STAGE PREVIEW
Now and Then
After a four-year absence, one of Poland's most innovative companies returns to PIPFest.

BY STEFFEN SILVIS
243-2122 EXT. 343

The Dybbuk
Wierszalin Theater at PIPFest
Lincoln Hall Auditorium, Portland State University
1620 SW Park Ave., 725-8500
7 pm Thursday,
8 pm Friday and Saturday,
7 pm Sunday,
July 30-Aug. 2
$8-$16

Doctor Felix
Wierszalin Theater at Puppetry on the Edge, Northwest Regional Festival
of Puppeteers of America
Fir Acres Theater at Lewis & Clark College, 0615 SW Palatine Hill Road, 725-8500
7:30 pm Thursday and Friday,
Aug. 6 and 7
$8-$10

In the immediate aftermath of World War II, the agon between naturalism and poetic theater--a cultural battle that had long raged throughout Europe--reemerged in Poland's theaters. In 1946, the Poles finally pledged their allegiance: That year in Krakow, Jerzy Szaniawski cleverly presented the clash of the two styles in his play Dwa Teatry (Two Theaters). Szaniawski, a follower of poet and playwright Stanislaw Wyspianski, was clearly devoted to establishing an imaginative and poetic national drama, and within years of Dwa Teatry's première, his hoped-for "Theater of Dreams" prevailed in Poland.

Poland occupies a prominent place in modern drama, and its workshop theaters have produced work of international importance. Grotowski' s Laboratory Theater is the most famous of Polish companies, but others are quickly gaining the recognition they deserve. One company that has attracted recent attention is the Wierszalin Teatr from Bialystok. Founded in 1991 by Piotr Tomaszuk and Tadeusz Slobodzianek, Wierszalin--with its amalgam of puppetry and folk art infused with the theories and techniques of Grotowski, Meyerhold and Tadeusz Kantor--has become a theatrical force. Wierszalin's connection with Portland came about in 1993, when Michael Griggs, the artistic director of the Portland International Performing Arts Festival, saw the company's production of Turlajgroszek at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Griggs immediately scheduled the production for the following year here, and although attendance was disappointing, Turlajgroszek astonished those who witnessed it. Now, after an absence of four years, Wierszalin is returning to Portland with two productions.

Shortly after the company's last appearance here, Piotr Tomaszuk invited Michael Griggs to Poland to direct a version of The Dybbuk, S.R. Ansky's folkloric play about the possession of a girl by her dead lover's spirit. The beautiful and haunting result of this collaboration has received praise throughout Poland and was a stunning success at the 1997 Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Wierszalin blends Ansky's text with chant, dance and a singular form of puppetry in which the actors hold pieces of wood, each framing a single vintage photographic portrait. The pieces of wood, reminiscent of Eastern European grave markers, represent the characters' bodies, while the actors themselves represent the souls. It is a stroke of theatrical genius and a powerful image that lingers long in the mind. Not only did Griggs help in the direction of the piece, but he also contributed an English translation that the company uses in preference to performing the play in Polish. This Dybbuk is daring, memorable theater that needs to be seen.

Wierszalin's second production marks another important collaboration initiated by Griggs. PIPFest has joined forces with Puppetry on the Edge to present Wierszalin's Doctor Felix. Winner of the Fringe First award in Edinburgh last year, Doctor Felix is another redefinition of puppetry. Drawing once more from a wealth of folklore, the tale is set in a village in which the local doctor is Death's grandson. Rudely carved figures share the stage with five actors, creating a peasant community steeped in mysticism and the macabre.

It's impossible to over-praise the work of Michael Griggs and others who strive to keep Portland on the performing arts map by bringing us the finest work. Nor can one overestimate the effect this exposure has on our own artists. Director Julie Ackers still considers Wierszalin' s Turlajgroszek a formative experience, and Barry Hunt's new company, Sowelo Theater, consists of artists whose work changed after seeing the work of Budapest's RS9 theater at PIPFest in 1994. Visits by Richard Foreman, Rinde Eckert and John Kelly are invaluable to the life of the theater in this city. The artistic director of Glasgow's Tramway Theater, Neil Wallace, has written about the importance of such cross-fertilization: "Such encounters inspire change," he says, "and keep us from cultural and creative isolation."

Who knows what work and changes PIPFest and Wierszalin's latest visit may inspire? Like post-war Poland, it seems Portland struggles between two theaters: One aspires toward artistic excellence while the other is triumphantly amateurish and apathetic. Perhaps just like Poland, we will decide which we most deserve. Wierszalin could be our Szaniawski.

 

originally published July 22, 1998