„LOVE AND CONTEMPT” –   Gardzienice Theatre

 “LOVE AND CONTEMPT, PEACE AND WAR. A story about Świętosława, daughter of Mieszko I, her brother Bolesław Chrobry and her lover – Olaf Tryggvason and about the 10th century, when a new world was born”  –  Gardzienice Theatre

22.05.2025 (Thursday)/ 8.30 pm/ Outdoor stage, next to the Granary

Direction, text adaptation: Włodzimierz Staniewski

Music: Mikołaj Blajda

Musicians: Dymitr Harelau, Bartłomiej Godula, Małgorzata Bardak, Weronika Fedyk, Mikołaj Mazur

The cast is present: Mariusz Gołaj, Joanna Holcgreber, Marcin Mrowca, Anna Maria Dąbrowska, Paweł Kieszko, Anna Maria Słowikowska, Anna Bielecka, Maria Matosek, James Jack Bentham, Charles Sobry, Elliot Windsor, Oleg Dracz and the graduates from XV Gardzienice Academy for Theatre Practices

The rites of the Middle Ages, the encounters between the Vikings and the Slavs, the formation of the identity of Europe and the countenance of nations; the times of powerful male and female rulers, mad warriors and glorious women.
The concept of the performance refers to Polish-Slavic and Norwegian mythology (Vikings) during the period of the formation of Christianity in Poland and Norway, to the history of the origins of both countries, myths and ‘common places’ that lie at the basis of both cultures.
A presentation about Bolesław Chrobry and his sister Świętoslawa based on the chronicles:

Ibrahim Ibn Jacob, the Israelite of Tortosa
Master Kadłubek of Kraków
Gallus Anonymus
Ahmed Ibn Fadlan of Baghdad
Snorri Sturhuson of Iceland, author of the Sagas
Thietmar of Merseburg
Bruno of Querfurt
Widuking of Korbei
Nestor of Kyiv
Michael Psellos of Constantinople
Chronicle of the Angles and Saxons
The chronicle ‘Praise of Queen Emma’.

– preceded all current productions related to the celebrations of the 1000th anniversary of the Crown of the Polish State. When looking at their conventions, one gets the unmistakable impression that their creators were inspired by our performance, as if they were copying.

fot. Maciej Dziaczko