"Hideout/Kryjówka" – Paweł Passini's stage show in Warsaw again
The play is based on Paweł Passini's own family history, told to him by his aunt Apolonia Starzec, who managed to leave the Warsaw ghetto through the court building on Leszno Street. She was then hidden in the home of the famous actress Irena Solska. Hidden there, she changed her hair colour, and was provided with false papers which she used to deliver wool for swaeters. Proceeds from their sale were used to support many people.
As the director stresses, "We tell how, during the War, Poles were separated from other Poles because they were Jews. This separation still lingers till today. For some reason, in Poland, it is said that someone "admits to" being a Jew. Our interviewees often told us that "I still haven't come out of the closet".
So, Passini's play also tells of the difficulties in collecting wartime stories of those who were in hiding during the occupation. Some, even to this day, do not want to talk about it.
On 9th December 2014, in a review of the play's premiere at 3 Maja Ave, Aneta Kozioł wrote in "Polityka": "In a small space within a private apartment in Warsaw's Powiśle, an audience had the chance to not only listen to a collection of experiences of those in hiding, but also, to a certain degree, feel that experience of being cramped and closed in".
From that time, the "Hideout/Kryjówka”'s actors have performed the play over sixty times in Poland and abroad. Performances have taken place in theatres, apartments, basements, barns and manor houses, as well as at theatrical festivals. One of the venues in Poland was in Kielce, at 7 Planty Street, the site of the 1946 pogrom. It has also been performed in Bulgaria, China and Cyprus.
The plays organisers state, "We're returning to Warsaw, to a tenement at 62 Złota Street. This is an extraordinary and important place. It contains a courtyard with one of the last remnants of the ghetto wall. Above all else, it has its own beautiful, private history discovered by some remarkable people. They invited us to perform 'Kryjówka' in their apartment".
This year's performances will take place in Apartment 22, 62 Złota Street in Warsaw on 17th (with English translations), 18th, 19th, 24th and 25th June at 7:00 pm, as well as on 26th June at 4:00 pm and 7:00 pm. Tickets (45 zł each) can be purchased at the "Afera Fryzjera” hairdresser at 62/15 Złota Street. Tickets can also be booked by phoning. 504 958 252 or via e-mail: [email protected]
More about the show and its creators can be found here: www.kryjowka.warszawa.pl
