About the play

“Bianka” is a compilation of fragments of Bruno Schulz’ short stories “The Spring” with quotations from “The Street of Crocodiles”. The adaptation is based on the simple notion that Bruno Schulz did not die in the ghetto of Drohobycz, but, just like Witold Gombrowicz, shortly before the World War II left the country to try his luck in Hollywood as a script writer. In a provincial American theatre he watches a play that becomes an impulse for his own thoughts, as he enriches it with the power of his imagination. He enters the stage as the actor’s alter ego and dies the death of a great creator. He disappears in the play, he dissolves in reality created by his imagination.

Cast

Screenplay, direction and set up by Janusz Klimsza
Director's assistant - Klaudiusz Szymiczek
Bruno Schulz - Mariusz Osmelak
Dr Freud - Ryszard Malinowski
Rudolf, the second self - Dariusz Maraksa
Superman - Klaudiusz Szymiczek
Johnie Walker - Janusz Kaczmarski
Manolito, the Torreador - Ryszard Pochroń
Marlon Brando as a Dog - Bartosz Dziedzic
Bianka - Katarzyna Wojczyk
Bianka's alter ego - Ewa Kus
Adela - Lidia Chrzanówna

Interview with the director, Janusz Klimsza.

Is Bruno Schulz one of your favourite writers? If yes, why?

Yes, he is. I discovered him at the end of secondary school, and immediately, just like with Marquez, I was captured by his imagination, absolutely magical and exceptional. I really like his language, more like that of baroque, which he fully controls. In my opinion, the way Schulz uses language puts him among the best writers in Polish literature. Apart from that, his imagination is truly exceptional. It’s a phenomenon, one of a kind, even on a world scale. He was an educated painter, even worked as a teacher of drawing in high school. It shows in his prose which is extremely impressionistic, more picture-like.

In “Bianca” visions of Schulz come to life, there are also characters out of his prose, like Superman, Johnie Walker, Torreador. Could you tell us what is their role?

I think they serve to contrast this world, coming somewhere from Eastern Europe, with the icons of show business. “Bianca” is not a faithful staging of Schulz’ prose, as his writing is so abundant on the verbal, literary level. It is hard to recreate this impressionistic atmosphere on the stage. That is why Schulz becomes the very subject. Schulz as a magical author in contrast with something, which, in a sense, is not that magical.
By Joanna Wania