Launched in 2019 with a focus on Poland’s particular affinity and fascination with Shakespeare, the event is an annual celebration of Poland’s cultural heritage and Anglo-Polish cultural bonds showcased through literature, theatre and music.
Saturday’s programme includes a production presented by an acclaimed street theatre company, Scena Kalejdoskop, from Kraków, southern Poland.
Entitled Made of Stone, the play is a blend of forgotten tales and legends. In it, as the festival website writes, “audiences will be able to encounter stunning forests and mystical creatures brought to life through amazing masks and unique costumes, set to the enchanting music of Polish composers.”
The highlight of Sunday’s programme, meanwhile, is a discussion on the topic “Shakespeare’s Theatre in Poland and the Woman’s Voice,” with panellists including renowned actress Dame Janek Suzman, theatre and opera director Helena Kaut-Howson, and several academics.
The one-woman play The Death of Ophelia, by Polish writer Stanisław Wyspiański (1869-1907), will be performed by Hara Yannas.
Sunday’s attractions also include Venetian mask-making workshops. Held in partnership with the Royal Shakespeare Company, they take inspiration from Shakespeare’s play The Merchant of Venice.
Bancroft Terrace outside the Royal Shakespeare Theatre will be the venue of Folk Reflections: Walkabout Performance, in which three, larger-than-life puppets in colourful costumes will present traditional folk dress from different regions of Poland.
The festival’s closing event is a concert of Polish music featuring works by Fryderyk Chopin, Henryk Wieniawski, Grażyna Bacewicz and Wojciech Kilar, performed by Anna Sałucka (piano) and Jaga Klimaszewska (violin).
The Shakespeare and Poland Festival is organised by the Polish Cultural Institute in London together with the Stratford-based Polish community organisation Copernicana CIC.
(mk/gs)