WHAT'S YOUR NAME, MY BEAUTY?
MY NAME IS SUFFERING.

Femina is the big scale outdoor performance of Teatr A PART, directed by Marcin Herich.

The show portrays the picturesque and emotional story about one human being. It is also the story about Real Life: Birth, Experiences, Love and Death. This story revolves about the Woman with her tears, laughter, smile and pain, with Hope and Despair.

The first version of the performance (performed as Teatr Cogitatur) and the second version (performed by Teatr A PART) were presented many times during various festivals and events in many countries (Belarus, Brazil, Great Britain, Poland, Slovakia, Romania, Italy, Netherlands, Croatia, Germany, France, South Korea nad Spain).

Different kinds of expression means, like: big constructions, stilts, smoke, water and open fire were applied in a show, but no word is spoken.


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scenario & direction:
Marcin Herich

actors:
Monika Wachowicz, Joanna Pyrcz, Katarzyna Pryc, Maciej Dziaczko, Cezary Kruszyna Lesław Witosz, Jakub Kabus, Marek Radwan (Daniel Dyniszuk)

stage scenery: Marcin Herich
(some elements of scenery were made by Tomasz Wenkler)

music: fragments of the works by
Future Sound of London, J.Garbarek, E.Goldenthal, F. Kreisler, Vivaldi

text:
fragment of the poem by T.S.Eliot "Ash-Wednesday"
(interpretation by Katarzyna Pryc, in Polish version: Monika Wachowicz)

technical co-operation/spot: Dariusz Piotrowski (Natalia Kruszyna)

duration of the performance: 40 minutes
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FESTIVALS & EVENTS

first version (with actress Katarzyna Mrozinska-Izdebska)
*Międzynarodowy Festiwal Teatrów A Part (Katowice, Poland, 1999)
*Gliwickie Spotkania Teatralne (Gliwice, Poland, 2000)
*Internationales Strassentheater-Festival (Goerlitz, Germany, 2000)
*Międzynarodowy Festiwal Sztuka Ulicy (Warszawa, Poland, 2000)
*Międzynarodowy Festiwal Teatralny Malta (Poznań, Poland, 2000)
*Letnie Toruńskie Spotkania Teatrów Ulicznych (Toruń, Poland, 2000)
*Theater im Park (Bielefeld, Germany, 2000)
*World Exhibition Expo 2000 (Hanover, Germany, 2000)
*Festival Internacional de Londrina FILO (Londrina, Brasil, 2001)
*La Valse des As (Valreas, France, 2001)
*Drogi Teatru - Spotkania (Kielce, Poland, 2001)
*Festivalul International de Teatru de la Sibiu (Sibiu, Romania, 2001)
*Festival Internacional de Teatre i Animacio Al Carrer (Viladecans, Spain, 2001)
*Festiwal Polskich Teatrów Ulicznych (Jelenia Góra, Poland, 2001)
*Międzynarodowy Festiwal Teatrów A Part (Katowice, Poland, 2001)
*Prezentacja Województwa Śląskiego (Bratislava, Slovakia, 2001)
*Festival des Arts de la Rue Viva Cite (Sotteville-les-Rouen, France, 2002)
*Międzynarodowy Festiwal Teatrów Ulicznych i Plenerowych Feta (Gdańsk, Poland, 2002)
*Internationale Woche des Jungen Theaters Arena (Erlangen, Germany, 2002,
the show received two main awards: Jury Award & Public Award),
*Festival Internacional de Teatro Palco & Rua FITBH (Belo Horizonte, Brasil, 2002)
*Feria de Teatro de Aragon en Huesca (Huesca, Spain, 2003)
*Prezentacja Kultury Polskiej w Saragossie (Zaragoza, Spain, 2003)
*Międzynarodowy Festiwal Sztuka Ulicy (Warszawa, Poland, 2003)
*Międzynarodowy Festiwal Artystów Ulicy (Szczecin, Poland, 2003)
*Festival International de Theatre de Rue Aurillac (Aurillac, France, 2003)
*Limburg Festival (Valkenburg, Roggel, Netherlands, 2003)
*Festiwal Teatrów Ulicznych Sztuka na bruku (Lubin, Poland, 2004)

second version (with actress Monika Wachowicz)
*Mittelfest (Cividale del Friuli, Italy, 2004)
*International Festival of New Theatre ZadarSnova (Zadar, Croatia, 2004)
*Days of Contemporary Art (Białystok, Poland, 2005)
*International Open/Closed Air Art Festival SOS (Sisak, Croatia, 2005)
*International Theatre Festival PUF (Pula, Croatia, 2005)
*Arts & Technology Festival Robodock (Amsterdam, Netherlands, 2005)
*Stockton International Riverside Festival (Stockton, England, 2006)
*Festiwal Artystycznych Działań Ulicznych La Strada (Kalisz, Poland, 2007)
*Międzynarodowy Festiwal Teatrów A Part (Katowice, Poland, 2007)
*Festival Europeo del Teatro di Scena e Urbano Arlecchino d'Oro (Mantova, Italy, 2007)
*Festival Internacional de Teatro y Artes de Calle (Valladolid, Spain, 2008)
*Międzynarodowy Festiwal Sztuka Ulicy (Warszawa, Poland, 2008)
*Międzynarodowy Festiwal Teatrów Ulicznych (Jelenia Góra, Poland, 2008)
*Yangpyeong Dumulmeori Open-air Art Festival (Yangpyeong, South Korea, 2008)
*International Theatre Festival Belaya Vezha (Brest, Belarus, 2008)
*Festiwal Między Słowami (Kołobrzeg, Poland, 2009)
*Olsztyńska Trzydniówka Teatralna (Olsztyn, Poland, 2009)
*Międzynarodowy Festiwal Sztuka Ulicy (Warszawa, Poland, 2010)
*Stream Festival (Wrocław, Poland, 2011)
*International Performing Arts Festival A Part (Katowice, Poland, 2012)
*Karawana Teatrów Ulicznych (Oława, Poland, 2012)
*Będzińska Noc Świętojańska (Będzin, Poland, 2014)



CRITICS

The scenes of the play - replete with contrasting music - build up an extraordinary emotional collage. The device of "animated pictures" used in the performance is fascinating. Water, fire, air polluted with smoke - these primal symbols seem to take control of the scenic space. Gestures of the characters combine the joyfulness of the childish and seriousness of ritual.
Beata Popczyk, Opcje [Katowice, Poland]


The performance is framed by two very powerful and emotional scenes: the first and the last, showing the birth and death of the heroine. The birth, flooded with naturalistic, blood-red light is a torment, augury of a difficult and dangerous life, a quintessence of fear. In contrast, death, stylised as a childish-naive Pierrot, who conducts the woman in a wedding dress through fire into a darkness is beautiful and bright.
Henryka Wach-Malicka, Dziennik Zachodni [Katowice, Poland]


The actors should be congratulated on the subtlety of their playing and the sensitivity of their rapport. There is the lightness of birth, in a beautiful fragment in which the woman crosses the stage without touching the earth with her feet; there is a dark vision of hatred and extinction, in a scene where two people are hanged. There is the whiteness and purity of the woman's innocence, which gives way to the passion and charm of her tempting naked body. The spiritual and material aspects of humanity and the world are opposed in "Femina", but they also complement each other.
Grzegorz Janikowski, Scena [Katowice, Poland]


The performance is full of music, unconventional spotlights, interesting stage properties and huge constructions. The actors became our guides in this full of symbols world, built by the mysterious stage scenery, stilts and fire. The final scene impressed the audience especially deep and left them absorbed by the story during very long time after the show.
Kamil Piotrowski, Katowicki Informator Kulturalny [Katowice, Poland]


Visually beautiful, planned and executed down to the tinniest plastic detail, the performance which tells us what life is about. This performance is full of suffering - the water mixes with blood; flows down on human bodies rinsing them, but also trying them, marking them In a painful way, eventually leading them through the symbolic gates of Death. But life does not only contain suffering. There is also room for dreams, beauty, light. This impression comes from the charming scene where the heroine - let's call her 'She' - is dancing with a man to a melody played by a gramophone. There is one more scene that fell deeply into my memory - one of the most suggestive scenes that I have ever seen In a street performance. It is the birth scene: behind transparent foil a figure In a cage is freeing herself from the fetters that bind her. Like a butterfly, she tears off successive layers of foil cocoon In order to finally fly away - leaving the closed space.
(zem), The Festival Newsletter [Erlangen, Germany]


The artists achieved a great success in Warsaw. Femina gets a bigger and bigger audience more and more involved with every minute. It impresses with all the charm of outdoor performances. "Wizards" - the audience called the actors. And really there was something like magic power in the performance of the theatre from Katowice. The magical atmosphere: stilt-walkers, torch-light, ecstatic dance seduced the onlookers. After a while, when the actors disappeared and when the water - symbol of life - flowed from the pipes placed on the scaffolding, the stunned audience warmly applauded the performers. Femina provided a great beginning of the Art of the Street Festival.
Agnieszka Kowalska, Mirosław Piwowarek, Gazeta Wyborcza [Warsaw, Poland]

The darkness was favourable to the visual side of this performance. The actors told us a touching story using rich staging inspired by the most extreme examples of expressionists' paintings.
JAN, Gazeta Wyborcza [Warsaw, Poland]


Subtle, considered performance, inducing reflection about matters of existence. One of the most interesting performances of the last Malta festival.
Agnieszka Jelewska, Didaskalia [Poznań, Poland]


The performance is masterfully made. Built up with beautiful pictures stressed by musical elements of the best trial. The water, fire and naked bodies of the actors are combined in more and more sophisticated compositions. I experienced great aesthetic pleasure watching these pictures, tasting their subtle sophistication. The director Marcin Herich treats woman like the painters of nudes and Madonna: with piety, enchantment, adoration and love.
Ewa Obrębowska-Piasecka, Gazeta Wyborcza [Poznań, Poland]


This extravagant, emotional performance enriches its effect by strong associations between pictures and is full of artful light, fire and water and smoke effects. The actors show us the way through a world full of mystic pictures and symbols. This art touches, fascinates, enraptures and in addition to this is full of surprises. During this 40-minutes collage the actors permanently faced extreme and dangerous situations.
(uj), Westfalen-Blatt [Bielefeld, Germany]


The man whole his life falls and despite this still, as on diving - board it, rises up, entangled in ancient fight of good with evil. In heart of Cividale del Friuli, on Sunday evening Polish actors - acrobats from Katowice told us on newly that history in performance Femina. The story was told using contrasts, with charm and care about every detail.
Angela Felice, Il Gazzettino [Cividale del Friuli, Italy]



Nudity, fire and blood - for many spectators Femina was the most moving performance of this year's La Strada festival. Marcin Herich author's performance, being an expanded metamorphosis of females lot, for some was attractive by its variety of citations from symbolic paintings and drawings, for other by sharp, bold means of expression. Artists from Katowice managed - which isn't easy in an open space - to keep a poetry of performance, surprising alternately by its lyricism and brutality.
cancer, Super Fakty Kaliskie [Kalisz, Poland]


Actors staked on sensibility in their relations within themselves and an audience. In this world of fiction filled with symbols actors became constructors of figurative cross over, guides to a landscape raised by themselves. Actors performances seem to focus on a simple activities, but simultaneously they refer to the secret of life. Link with suffering, inseparably related to our existence. A water mixed with blood flows down human bodies and cleans, marking at the same time and giving sense to the pain of entity that vanish only after passing allegorical gates of death. But life can't be only suffering. To exist in a painful paradox of body there is a need of dreams, beauty, light. Woman and man dance continually. They stumble over and over again, but a gramophone keeps playing and the dancers doesn't want and cannot stop. Let's bring a scene of birth - after a transparent wrapping film there is a figure wrapped in cocoon - a cage, but in the same time an opportunity of a new life. And like a butterfly our heroine leaves the grub and flies away towards open spaces.
Micol Ferreti, Gazetta di Mantova [Mantova, Italy]