atmosphere of a true theatrical celebration. Among the spectators were almost the entire cultural milieu of Kraków: artists, directors, musicians, theatre educators and devoted theatregoers who know that such events are exceedingly rare.
Today, Gardzienice is one of the last theatre ensembles in Europe to consistently base its work on craft understood not as mere technique, but as years of practice, discipline and daily actor training. Their theatre grows out of work with the body, the voice, rhythm and the relationship with the stage partner. The precision of movement, absolute control of stage energy and the organic fusion of music with acting reveal what theatre built over years truly is – not something produced for a single season. In times of fast production and aesthetic shortcuts, encountering such a workshop becomes an almost unique experience.
The evening consisted of two performances that revealed the full artistic language of the ensemble. Iphigenia in Tauris, inspired by Euripides’ ancient drama, opened the audience to the world of source theatre, in which word, song and movement take on an almost ritual character. The actors, working with multiple languages and diverse vocal techniques, created a performance of extraordinary intensity, evoking the original sense of tragedy as a communal experience.
The culmination of the evening was The Wedding – a performance inspired by the drama of Stanisław Wyspiański. The music by Kraków composer Zygmunt Konieczny had particular power, performed live and present as an equal partner to the actors. Its sound guided the audience through successive scenes, building tension and the emotional dramaturgy of the performance.
The craft of the Gardzienice actors remains a phenomenon in itself: the artists move fluidly between roles, singing and physical action, working with multilingualism and an exceptional sense of ensemble awareness. Their performance resembles a precisely tuned instrument, in which every element is subordinated to the rhythm of collective action. This is theatre that demands much from both performers and audiences – and that is precisely why it is so deeply moving.
– Gardzienice is, for me, one of the last ensembles in Europe that reminds us that theatre begins with work – with craft, with the meeting of people on stage and with genuine actor training.
We invited them to Kraków because we wanted to show audiences source theatre – living theatre that does not pretend emotions, but truly generates them.
The audience responded with focus, silence and long standing ovations, aware that they were taking part in a unique event. Encounters with Gardzienice are not part of everyday repertory life. This is theatre that appears rarely, but leaves an experience that stays with the viewer for a long time. Last night at the KTO Theatre was therefore more than a presentation of performances. It became a meeting of the community, a celebration for theatre connoisseurs, and a reminder that the stage can still be a place of living ritual. And that is why those who were there know one thing: such evenings are not merely watched. They are lived.
