"Carmen" wśród Ruin : teatr w miejscu odzyskanym

Abstract

The article describes the ruins of the Gliwice Municipal Theatre as a site-specific theatre space.The tumultuous history of the Gliwice Municipal Theatre, built in 1890 and destroyed by Sovietsoldiers in 1945, resulted in the creation of a very distinct theatre space, discovered after halfa century by Ewa Strzelczyk — thanks to its ruined, state and a significant amount of tracesof history on its walls, the performances within acquired new meanings, transcending thoseinscribed into original productions. This quality has been utilized by Paweł Szkotak, the directorof Carmen, which has been produced with the specific space of the ruins in mind. The specificityof the space imposed an interpretation to the creator, causing him to set Bizet’s play duringwartime. As a consequence, the direction of explorations characteristic for space selectionwithin the frame of site-specific theatre has been reversed — the space was not selected withthe meanings of the performance in mind, but rather imposed a clear vision on the director.The ruins can be referred to as a “recovered space”.