The Beton performance, directed by Michał Derlatka, had its premiere in June at the Miniatura Theatre in Gdańsk. It is another interpretation of the novel Concrete Kite by dr Monika Milewska from the University of Gdańsk. - 'I am very satisfied with it, because it is faithful to the text of the novel, and at the same time it is a fresh look at my story from the side of another artist, highly regarded by me,' convinces the author.
The action of the novel is set in a deck-access block in Gdańsk Przymorze. The protagonists of the story are the longest building in Poland and an engineer, its builder. The novel Concrete Kite has once again been adapted for the stage. This time at the Miniatura Theatre in Gdańsk.
Photo: promotional materials of the Miniatura Theatre
Dr Monika Milewska is a history anthropologist, and her research interests span across various eras: from antiquity, through the French Revolution, to 20th-century totalitarianism. As she says, they oscillate mainly around the ideology of power, manifested both in the institutionalised cults of various leaders and in the everyday lives of the citizens they ruled. - 'My latest book, which I am currently preparing for publication, is entitled "Blind Kitchen" and is devoted to the relationship between food and ideology in People's Poland. Therefore, the novel Concrete Kite was written as if on the sidelines of my university work, especially since I have been lecturing on the Anthropology of the city for years,' explains the author.
The Beton performance presented at the Miniatura Theatre is the author's third adaptation of her prose, following a TV play entitled Falowiec directed by Jakub Pączek, in which Janusz Chabior played the role of the engineer, and a radio play entitled Concrete Kite, directed by Wawrzyniec Kostrzewski and starring Piotr Adamczyk. - 'While the previous adaptations were authorial (I even won awards for them), I didn't get to know the current one, created by director Michał Derlatka, until the day of its premiere," says the author. - I was most surprised by two songs that appear in the play, based on fragments of "Kite of Concrete". As an adaptor myself, I probably wouldn't have come up with such an idea,' she stresses. - 'The flavours of the People's Republic of Poland from the novel have been conveyed in the performance in a splendid scene, praised by critics, on the subject of milk distributed around blocks of flats at that time,' she adds.
The performance is based on the novel Kite of Concrete, adapted and directed by Michał Derlatka. Animations and multimedia: Sebastian Łukaszuk, music: Sarapata Sound Workers, concept of stage design and puppets: Wojciech Stachura, set design consultation: Beniamin Straszewski, lighting direction: Maciej Iwańczyk. Performance: Wojciech Stachura, song performance: Marta Złakowska, voices: Zofia Bartoś, Edyta Janusz-Ehrlich, Piotr Srebrowski.
Link to the performance: