Pupa

Stanisław Syrewicz / Anna Hop

Performances

Ballet in one act
Music: Stanisław Syrewicz
Libretto: Klara Syrewicz based on the novel Ferdydurke by Witold Gombrowicz
World premiere: 14 February 2015 

Stanisław Syrewicz and Anna Hop return to being inspired by Gombrowicz's grotesque. Together they attempt ambitiously to translate elements of the writer's symbolism into a musical and visual language.

'Just like there is no room for lyrical tones in Gombrowicz', Syrewicz remarks, 'and just like drama is mixed with the grotesque in his work, there is no room for mawkishness, solemnity or soppiness in my compositions where irony runs deep'.

Ferdydurke is as tough to adapt as a ballet as it is fascinating -- the body, or rather its parts abstracted from the context of the whole are an important element in the construction of the novel's grotesque world. Notions such as 'pupa' [backside], 'gęba' [mug], 'łydka' [calf of the leg] and 'rozczłonkowanie' [dismemberment] describe social and psychological phenomena which, despite the passage of several decades, are still terrifyingly relevant.

Cast

2016-03-17 | 19:00

Credits

Polish National Ballet
Music from a recording (electronic music, additional arrangements: Dariusz Kaliński; mastering: Marcin Bociński; the sections Form, Maturity and Słowacki feature recordings of music orchestrated and conducted by Krzesimir Dębski)

Sponsors

  • Mecenas Teatru Wielkiego - Opery Narodowej

  • Partnerzy Teatru Wielkiego - Opery Narodowej

  • Partner Polskiego Baletu Narodowego

  • Patroni medialni Teatru Wielkiego - Opery Narodowej

  • Partners of Teatr Wielki – Polish National Opera

  • Partner of Polish National Ballet

  • Media partners of Teatr Wielki – Polish National Opera