Radio Mariia
director
Roza Sarkisian
premiere
13 January 2022
running time
ok. 70 min
stage
scena mała
UPCOMING SHOWS
not in repertoire

PHOTO GALLERY

VIDEO

CAST
OKSANA CZERKASZYNA
OKSANA CZERKASZYNA
guest
Artystka, Dziennikarka Radia Mariia, Polska
OSKAR STOCZYŃSKI
OSKAR STOCZYŃSKI
Dziennikarz Radia Mariia, Kościół, Komentator sportowy
ELŻBIETA KOROLCZUK
ELŻBIETA KOROLCZUK
guest
Ekspertka w studiu radiowym
MAGDALENA STAROSZCZYK
MAGDALENA STAROSZCZYK
guest
Ekspertka w studiu radiowym

CREATIVES

director – Roza Sarkisian
texts – Oksana Czerkaszyna, Oskar Stoczyński, Joanna Wichowska, Krysia Bednarek

dramaturgy – Joanna Wichowska, Krysia Bednarek
set designer and costumes – Kornelia Dzikowska

lighting and video – Adam Zduńczyk

music – Dariusz Cichosz
stage manager – Barbara Sadowska

director's assistant – Krysia Bednarek

consultants – Zuzanna Hertzberg, Małgorzata Szutowicz

experts on the radio – Elżbieta Korolczuk, Magdalena Staroszczyk

 

cast – Oksana Czerkaszyna, Oskar Stoczyński

SYNOPSIS

Let’s imagine the future. Let’s imagine that even the most improbable scenarios are possible. Let’s imagine the unimaginable.

 

For example: the Catholic Church in Poland disappears. There are no more religion classes in schools, no more Polish pope in the public space. Refugees live in presbyteries, churches are now concert halls (or supermarkets?). Human rights are above the interests of the followers of one religion. A Polish person doesn’t have to be a Catholic anymore to truly be a Pole. The Polish language loses the word “concordat”. And so on and so forth. How did that happen and what are the consequences of this breakthrough? Did the Church also disappear from our minds? 

 

Let’s imagine that we are already there. In the future. That we are making it right now, right here. Together we are designing alternative models of society, culture, and politics. Where are the limits of our imagination? What stops it? What doesn’t let it be radical? What doesn’t allow a utopia to come true?

 

Roza Sarkisian is a renowned Ukrainian theatre director, seen as the most original and creative theatrical artist of Ukraine. You can find more info about the artist here.

 
***

For adults only.
The performance contains scenes related to religious themes, which, despite their satirical nature, may be considered as controversial.

 

***

 

The performace is a part of the European project "Face to Faith" ("Creative Europe" program).

 

 

 

 

REVIEWS
  • The creators of the play offer a simple thought experiment to the audience. It’s 2037 and a radio studio is having a jubilee hearing for the 15th anniversary of the fall of the Catholic Church. Modestly staged, written for three people, a show directed by Roza Sarkisian is something between a manifesto, a scathing satire, and a national group therapy. There are great scenes in this play, like the conversation of the show’s hosts – Oskar Stoczyński and Oksana Czerkaszyna – about the struggles with the oppressive catholic morality, or the occasional street poll (...). It is a radically political show, although it is devoid of aggressive rhetorics. Based on a simple idea, yet engaging. Witty, although bitter, showing us how far we are from normality in Poland (Michał Centkowski, „Newsweek Polska”)
  • This play is a very intelligent satire, a ruthless mockery of what is wrong in the Catholic Church. A grotesque and mean, yet not contemptuous, harsh, sometimes very, yet not crossing the boundaries of a good taste (...). The show is not only an ideological manifesto, it is also an intriguing and unusual stage proposal. (Przemysław Gulda, WP Kultura i Rozrywka)
  • A show, which is just an exercise of radical imagination, but it also puts forward a question about the theatre itself and its role. We can dream (...), invent new communities and present them on the stage, change intangible images into something real and tangible. This assumption provokes the creators to an interesting thought experiment, to develop the ideas of „what if” (Katarzyna Niedurny, „Gazeta Wyborcza”)
  • A play that is a pastiche of the futuristic form that makes most spectators laugh, although the reason for the show’s creation is sad: it’s a moral downfall of the church hierarchy. But, if they are not taking the issue seriously, why should we cry? – the creators suggest and the viewers follow. (...). DIsregarding voices like that, plays, movies, artistic realizations that expose real problems that Polish society lives in – it’s one of the elements of the “Potemkin village” built by the current government. (Jacek Cieślak, „Rzeczpospolita”)
  • Roza Sarkisian shows an image of a mercenary, people-separating institution that was met with karma in the Pope’s country faster than anyone saw it coming. It reminds, that bishops are the moral authority for only 2% of the society (...). The Church’s martyrdom is opposed with humour, counterpointing serious reflections about the catholic oppression determining our everyday behaviours. (...). This uncompromising show, in which mercenary hate gets exposed and rejected, brings many invigorating moments. And thought-out questions about the reason for this bloody revolution. Answers given here are radical, yet when so many houses have become homes for the reluctance towards another person, it is hard to be diplomatic. (Dawid Dudko, Onet)
  • The show „Radio Mariia”, directed by Roza Sarkisian Ukraine, touches upon a current topic of the credibility and the role of the Catholic Church in Poland over the last years. (...). One of the “actors” is a screen that shows interviews with citizens and extracts from the news. It shows the downfall of Polish catholicism in a grotesque match between Poland and the Catholic Church. The play in Powszechny is a satire, an incredibly intelligent and accurate one, that points out the weak sides of the Catholic Church in Poland. It gives the viewers space for starting their imagination and asking a question – what if what we see on the stage actually happened. It also fits right into the discussion about the role of the theatre of Anno Domini 2022. (Kama Pawlicka, Teatr dla Wszystkich)
  • Maybe it is worth explaining some misunderstandings connected with this spectacle. „Radio Mariia” offends nothing and no one (...). For me, the best moments of the show were the statements of the expert, in my run, a sociologist – Elżbieta Korolczuk, who was summarising the 15th anniversary of the downfall of the Catholic Church in Poland, with the journalists of the radio, Oksana Czerkaszyna and Oskar Stoczyński.  (Rafał Turowski, Radio Chillizet, www.rafalturow.ski)
  • Roza Sarkisian’s play fits right into the long tradition of social and political utopias – noble in terms of motives but difficult to bring to life. So what is the point of this theatrical game with these fairytale stories? What is the purpose of feeding the spectator with a perspective of a world, where some oppressions and inequalities are eliminated, yet new ones are created? Is „Radio Mariia” a kind of artistic therapy directed towards those who don’t accept the role of the Church in today’s Poland? The show makes them leave the theatre with a forming feeling of having allies, knowing that many people think alike. (...). Is Sarkisian’s vision realistic? Of course not! Naive? Yes! Far away? Not fifteen years away but light-years away. Yet, it is charming in the way it stimulates imagination and faith. (Julia Sarzyńska, „Czas Kultury”)
Teatr Powszechny
im. Zygmunta Hübnera
ul. Jana Zamoyskiego 20
03-801 Warszawa
tickets 22 818 25 16
22 818 48 19