Review: RABBLE at Teatr Wspolczesny Wroclaw

This show is unlike any other. Interactive, audience-friendly yet intimate in a very comfortable way. The play is based on Kacper Poblocki's book and gives an interesting perspective on Polish history. This is the part we forget, ignore, or intentionally hide. We come from the countryside, from the oppressed plebs who lived hand to mouth, day by day for someone else.

The dramaturgy is very well written, it is vital, intelligent, interesting, and vulnerable. Parts of the book are mixed with personal concoctions by actors about their life and history. Two main parts concern men (the first) and women (the second). Different, separate, and crucial. Slavery, Carl Gustav Jung, shame, fight against injustice, abuse, feminism but above all progress on the trauma of the past generation which is still in us. Not easy or pleasant but extremely necessary.

The public is literally in this global psychotherapy based on Jung's theories. We are connected to ourselves, to nature, we can even smell it. The scenography (by Mateusz Atman who also wrote the screenplay) is simple, based on a few pieces of wood on which you can sit around the fire. It brings memories and being in the circle makes us feel more included. Our common history is like a mirror that we can look at and be surprised or not by what we can see. The first step - curiosity is already taken despite our will. We are presented with a fait accompli. The die is cast.

We are kind in search of a balance between on the one hand, our past, with all the darkness and the waves of shame, and modern trend therapies and the healing of old wounds on the other. Life between generations is like a relay race, there is a baton passed to the successor and we take it without any consideration.

The actors create a good atmosphere, close and reassuring in the first male part, and intriguing in the second where we only see women. Each aspect is strong, intense, and necessary. As a society, we need this kind of treatment and personal care, especially with certain facts that we don't usually discuss. The book is a revelation and helps a lot to perceive the show. We must remember and honor the people from whom we come. The director Agnieszka Jakimiak made a very well-designed story about ourselves. I like the first part more with the quartet: Mariusz Bakowski, Rafal Cieluch, Milosz Pietruski, and Tomasz Taranta. It's just funnier and freakier than the second part with Anna Kieca, Dominika Probachta, Jolanta Solarz-Szwed, and Magdalena Taranta. Women are like unchained snarling dogs. They are angry, strong, and unpredictable. That's good but more uncomfortable. One of the actors at some point says that the show about Poland must hurt a little bit... and he doesn't mean only uncomfortable seats.

Photo: Natalia Kabanow