On 29 August, Zofia Żwirblińska’s play *The Silly Goose* will premiere on the stage of the KTO Theatre. It is a performative monodrama centred on imposter syndrome – a cognitive bias characterised by a lack of confidence in one’s own abilities. It is estimated that around 70 per cent of the world’s population experiences this phenomenon at some stage in their lives.
The playwright is a ‘golden child’ – she’s always had top marks, won awards and enjoyed success. It’s just a pity she doesn’t deserve any of it. Her achievements to date are down to chance, a mistake, a strange stroke of luck. In a world where she has shamelessly turned sobbing into lying, her own body constantly undermines its own worth. It crumbles under the weight of doubt, turns everything upside down, until finally it snaps, transforming into a self-deprecating, grey-goose-like figure.
The imposter syndrome – whether male or female – is revealed in the play as a mechanism for performing one’s self. On stage, what is actually experienced clashes with what is acted out; an autobiographical confession clashes with the deliberate manipulation of one’s own image. ‘The Silly Goose’ examines how insecurity becomes a role that can be repeated until it begins to shape the way one thinks about oneself. Here, intimate fear turns out to be more than just a private experience. It also stems from a world that demands one constantly prove one’s own worth, whilst at the same time giving reasons to doubt it.
‘The Silly Goose’
29 August, 7.00 pm
Direction, choreography, concept, performance: Zofia Żwirblińska
Dramaturgy: Patrycja Kowańska
Music: Ola Rzepka
Lighting design: Michał Wawrzyniak
The premiere was co-funded by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage as part of the ‘Spaces of Art – Dance’ Programme, implemented by the National Institute of Music and Dance.
Produced with funding from the City of Gdańsk as part of the Gdańsk Cultural Grant – Creative Fund.
The project is supported by the Open Studio residency – an initiative supporting creative communities as part of the ‘Teatr Komuna Warszawa – Social Cultural Institution’ project, co-funded by the City of Warsaw.
