Up early to get my things thrown together in anticipation of leaving for Szczecin in the afternoon. Had a 10am appointment with the director of Teatr Usta Usta. He seemed to be quite faded, hiding behind a pair of sunglasses. We had a very nice conversation and got some insight into the piece. Allen Ginsberg was sited as an influence. After answering several of our questions, he wanted to find out if we had been able to read that the dwarf was god and that his Campbell’s soup scene was supposed to be him showing his indifference to his creation. We got some posters signed and a couple of group shots taken before heading off.
With the director of Usta Usta the morning after their late night performance in the rain. The camels that were paraded around at the end of the performance. Koby, Laura and Asia in a wood cabin on the premises.
Walked over to the Adam Mickiewicz University Theater Center to talk with Teatr Biuro Podróży (Travel Agency Theater.) We talked for a little bit and then watched a video of a piece they have been touring with to great success in Russia.
Had a brief meeting with Teatr Biuro Podróży (Travel Agency Theater.) Most of the time was spent watching a DVD of one of their performances.
Quickly headed back to the hotel to gather up our things and hurry over to the train station. Bid goodbye to Juliusz, his wife Joanna, Pauline, Stach and Joanna’s cousin. After lollygagging on the station for a bit, we realized that the train was boarding and we needed to secure some seats. We scrambled on board and managed to get everything settled. The train was clean and the compartments were roomy enough.
A last view of our dormitory building before we headed off to the train station. The Tyszka's goofing off on the platform. Steven poking his head out and Joanna enjoying a pączki.
Two and a half hours later we arrived in Szczecin. Three taxis were waiting for us at the station and we were whisked over to the Seaman’s Hotel. It was a pretty seedy place that was having some work dome on the exterior. This meant that there was scaffolding all over the outside and workmen swarming over the surface. While this would never be to my liking, it was made worse by the fact that the window curtains did not properly cover the window. I positioned the curtain to block the direct view in and cover a mirror that was to one side with my towel. We had a moment to freshen up before we headed over to Teatr Kana for introductions and a meal. We took a rather roundabout route and had to be met and lead for the last bit. Right next to Teatr Kana was a basement café and bar. A section was reserved for our group and we sat down to a delicious pasta dish.
The Teatr Kana cafe where we had two meals a day, was in the basement next to the theater.
After dinner we headed over to the Zamek for the performance by Antagon theaterAKTion. They put on a lavish production with a huge backdrop that they cart around in a huge touring bus. Their piece included all of the typical Eastern European theater elements, stills and lots of fire. Everything was done very well so I didn’t mind all that much. The center of their backdrop was set up with a couple of platforms which at various points played host to different characters. One long section included a figure suspended behind a sea green scrim who eventually dropped down to another section with a white scrim that had a huge kettle drum that a ring of other figures proceeded to pound out a beat upon. The final scene involved two men pouring out flammable liquid in eight streams from the audience back to the center of their backdrop and connecting them across the far end. The streams were lit as well as the top of an elaborate headdress the main character was wearing.
Antagon theaterAKTion's piece was quite lavish and very visually striking.
Asia, Koby and I went back over to the grass by Teatr Kana to take in the “night film-music cinema.” I managed to get some beers ordered in my broken Polish. Relanium, a local Szczecin band, provided musical accompaniment to a fragment of Alejandro Jodorowski’s El Topo, shorts from Len Lye, Oskar Fischinger, some ancient Lucky Strike and General Mills commercials as well as Hans Richter’s surreal “Ghosts Before Breakfast.” Koby cashed out early and lied about having someone to go back to the hotel with even though I offered a couple of times. Asia and I stayed on until the programming was over. We had a long walk home as the festival map was not altogether clear and we went too far in one direction. Finally got to bed around 2:30am.
The “night film-music cinema” was a good combination of the local Szczecin band Relanium and excerpts of Jodorowski's "El Topo" and a number of animated shorts and old commercials.
With the director of Usta Usta the morning after their late night performance in the rain. The camels that were paraded around at the end of the performance. Koby, Laura and Asia in a wood cabin on the premises.
Walked over to the Adam Mickiewicz University Theater Center to talk with Teatr Biuro Podróży (Travel Agency Theater.) We talked for a little bit and then watched a video of a piece they have been touring with to great success in Russia.
Had a brief meeting with Teatr Biuro Podróży (Travel Agency Theater.) Most of the time was spent watching a DVD of one of their performances.
Quickly headed back to the hotel to gather up our things and hurry over to the train station. Bid goodbye to Juliusz, his wife Joanna, Pauline, Stach and Joanna’s cousin. After lollygagging on the station for a bit, we realized that the train was boarding and we needed to secure some seats. We scrambled on board and managed to get everything settled. The train was clean and the compartments were roomy enough.
A last view of our dormitory building before we headed off to the train station. The Tyszka's goofing off on the platform. Steven poking his head out and Joanna enjoying a pączki.
Two and a half hours later we arrived in Szczecin. Three taxis were waiting for us at the station and we were whisked over to the Seaman’s Hotel. It was a pretty seedy place that was having some work dome on the exterior. This meant that there was scaffolding all over the outside and workmen swarming over the surface. While this would never be to my liking, it was made worse by the fact that the window curtains did not properly cover the window. I positioned the curtain to block the direct view in and cover a mirror that was to one side with my towel. We had a moment to freshen up before we headed over to Teatr Kana for introductions and a meal. We took a rather roundabout route and had to be met and lead for the last bit. Right next to Teatr Kana was a basement café and bar. A section was reserved for our group and we sat down to a delicious pasta dish.
The Teatr Kana cafe where we had two meals a day, was in the basement next to the theater.
After dinner we headed over to the Zamek for the performance by Antagon theaterAKTion. They put on a lavish production with a huge backdrop that they cart around in a huge touring bus. Their piece included all of the typical Eastern European theater elements, stills and lots of fire. Everything was done very well so I didn’t mind all that much. The center of their backdrop was set up with a couple of platforms which at various points played host to different characters. One long section included a figure suspended behind a sea green scrim who eventually dropped down to another section with a white scrim that had a huge kettle drum that a ring of other figures proceeded to pound out a beat upon. The final scene involved two men pouring out flammable liquid in eight streams from the audience back to the center of their backdrop and connecting them across the far end. The streams were lit as well as the top of an elaborate headdress the main character was wearing.
Antagon theaterAKTion's piece was quite lavish and very visually striking.
Asia, Koby and I went back over to the grass by Teatr Kana to take in the “night film-music cinema.” I managed to get some beers ordered in my broken Polish. Relanium, a local Szczecin band, provided musical accompaniment to a fragment of Alejandro Jodorowski’s El Topo, shorts from Len Lye, Oskar Fischinger, some ancient Lucky Strike and General Mills commercials as well as Hans Richter’s surreal “Ghosts Before Breakfast.” Koby cashed out early and lied about having someone to go back to the hotel with even though I offered a couple of times. Asia and I stayed on until the programming was over. We had a long walk home as the festival map was not altogether clear and we went too far in one direction. Finally got to bed around 2:30am.
The “night film-music cinema” was a good combination of the local Szczecin band Relanium and excerpts of Jodorowski's "El Topo" and a number of animated shorts and old commercials.
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