Review: THE TIM DRUM at CAPITOL WROCLAW - Vaudeville Version of Günter Grass novel.

The Tin Drum is a popular novel on which new show in Capital was based. Wrote on 1959 tells a story about Oskar - born in Gda?sk, he decides never to grow up as a protest against adults and reality of multicultural city. Gifted with a voice that can shatter glass he tries to survive in a World War Two reality, unusual family and explain existence to himself. He paints real world with craziness and exaggeration. Somehow this kind of reality is lighter and easy to swallow. Can you make a musical from it? Yes, you can!

Show itself was on lips everybody weeks before the premiere because of using on a poster child windmill reminding swastika. Long discussions took place if this kind of symbol can be used as a promotion of a musical show.

Agata Kuci?ska as Oskar is simply stunning, she leads like a perfect narrator through complex world of this show. Oskar can be innocent, rude, perverse, delicate or fragile. His way of seeing reality is subjective - he sees people as toys, and in a moment which exceeds his understanding instead of fear he uses imagination to soft what he sees. Adults can be dolls, Nazi army is a group of animals with funny ears.

Oskar is a puppet and an adult actor is behind him. It's a metaphor of his position in the reality. He doesn't want to grow up but at some point he is an adult in a child's body and nobody takes him seriously.

One and only thing that makes him helpless is Black Cooker which is death (amazing Barbara Olech) appearing slowly and consequently in dark moments of his life. She is the only thing he cannot mitigate.

Music is thrilling (Mariusz Obijalski), life music on the stage breathtaking, scenography and costumes (Anna Chadaj) - marvelous. Big dance ansamble makes perfect background and rich choreography (Ewelina Adamska-Porczyk) is like a cherry on the pie. Show is quite long but when it ends still you want more. Musical pieces one after another take to different places where reality can be grotesque, spirited, rousing or lyrical. That is it's beauty. The very first number has many vibes and is a great prelude to the rest of the show.

Worth to mention is a vibrating nun song worth a standing ovation. Whole show is consistent story about contemporary (yes!) world. With a touch of magic and fairy tales - but be aware - it's a story for adults (+16).

Topics are not easy - war, religion (there are disputes with Jesus himself!), deaths of loves ones, looking for identity, need to belong somewhere, complicated situation with parents (there are three as Oskar is not sure who his father is - German businessman Matzerath (Maciej Maciejewski) or Jan (Kamil Krupicz) - his mum's Polish cousin/lover), sensitive and little lost Kashubian mother as his closest person in the world - Agnieszka (Agnieszka Ory?ska-Lesicka).

Decomposition of perfect world, uncomplicated family and happy life is main theme of this show. Maybe it's inevitable? Knowing action of Günter Grass's novel I was been afraid how can you put this kind of complicated and serious subjects in a musical show but Wojciech Ko?cielniak did a great job - he put demons of history and reality in child's worlds and it worked very good. It's fresh, complex and definitely worth to see.

Photo credit: ?ukasz Giza

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