This event is wheelchair accessible.
English and Polish with German and English surtitles Fetching prices
In 2021, women in Poland protested for 3 weeks for their right to abortion. In SHE WAS A FRIEND OF SOMEONE ELSE, Gosia Wdowik documents the fight for the right to abortion in Poland, which was almost completely abolished in October 2020. Based on an issue of the German magazine “stern” from 1971, in which 300 women reported on their abortion, the story is told by activists who want to repeat this action in the Polish context. On their way, they encounter resistance and suffer numerous setbacks - is quitting an option? Accompanied by the voice of an exhausted narrator, the performance shows some of these women. Gosia Wdowik herself lies silently on a mattress on the floor. Her countless deployments have burnt her out.
The evening explores the connection between activism and burnout and tells a story of highs and lows in the fight for the right to female self-determination in a chorus of women's voices, interview videos and Telegram chats. A story that has too many beginnings and too few endings.
Duration: ca. 60 Min.
The performance by Gosia Wdowik is accompanied by a talk (15.2., 7 pm) entitled Abortion as a stigma: Franziska Schutzbach meets activist Sarah Diehl and director Gosia Wdowik.
Biography
Gosia Wdowik is a theater maker and president of the Association of Polish Theater Directors. She studied theater directing in Warsaw and at DAS Theatre in Amsterdam. With her plays “Fear”, “Anger” and “Shame”, Wdowik developed a trilogy about the representation of emotions on stage at various theaters in Warsaw. She is currently investigating the space between exhaustion and agency from a feminist perspective. Together with the K.A.U kollective, she created performances for the SpielArt Festival in Munich, the Staatstheater Darmstadt and the Sophiensaele in Berlin and was also seen with a new directorial work in the last season at the Theater am Neumarkt Zurich.
Credits
Concept, text and direction: Gosia Wdowik
Collaboration dramaturgy: Maria Rössler
Visuals and creative technology: Jimmy Grimma
Stage design: Dominika Olszowy, Tomasz Mróz
Lighting design: Aleksandr Prowaliński
Performance: Oneka von Schrader, Gosia Wdowik, Jaśmina Polak
Collaboration with/from: Agnieszka, Dominika, Jaśmina, Ania, Urszula, Marta K., Justyna, Natalia, Julia, Martyna, Ola, Małga, Krystyna, Marta, Zosia, Edka, Doris, Yulia, Agata, Kinga, Beata, Iza, Zuza, Ewa, Magda
Thanks to: Jan Tomza-Osiecki, Marta Jalowska, Dorota Glac, Kamila Worobiej, Martyna Wawrzyniak, Marta Nawrot, Keerthi Basavarajaiah and Justin Schembri
Production: NOWY TEATR & CAMPO
Co-production Kunstenfestivaldesarts, Teatro Municipal do Porto, SPRING Performing Arts Festival, Frascati Producties, HELLERAU - European Center for the Arts, SPIELART Theaterfestival, Dublin Theatre Festival, Beursschouwburg, Points communs - Nouvelle Scène nationale de Cergy-Pontoise/Val d'Oise