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2 September 2010

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Aleksander Fredro, "Ladies and Hussars"
Directed by Kazimierz Kutz, Stary Theatre in Kraków, December, 2001
languages: Polski  / English 
 

Fredro's "DAMY I HUZARY / LADIES AND HUSSARS" is a comedy about the amorous difficulties of a group of soldiers stationed in a country manor. As required reading for all school-aged children in Poland, the play is associated with matinee shows and a classical, and therefore boring and predictable, storyline. Many directors view Fredro's play to be child's play, a cheerful and simple story about good times in Old Poland.

Recently, however, the canonical text fell into the hands of Kazimierz Kutz, who has proceeded to expose all of the buoyancy and nostalgia of "LADIES AND HUSSARS" for something superfluous.
"This is the first time in decades that I have seen a staging of 'Ladies and Hussars' that does not seek to render infantile the issues the play tackles for the purpose making it understandable to school-aged children," writes the reviewer for "Rzeczpospolita". "(...) In Kutz's version the ladies of the title are the embodiment of devastation. They appear in the home of the Major as his effusively sweet sisters but at the same time are clearly angry Furies towards those who serve them. As in any good suspense story, the tension mounts. (...) The Major, as portrayed by Jersey Trial, is entrapped by this coven, forced into feeling guilt, badgered. Tragic from the beginning, this renders him that much more interesting in his wooing of his eighteen year-old niece. His operetta-like uniform and the robotic nature of his movements are reminiscent of Hoffman's Nutcracker. Similarly, he is both touching and pitiful."
Kutz has assembled his production fully aware of the tradition of staging Fredro. "LADIES AND HUSSARS" has been a vehicle for some of Poland's most renowned actors, including Mieczysława Ćwiklińska, Ryszarda Hanin, Danuta Szaflarska, Jan Kurnakowicz, and Kazimierz Opaliński. Kutz gladly ventures into the past, quoting from theatrical tradition and from the myths of Polish and Old Polish culture.
"Kutz the Magician has ostentatiously put his trust in the text. He plays with it and with 19th century theatrical convention, taking this game to the edge of farce. (...) The last stage picture in 'Ladies and Hussars' is a toast to the young couple. A shot is fired from the cannon introduced in the first act and all of the characters freeze as if in a group photo. They retreat into their dream of a lost past and lost youth, of national myths and fables, and they will awake when the cannon fires again. Everything will begin once more and Fredro's immortal comedy about the war of the sexes will once again roll across the stage of the Old Theatre." marvels the reviewer for "Gazeta Wyborcza".
Important productions of "LADIES AND HUSSARS":
  • 1968 - directed by Adam Hanuszkiewicz, Powszechny Theatre, Warsaw;
  • 1973 - directed by Olga Lipińska, Teatr Telewizji (Polish Television Theatre);
  • 1986 - directed by Andrzej Łapicki, Polski Theatre, Warsaw;
  • 2000 - directed by Agnieszka Glińska, Powszechny Theatre, Łódź.
Aleksander Fredro, "DAMY I HUZARY" / "LADIES AND HUSSARS", directed by Kazimierz Kutz, scenery designed by Ryszard Melliwa, music by Jan Kanty Pawluśkiewicz. Premiere: December 16, 2001 at the Stary Theatre in Kraków.
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