Review: THE HEARING TRUMPET at Teatr Wspolczesny Wroclaw

Based on a nearly 50-year-old novel, the series takes us to another universe and celebrates life on all levels. Its author, Leonora Carrington, was a surrealist painter and novelist and greatly this spectacle has a lot in common with paintings as whimsical forms pour slowly into us and fill us up like thick hot chocolate.

This creation is about life, old age, wisdom, happiness, and a sense of freedom. Both form and content are absurd and illogical, but still coherent.

Costumes are separate actors. They are so funky and crazy that it's even hard to describe. Imagine putting a lot of colored wool, bells, some lace, an old lamp, a curtain, a bicycle wheel, netting, pearls, fluff, a tent, pom poms, wigs, latex, and a few plates into a blender and add a lot of imagination. That's what you see on stage.

Abundance is actually pouring in from every corner (big applause for Marta Szypulska, who created this huge, colorful, uncut mishmash that has character and fits perfectly with any character). The actors sit in a circle and are present on stage the whole time as if they were weaving a story by the fire (there is indeed a light in the center), which makes this almost three-hour story captivating not only by its story but also the level of intimacy and closeness of the storytellers and listeners.

Speaking of actors, it's impossible to find words to describe how wonderfully they blend into the whole story, and with their very strong and clear characters, they can sparkle with their colors in the great bustle of gestures and words. It is a collection of colored pencils which, although different from each other, form a coherent whole in a scenic box.

Mariusz Bakowski is a hilarious French bishop, Marion (Anna Blut) is at the heart of the story, Krzysztof Boczkowski makes a lively multi-sex character, Elzbieta Golinska is a great rebel, Irena Rybicka entertains us in how deeply she wants to be Joanna D'Arc. Beata Rakowska sees more with her extra light eye and together with Natasza, the incredible Dominika Probachta, they conspire for a goal known only to them. Rosalinda (Anna Kieca) absolutely dazzlingly sets the pace for the performance, and her expressions are inimitable.

The duo Dr. Gambit and his wife (Dominik Smaruj, Julia Gadzina) are luminous with their characteristic moves. When Jolanta Solarz-Szwed gasps and opens her eyes wide, the world stops, no one tells the story of an armed struggle quite like Magdalena Taranta and we all wish we had the magnetic charm and charisma of Lina Wosik.

There's a point where the level of absurdity goes overboard and you watch this incredible procession as the changing landscape outside the train window. The speed is high and moods can change quickly, but smoothly and result from each other. It is something astonishing and captivating.

Despite such a flood of stimuli, each object has a meaning and a utility, intertwined with absolute art and feminine art.

There is a lot of humor because it is essential in a long life and allows us to rise above the misery of this world and the sadness of existence. A little madness never hurt anyone.

It is a show for those who are not afraid to dream and to carry what is bigger than us and at the same time concerned about the quality of the smallest moments in life. It's a song for the glory of life.

The successive little stories change and result from each other, the poetics of life consists in coloring even the moments of challenge.

Weronika Szczawinska, the director, takes us into a world full of imagination and undoubtedly makes us feel at home there. At some point, you feel this is your story. At least you want it.

Photo: Natalia Kabanow

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