Is there a place for Satan in the world without God? Woland and his mysterious entourage arrive in 1930s Soviet Russia. To a world full of oppression, where a metaphysical trade with the Devil seems the only real chance to regain freedom. Nothing is for free, just as nothing is given to man once and for all. How will our modern reality look at itself in ‘The Master and Margarita’? In a novel whose power of imagination becomes a tunnel to philosophical reflections interspersed with the element of festivity?
A masterpiece of world literature staged by Janusz Opryński allows us to rediscover the appealing complexity of the Mikhail Bulgakov’s world. A world in which light cannot exist without darkness, just as good cannot be born without evil.
“”WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?” YOU ASK.
I DON'T KNOW. YOU WILL PROBABLY HIDE IT IN YOUR DESK OR WARDROBE, WHERE MY DESTROYED PLAYS LIE, AND OCCASIONALLY MENTION IT.”
– Mikhail Bulgakov on his novel just before his death in a letter to his third wife Yelena Sergeyevna Shilovskaya
Premiere
27th september 2019
Scene
The large stage
Duration
130 MINS (no interval)
suggested age
+16
Please note: There are scenes of nudity in the play, and chemicals are smoked on stage.
“The Opole proposal is faithful to the original and does not consist in reducing time plans or threads, but it is a two-hour gallop through the novel. At the level of interpretation, however, there was interesting shifts of accents – the director is less interested in love story, but more about the story of freedom and Nietzsche’s world order.”
Wiktoria Formella, e-teatr.pl
“Janusz Opryński’s performance is faithful to the novel and the spirit of the theater, which still has its place in Poland and its longing audience. It is a theater of psychological acting and unconventional scenography, on the JKT stage built with meticulousness and finesse by Jerzy Rudzki. It is theater in which the actor identifies with the character and the viewer feels drawn into the vortex of events and does not look for references to modern times in literal hints, only in the author’s metaphors. After all, it is an effective and delightful theater.”
Kamila Łapicka, zteatru.pl
“Opryński managed to launch very broad plans in the style of Fellini or Sorrentino. Circus art, rock, philosophical literature and theater as such. The show is spinning. Excellent music, mappings, several brilliant scenes – all this makes you breathtaking.”
Janusz Palikot, palikot.pl
„(…) potrafi rozśmieszyć, a nieraz też skłonić do refleksji. Działa jak dobrze skrojone kino gatunkowe, z rozwiązaniami z którymi teatr, moim zdaniem, mógłby częściej eksperymentować”.
Henryk Mazurkiewicz, teatralny.pl
„(…) potrafi rozśmieszyć, a nieraz też skłonić do refleksji. Działa jak dobrze skrojone kino gatunkowe, z rozwiązaniami z którymi teatr, moim zdaniem, mógłby częściej eksperymentować”.
Henryk Mazurkiewicz, teatralny.pl
awards and festivals
„The Best 2019/2020” ranking of „Theatre” monthly magazine
Distinction for Janusz Opryński in the category Best Direction
Distinction for Magdalena Maścianica in the category Best Female Role
Distinction in the category Best Theatrical Adaptation
Festival – 25th International Theatre Confrontations Festival (2020)
creators
Adaptation and Direction
Janusz Opryński
Set Design
Jerzy Rudzki
Music
Rafał Rozmus
Visualisations, Set Design Projection
Aleksander Janas / kilku.com
Visualisations
Paweł Szarzyński / kilku.com
Script Translation
Leokadia Przebinda
Adaptacja i reżyseria
Janusz Opryński
Script Translation
Igor Przebinda
Script Translation
Grzegorz Przebinda
Scenografia
Jerzy Rudzki
Script Translation Leokadia Przebinda Grzegorz Przebinda Igor Przebinda