Review: PIECES OF A WOMAN at TR Warszawa

Kornél Mundruczó returned to TR Warszawa with a strong need of making a play about Polish women. After he found Kata Wéber's (his long-standing co-worker, playwright) note containing a scene which was about a relationship between a mother and a daughter, He encouraged Kate Wéber to develop a whole family drama and thanks to their cooperation, the play „Pieces of a Woman" was created.

The performance has two parts: in the first one we meet Maja and her husband, who were expecting a baby. Unfortunately, the baby dies immediately after its birth. The other scene takes place in Maja's mother's house, where she (for some enigmatic to the rest of the family reason) invites her two daughters with their partners for dinner.

The acting was stunning. I won't mention all of the actors and actresses, but to be honest some of them really stole my heart. Especially, Maja played by Justyna Wasilewska who was true and believable. It was a quite tough task playing a parturient woman. What's more, her study of pain and suffering was very impressive. The scene with a psychedelic and shining baby doll, which suddenly came up from nowhere, imaging her still alive trauma, was simply marvelous! Another noteworthy role was Magdalena Kuta's Mother, who suffers from dementia. She was so realistic that I felt as if I had seen one of the members of my family (who also suffered from this disease). And of course I could not mention a great Doboromir Dymecki's role as Maja's Norwegian husband. His Scandinavian accent was really astonishing.

For few reasons this play was unique. The director made the performance hyperrealistic. It means that there was no „metaphysical" scene, (except the one with the doll) and the play took two hours of our realistic time. Also one could see every detail in the Mothers's apartment - there was even a real duck being roasted in the oven! With these effects Mundruczó managed to make it look like a film. This classic form of the theater is quite unparalleled nowadays.

The birth scene was live-streamed on the big screen in a room covered with ultrasound photos of fetus and the audience was sitting on the floor, on mattresses. The set in the second part of the play took place in an accurately reproduced cosy apartment, it was beauteous - the very moment I saw it I wanted to move in. Additionally, there were no food props, but the whole meals.

Never before has the light in a play impressed me so much. I cannot describe how miraculous it was - masterpiece! You just have to see this!

I definitely find Mundruczó's efforts to make a play about women successful. Even though the main topic of the production (family relations) was clearly taking some risk of being talky, the director managed to put it into up-to-date problems. Above and beyond, everyone from the audience could find something in the play which would remind them of their own family experiences. It is not an easy play, the characters are struggling with their own problems and they don't understand each other, but they need to confront their emotions with other members of the family in order to resume living.

So if you visit Warsaw, I decisively recommend you to visit TR Warszawa and of course see this bodacious work of this great Hungarian director.

(Photo Credit: Natalia Kabanow)