{"id":9745,"date":"2026-07-06T11:24:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-06T09:24:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/atorod.pl\/?p=9745"},"modified":"2026-07-06T11:24:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-06T09:24:11","slug":"da-stieg-ein-baum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/atorod.pl\/?p=9745","title":{"rendered":"Da stieg ein Baum"},"content":{"rendered":"

The work of William Kentridge has not had much luck when it comes to Polish audiences. It eludes our attention like a fleeting image seen from the window of a speeding train and is quickly forgotten. In 2009, when Krystyna Meissner finally managed to bring Kentridge\u2019s production Woyzeck on the Highveld <\/em>to Wroc\u0142aw\u2019s Dialog Festival, it went virtually unnoticed. When Kentridge came to Krak\u00f3w to receive the ASIFA Prize 2014 for outstanding achievements in animated film, it once again became necessary to remind people of his life and artistic accomplishments. Opera lovers preferred to watch Lulu<\/em> and The Magic Flute<\/em> in other stagings. The film screenings of Il Ritorno d\u2019Ulisse<\/em> from La Monnaie at Krak\u00f3w\u2019s Cricoteka attracted mainly fans of Kantor curious about Kentridge\u2019s play with his theatre of death. Last year\u2019s presentaiton of the installation I am not me, the horse is not mine<\/em> at Bia\u0142ystok\u2019s Galeria Arsena\u0142 did not even get a separate vernissage.<\/p>\n

One might say, therefore, that the situation with the reception of the South African artist in Poland is even worse than with the proverbial sea serpent: not only has no one seen him, but hardly anyone has even heard of him. This is quite unlike in the UK, where the new production of L\u2019Orfeo<\/em> at Glyndebourne attracted interest for two reasons: because of Kentridge\u2019s involvement in the project and the astonishing fact that Monteverdi\u2019s masterpiece \u2013 the premiere of which in 1607 is regarded as the symbolic birth of opera \u2013 had never before featured in the programme of the legendary Sussex festival. Another thing is that reactions following the first performance on 14 June ranged from rapture to complete rejection of Kentridge\u2019s concept. Intrigued, I decided to break my iron rule and, before heading off to the fourth of the thirteen performances, read \u2013 even if only perfunctorily \u2013 the director\u2019s pre-premiere comments.<\/p>\n

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Krystian Adam (Orfeo), Roseline Wilkens and Francesca Aspromonte (La Musica, Euridice). \u00a9 Glyndebourne Productions Ltd. Photo: Richard Hubert Smith<\/p>\n

And then something strange happened. Kentridge\u2019s declaration \u2013 not surprising really \u2013 that the starting point for his work on the staging was Rilke poetry, his Sonnets to Orpheus<\/em> and, above all, the extraordinary poem Orpheus. Eurydice. Hermes<\/em>, brought back memories of my youthful fascination with another, relatively little known piece from the collection Neue Gedichte.<\/em> As a result, instead of analysing the source of Kentridge\u2019s inspiration, I went back to Der Junggeselle<\/em>, a poem in which chairs stand haughtily along the wall, night sneaks into the furniture and the mirror releases a drape behind which the eponymous bachelor sees his own death. Then I went on to read Sibyl<\/em>, then other pieces and only quite some time later did I return to the first of the Sonnets to Orpheus<\/em>, where a \u201ctree climbed\u201d at the beginning.<\/p>\n

This is precisely how Kentridge works: his method is that of loose, rapid associations, sudden shifts, loops, which initially can overwhelm and seem chaotic, and yet they do consistently lead the audience to the heart of the matter. This L’<\/em>Orfeo <\/em>has basically everything we know from the artist\u2019s earlier installations and productions. There are moving collages and Dadaist constructions featuring Kentridge\u2019s signature motif of the megaphone. There are stop motion animations, projections by Janus Fouch\u00e9 on Sabine Theunissen\u2019s sparse sets. There are subtle plays of shadows, there is unsettling \u201cblack\u201d light (directed by Urs Sch\u00f6nebaum), there are stunning costumes designed by Greta Goiris, inspired partly by the aesthetics of Bauhaus theatre. There are also references to Kentridge\u2019s works from recent years, including dynamic, evolving images of trees painted in ink on paper, charcoal drawings and monotypes on pages from old books.<\/p>\n

This extraordinary multiplicity of visual stimuli is a symbol of our desire for the world to give us everything we expect from it, a metaphor for our refusal to accept suffering and dying. In order to understand that death is an inextricable part of human existence, Orfeo has to come to terms with the loss of Euridice. In order to remain an artist, he needs to learn how to transform the visible into the invisible. Following in Rilke\u2019s footsteps, from that moment on Kentridge gradually cleanses the stage of excessive images. Euridice becomes a separate being, a patch of light in the blackness of memories.<\/p>\n

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Krystian Adam. \u00a9 Glyndebourne Productions Ltd. Photo: Richard Hubert Smith<\/p>\n

In Kentridge\u2019s vision \u2013 the coherence of which we realise only in the finale of Act V \u2013 Orfeo is the figure of the poet. La Musica, present on stage not only in the Prologue, in which she announces the story of Orfeo\u2019s love for Euridice, but also throughout the performance, is the figure of the artist, perhaps also the poet\u2019s alter ego, and is thus a generalised allegory of art. She stands bent over a table in a studio that is strikingly similar to Kentridge\u2019s own studio, and, with total abandon, \u201ccreates\u201d all the projections and animations appearing in the background. For a brief moment she will lend her voice to Euridice portrayed by a sensual dancer \u2013 presumably the prematurely deceased Wera Knoop, a friend of Rilke\u2019s daughter, to whose memory the poet dedicated his Sonnets to Orpheus<\/em>. The Nymphs, Shepherds as well as the singer in the dual role of the Messaggera and La Speranza are a group of artists who are the couple\u2019s friends. The gods occupy separate positions on ladders raised above the stage. The infernal spirits, which accompany Orfeo in his trip across the Styx, bring to mind the grotesque figures from the print series Dada Picnic<\/em>, one of Kentridge\u2019s most expressive works.<\/p>\n

The rest is conveyed by the artist through movement drawn directly from physical theatre techniques and performative methods, giving the performers considerable freedom in their choice of the means of expression. An important role in Kentridge\u2019s concept is played by props, including \u201cSibyl\u2019s leaves\u201d on sticks, symbolising the fleeting nature of human prophecies, and, above all, asymmetric cardboard \u201cfans\u201d, used highly evocatively as screens separating Orfeo from Euridice in the scene in which he tries to lead his beloved out of the underworld.<\/p>\n

Kentridge\u2019s vision is by no means easy to take in and interpret, which, in my opinion, is one of its strengths, although I do understand that it may have proved too much for part of the audience. However, in no way did it interfere with the musical side of the production. I have heard dozens of performances of L’<\/em>Orfeo<\/em> in my life, but I don\u2019t think I have ever encountered an orchestra conducted with such lightness, playing with such ease and a sense of phrasing, supported by such a stylish and confidently executed continuo. Celebrating its fortieth anniversary, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment is a self-governing ensemble that has been associated with Glyndebourne since its beginning. It plays under the direction of its concertmasters, who take turns in the role, or chooses conductors individually. Jonathan Cohen, the current head of Boston\u2019s Handel and Haydn Society, led the OAE not for the first time and rightly so.<\/p>\n

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Francesca Aspromonte. \u00a9 Glyndebourne Productions Ltd. Photo: Richard Hubert Smith<\/p>\n

Krystian Adam, whom I have been following in the role of Orfeo for nearly a decade (that is, since his sensational debut in 2017, during John Eliot Gardiner\u2019s concert tour featuring Monteverdi\u2019s three operas), is undoubtedly one of the world\u2019s leading performers of the role today. His voice has since developed a suitable baritonal quality in the lower register, while his interpretation has matured and gained in expressiveness. He had always known how to move a heart of stone with the powerful monologue \u201cPossente spirto\u201d from Act III, regarded as one of the finest examples of early Baroque performance practice. This time he dazzled me with the brief \u201cohim\u00e8\u201d, a heart-rending cry of despair mixed with disbelief at the news of Euridice\u2019s death. The news was brought by a phenomenal Messaggera portrayed by Xenia Puskarz Thomas, a mezzo-soprano with a power of expression worthy of a Shakespearean heroin. I do not share the admiration for the vocal artistry of Francesca Aspromonte, who sang the roles of La Musica and Euridice in a lovely soprano voice, albeit one that had too much vibrato and was uncertain in terms of intonation; however, I fully appreciate her brilliant acting. Among the other soloists one that deserves special mention is Hugo Herman-Wilson for his performance as the Second Shepherd; I would also like to express my highest praise for the outstanding Glyndebourne Chorus.<\/p>\n

And I am grateful to Kentridge for the idea of introducing a silent, dancing Euridice into the story. Roseline Wilkens \u2013 grace and fire, passion enclosed in a body far removed from the European notions of the canon of dance beauty \u2013 proved in the finale to be so imbued with the great death, so convincing in her new girlishness, that I felt a twinge of sadness that Rilke could not see this.<\/p>\n

Translated by: Anna Kijak<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The work of William Kentridge has not had much luck when it comes to Polish audiences. It eludes our attention like a fleeting image seen from the window of a speeding train and is quickly forgotten. In 2009, when Krystyna Meissner finally managed to bring Kentridge\u2019s production Woyzeck on the Highveld to Wroc\u0142aw\u2019s Dialog Festival, … [Read more…]<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["entry","post","publish","author-mangusta","post-9745","format-standard","category-posts-in-english","category-wedrowki-operowe"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/atorod.pl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9745","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/atorod.pl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/atorod.pl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atorod.pl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atorod.pl\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9745"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/atorod.pl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9745\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9749,"href":"https:\/\/atorod.pl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9745\/revisions\/9749"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/atorod.pl\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9745"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atorod.pl\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9745"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atorod.pl\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9745"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}