Ballads and Romances

The performance was awarded for Best Direction (Gabriel Gietzky) at the 32nd International Festival of Children’s Theatres in Subotica (Serbia) in September 2025.

Based on the ballads by Adam Mickiewicz.

Gabriel Gietzky, director of this performance aimed at young people and adult audiences, decided to look at Romanticism, Świtezianka, Lilies and The Little Fish somewhat differently than we have become accustomed to through school interpretation of the text. All the more so because Mickiewicz himself, when writing Ballads and Romances, had not only an emotional relationship with these mysterious stories derived from folk tradition, but also a certain distance.

The creators of the performance attempted to examine them from the perspective of the contemporary generation of young people, who in this unique, fascinating world full of fantasy, folk beliefs and moral truths will often find their own moods and dilemmas, as well as an aesthetic close to them.

The actors, using a multitude of forms and techniques, play with text, movement, song… The production employs various theatrical conventions, including grotesque, while maintaining enormous respect for Mickiewicz’s magnificent verse.

The performance was created as part of the Year of Polish Romanticism and the Romanticism 2022 project associated with the bicentenary of the publication of Ballads and Romances.

Co-financed by the Minister of Culture and National Heritage from the Culture Promotion Fund – a state earmarked fund.

Co-production with the Silesian Puppet and Actor Theatre Ateneum

Premiere:

Katowice, September 16, 2022

Łódź-Katowice, October 22, 2022

Łódź, March 18, 2023

Creators

Direction: Gabriel Gietzky
Set Design: Klaudia Laszczyk
Music: Michał Zdrzałek
Choreography: Szymon Michlewicz-Sowa
Multimedia: Paweł Szymkowiak

Projections by students of the Leon Schiller National Film, Television and Theatre School in Łódź were used: Maciej Bernaś and Maja Drząszcz-Van Reed “todayMickiewiczwhisperstodaywhispers” and Natalia Godek “Świtezianka”

Cast

Małgorzata Krawczenko
Natalia Wieciech/Żaneta Małkowska
Łukasz Batko
Piotr Osak
Piotr Pasek
Anna Woźniak-Płacek

Gallery

Two actors in black outfits on a dark theatre stage, holding scripts in their hands during a rehearsal of a performance based on "Ballads and Romances".
Two actors in black, modern costumes on a dark theatre stage. A man with a gold chain and a woman with a neon handbag are taking a staged selfie, holding a phone in a bright, lime-green color. The woman's facial expression is an exaggerated "duck face".
An actor in a white protective suit and a white, theatrical mask with a long beak sits on a dark stage with crossed arms.
View from the auditorium of a theatre stage illuminated with purple light and smoke, on which actors are performing; in the foreground, dark silhouettes of spectators sitting in seats are visible.
Two actors in black, loose tracksuits on a theatre stage; a woman holds a bright yellow handbag in her outstretched hand, and a man looks in her direction with his head tilted.
Two actors on a dark stage, in black outfits and grotesque pink masks and tactical vests. They are holding bright pink rifles in their hands.

photos: Tomasz Ogrodowczyk

Trailer

trailer: Mateusz Dziworski

Poster

Surrealist theatre poster for the performance "Ballads and Romances", presenting an artistic collage of a human figure surrounded by tall grasses, with anatomical motifs, fish and an inscription with the title of Adam Mickiewicz's work.
poster: Kaja Renkas