Magnificat is the second part of the project Chór Kobiet. The show is a statement on the position of women in the system ruled by the Church, through the confrontation with the magnetic power of the saint icon of femininity, embodied in the Blessed Virgin Mary and with the ideological and aesthetic power of her painting. Quotes from the Bible, recipes, texts by Elfride Jelinek and Adam Mickiewicz and the fragments of The Bacchae by Euripides are mixed by the chorus with the sounds of a computer, clicking of shutters and flashes, quotations from newspapers. Rhythmic speech and pop expressions become interconnected with traditional forms of sacred music. Ideological and sound remix is created from which a polyphonic, pop cultural MAGNIFICAT is born.
MARTA GÓRNICKA is one of the most interesting artists of the young generation in the Polish theatre. Since 2009 she has been cooperating with Zbigniew Raszewski Theatre Institute in Warsaw, directing the project Chór kobiet [Eng. The Chorus of Women] – shows which have the original form of chorus theatre.
She says: “Modern drama broke with chorus depriving itself from some dimension of dramatic nature. We have to reintroduce chorus on stage, find new forms of its theatrical presence; we have to reintroduce women into the chorus. The chorus of women will shout, whisper and sing. It will treat words like music. It will turn language into voice – trigger its subversive power”. The project has its roots in the critical reflection on the human being restricted by cultural, social or religious norms.
concept, libretto, direction: Marta Górnicka
score: IEN
choreography: Anna Godowska
literature and scientific consultation: Agata Adamiecka
conducting consultation: Marta Sulewska
scenography cooperation: Anna Maria Karczmarska
stage manager: Marek Susdorf
production: Zbigniew Raszewski Theatre Institute
performed by: Justyna Chaberek, Ewa Chomicka, Alina Czyżewska, Paulina Drzastwa, Alicja Herod, Anna Jagłowska, Katarzyna Jaźnicka. Ewa Konstanciak, Ewa Kossak, Katarzyna Lalik, Agnieszka Makowska, Kamila Michalska, Katarzyna Migdalska, Jolanta Nałęcz-Jawecka, Natalia Obrębska, Magda Roma Przybylska, Anna Rączkowska, Anna Rusiecka, Monika Sadkowska, Dominika Stefańska, Kaja Stępkowska, Karolina Szulejewska, Iwona Tołbińska, Agata Wencel, Karolina Więch, Anna Wodzyńska, Anna Wojnarowska.
premiere: 27.06.2011