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The Upper Room - the actors' demonstration

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The Upper Room - a play for Easter
Andrzej Wajda Film-maker
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Among my work in theatre, perhaps there's one other that deserves attention. Namely, martial law led to actors forming a protest, they stopped appearing on television believing, rightly so, that televison propagated lies. Because of this, we began to experiment to see how these actors who were fully aware of how well known they were and were demonstrating against appearing on television, how we could organise a protest which the political authorities couldn't jeopardise. Of course, the place where this kind of thing could be tried out on was the exterritorial grounds of a church. In Warsaw, there was an exhibition of independent art at the church on Żytnia Street. This wasn't sacred art but the artists were deliberately exhibiting there so that their names could testify to the fact that they were anti, and it was in this church that we decided to put on a play with well known actors, so that performers like Krystyna Janda, Daniel Olbrychski, Olgierd Łukaszewicz and others could take part in a demonstration that was completely independent. The literary material I opted for, well not really opted for because first we talked about creating a play especially for this. Since it was going to be in a church, the topic had to be religious and Ernest Bryll wrote a play in verse about the events during and just after Christ is arrested following the Last Supper. What was it that we wanted? We wanted to do a play for Easter which would be about hope, because how was it possible for these disciples to have believed so profoundly in their master and yet, when he was arrested, when he was threatened with death, suddenly everyone scattered and ran away? This isn't in the Gospels but you can guess what was going on: the panic, the rediscovery and the hope that there will be a resurrection.

Wśród moich prac teatralnych może jeszcze jedna zasługuje na uwagę. Mianowicie stan wojenny spowodował, że środowisko aktorskie założyło protest, przestało grać w telewizji, uważając – i słusznie – że telewizja kłamie. W związku z tym zaczęliśmy tworzyć jakieś próby, jakby można było tych aktorów, którzy z całą świadomością ze swoimi znanymi nazwiskami demonstrują, że nie występują w telewizji. Jak by tu można było zrobić z nimi jakąś manifestację, która by... jakby... której nie zagroziłyby władze polityczne. Oczywiście eksterytorialnym terenem, gdzie można było taką próbę podjąć, był kościół. I w Warszawie w kościele na Żytniej były wystawy niezależnej sztuki, wcale nie religijnej, ale z całą świadomością artyści wystawiali tam, żeby ich nazwiska właśnie świadczyły o tym, że są przeciw i w tymże kościele na Żytniej postanowiliśmy zrobić przedstawienie ze znanymi aktorami. Właśnie żeby tacy aktorzy jak Krystyna Janda, Daniel Olbrychski, Olgierd Łukaszewicz i inni mogli wystąpić w manifestacji, która... która jest zupełnie niezależna. Jako materiał literacki sięgnęłem, a właściwie nie sięgnęłem, bo najpierw rozmawialiśmy o tym, czy by nie stworzyć takiej specjalnej sztuki. No w kościele temat religijny i Ernest Bryll napisał sztukę wierszem, która jest wydarzeniem wieczerniku i tuż po, kiedy Chrystus zostaje pojmany. No bo czegośmy chcieli? Chcieliśmy zrobić na Wielkanoc przedstawienie o nadziei, że jak to jest możliwe, że ci uczniowie tak bardzo wierzyli w swojego mistrza. W momencie, kiedy on został aresztowany, kiedy zagraża mu śmierć, nagle wszyscy się rozproszyli, wszyscy uciekli. W związku z tym to jest to, czego nie ma w Ewangelii, a co możemy się domyślić. W ogóle ten popłoch, jak się znaleźć, jak się odnaleźć no i nadzieja, że przyjdzie Zmartwychwstanie.

Polish film director Andrzej Wajda (1926-2016) was a towering presence in Polish cinema for six decades. His films, showing the horror of the German occupation of Poland, won awards at Cannes and established his reputation as both story-teller and commentator on Poland's turbulent history. As well as his impressive career in TV and film, he also served on the national Senate from 1989-91.

Listeners: Jacek Petrycki

Cinematographer Jacek Petrycki was born in Poznań, Poland in 1948. He has worked extensively in Poland and throughout the world. His credits include, for Agniezka Holland, Provincial Actors (1979), Europe, Europe (1990), Shot in the Heart (2001) and Julie Walking Home (2002), for Krysztof Kieslowski numerous short films including Camera Buff (1980) and No End (1985). Other credits include Journey to the Sun (1998), directed by Jesim Ustaoglu, which won the Golden Camera 300 award at the International Film Camera Festival, Shooters (2000) and The Valley (1999), both directed by Dan Reed, Unforgiving (1993) and Betrayed (1995) by Clive Gordon both of which won the BAFTA for best factual photography. Jacek Petrycki is also a teacher and a filmmaker.

Tags: Upper Room, Warsaw, Żytnia Street, Krystyna Janda, Ernest Bryll, Daniel Olbrychski, Olgierd Łukaszewicz

Duration: 3 minutes, 1 second

Date story recorded: August 2003

Date story went live: 24 January 2008