THEATRE
*(click on the images or links to see the galleries)*
January 2012
At the King's Head Theatre in Islington, London, for the dress rehearsal of Puccini's Fanciulla del West (or West End Girl). A great new production by Robert Chevara. If you've never experienced opera this close, you should rush to get tickets while it's in repertory. A real treat!
For more photos, go to Fanciulla del West at the King's Head.
December 2011
I had the great pleasure of doing a documentation of the revival of Robin Norton-Taylor's outstanding production of Puccini's La Bohème for Opera Up Close at the King's Head Theatre in Islington, London. It's a very special experience to be in a 100 seat theatre with a world class cast singing such beautiful music so close. Strongly recommended. Also, it's good to be working in theatre again! For more images from the dress rehearsal, go to La Bohème at the King's Head.
I worked with Teatr Polski in Warsaw and its Artistic Director Jarosław Kilian from 2003 to 2010. A selection of images from recent productions is given below. The theatre company has a world-wide reputation for its performances of Polish classic theatre, but it also undertakes new productions of contemporary plays. It is a nationally important institution, with a significant archive of scripts, costumes and images and strong links with the Polish Dramatic Academy. The documentary work I have done with the theatre has helped to build a new account of the post-1989 directions the theatre has taken, and I have felt privileged to be able to witness part of this process. The site is also a testament to the ground-breaking work of Jarek Killian and his colleagues at Teatr Polski. I wish him well in the next phase of his career...
A new production of A Winter's Tale opened in Warsaw in October 2009 at the Teatr Polski. Directed by Jarek Killian, and with Mariusz Wojciechowski as Leontes and Izabella Bukowska as Hermione, the play is both deeply moving and outrageously funny (thanks largely to Andrzej Pieczyński's Autolycus). For examples of images from the production got to Shakespeare's A Winter's Tale at Teatr Polski.
The theatre is preparing a new production of Shakespeare's A Winter's Tale by Jarek Kilian - I'm carrying out a documentation of the rehearsal process which will go alongside an account of the final production. Images can be seen at A Winter's Tale, Rehearsals
Kordian is a rarely performed masterpiece of the Polish romantic poet and playwrite Julius Słowacki. The play was directed by a Paweł Passini, with design by Anita Burdzińska, and music by Tomasz Gwinciński. Tomasz Borkowski plays the leading role of Kordian. A very small selection of images from this new production can be found at the link to Kordian.
Stanisław Wyspiański's Wyzwolenie - próby (Liberation - rehearsal) is a complex but rich play. The piece was directed by three graduate students on the Director's programme at the Warsaw Drama Academy. Images from the documentation can be seen at Wyzwolenie, a documentation.
Earlier with with Teatr Polski included documentations of the classic Balladyna, and a new production of Macbeth (see the portfolio collections: Theatre - performance and Theatre - rehearsal). During 2005 I also developed a documentation of Jarek Kilian's adaptation of the the Odyssey. A selection of images from this highly acclaimed production can be seen at the link to Odyseja - performance.
The playwrite Andrzej Stasiuk describes his play NOC (Night) as a slavonic/germanic medical tragi-farce. The piece involves the transplant of a Polish car thief's heart into the unwilling body of a German industrialist, a dialogue between body and soul, a chorus of Polish villains and common people, and some hope of redemption at the end. A good evening at the theatre! I was in Warsaw in May 2008 to document the production at the Teatr Polski. A small selection of images summarising the story can be seen at NOC, Teatr Polski w Warszawie.