Centre for Theatre Practices Gardzienice

Gardzienice Theatre has enjoyed an international reputation for its extraordinary theatre performances for over twenty five years. The productions have been variously described as ‘music theatre’, ‘ethno-oratorio’ and ‘allegorical song theatre’. The origins of each performance are firmly rooted in music and this is not merely an aesthetic choice but rather a reflection of Artistic Director, Włodzimierz Staniewski’s deeply held belief that musicality is “a key which opens heart and soul” thus enabling a profound relationship with its instigator. The theatrical source for musicality within Staniewski’s work has been found in a “new, natural environment of theatre rooted in life”. It was in Eastern Poland that Staniewski recognised the “natural phenomena” that he valued so highly. “These concern the human being in nature – something that alarms us, alarms our senses, alarms our perception.”