6 November 2010 Already today we will see Tadeusz Słobodzianek’s “Our Class”
Already this evening, at 9.30 p.m. on the stage of the Ludwik Solski Academy for the Dramatic Arts in Krakow, we will have the opportunity to see the long-awaited show by Ondrej Spišák titled “Nasza Klasa” [Our Class] based on Tadeusz Słobodzianek's drama, for which he received the prestigious NIKE Literary Award in October this year. The Chairman of the jury – Professor Grażyna Borkowska – emphasised then: “We are granting the award to Tadeusz Słobodzianek not for his courage to take up the difficult subject, in which responsibility for the crime spreads onto those who committed it, but also onto those who witnessed it and were silent, those who didn't want to see, know and remember.” Slobodzianek's drama started up a social debate all over again about blame and responsibility for the tragic events from over seventy years ago, which is not silent until now. At the 2nd Conrad Festival, it will find its natural continuation already today.
Słobodzianek takes up the difficult subject of the massacre in Jedwabne. He follows the lives of students from a multinational class since the mid-thirties, through the massacre of 1941 until the present day, when the secret kept for decades is becoming a public matter. For a long time, the director of the play – Ondrej Spišák – did not want to take up work on Słobodzianek’s drama. Finally, he succumbed to the author's persuasions. However, earlier than in Poland, “Our Class” was seen by audiences of the National Theatre in London. On 23 September 2009 the world premiere of the play took place. The play “Our Class”, translated by Ryan Craig, was directed by Bijan Sheibani.
Ondrej Spišák (1965) – a Slovak theatre director. He works equally efficiently in the puppet theatre and in the drama theatre. In Poland, he became famous in the 1990s through a series of shows in puppet theatres. He debuted in the drama theatre in 2002 with “The Marriage of Figaro” at the Nowy Theatre in Łódź. For years, the director has been running an independent group Teatro Tatro – A Free Association of Actors, Directors, Artists, their Spouses and Children, at his native Nitra with friends (including the designer František Liptak). They present his shows in a circus tent and an old car called “Maringotka”.
