After an interval of 10 years, Izabela Cywinska has once again decided to direct something for the stage. In the transformed Coal Market space of the Coastal Theatre, Cywinska is in the process of preparing the world premiere of a stage adaptation of Stefan Chwin's novel HANEMANN. Chwin's novel tells the story of post-World War II Gdansk, of Doctor Hanemann and his Polish friends, of a world that is dieing and a world in the process of being born.

"Cywinska has used Chwin's text as a basis for a theatrical story about Europe heading towards unification, about a world full of fears, prejudices, and national complexes", say the director's collaborators.

The production will feature Miroslaw Baka, Dorota Kolak, and Katarzyna Figura, returning to the stage after a break of 15 years.

"From this multi-threaded novel the director has above all extracted the theme of the foreigner. The three main characters in the play - a German doctor, a Ukrainian servant, and the homeless, speechless boy she has taken in - are socially marginalized in various ways. Hanemann is ostracized for his origin, which in time becomes a conviction in absentia. Hanka is rejected because of her attempted suicide and unclear past. Adam is one of tens of thousands of children of war, deprived of his family and thrown out in the street where he makes a living performing circus tricks. Cywinska has turned the emotional ties that develop between these three into the narrative shell of her production. It is around this that she constructs a panorama of Gdansk immediately after the war." (Roman Pawlowski, "Gazeta Wyborcza").

Stefan Chwin, HANEMANN, adapted and directed by Izabela Cywińska, scenery designed by Małgorzata Szcześniak, music by Andrzej Głowiński, choreography by Wojciech Misiuro. Premiere: January 27, 2002 at the Scena na Targu Weglowym (Coal Market Stage) of the Teatrze Wybrzeze (Coastal Theatre), Gdansk.