Paweł Demirski, Maciej Nowak
I Don’t Want to Do Theatre Anymore, I’ve Got Bored: Paweł Demirski in Conversation with Maciej Nowak
Abstract
The playwright Paweł Demirski talks to Maciej Nowak about his work in the theatre, and especially his collaboration with director Monika Strzępka. He muses on what he has managed to achieve in the decade that has passed since his debut, and analyses the results of several important productions and the causes of failures. He also describes the way he writes when working on a play, before emphasising the importance of a sense of humour and invoking the inspiration that the work of Dario Fo has provided him.
Keywords
engaged theatre; new dramaturgy; political fiction
Paweł Demirski
(1979), playwright. Following his debut in 2002, from 2003 to 2006 he was literary manager of the Wybrzeże Theatre in Gdańsk. In 2003 he held a scholarship from the Royal Court Theatre in London. Among the directors to have staged his plays are Michał Zadara, Wojtek Klemm, Piotr Waligórski and Remigiusz Brzyk. Since 2007 he has collaborated with director Monika Strzypka on the premieres of his texts, and the team have won many prizes, including the prestigious Polityka Passport (2010) for 'a consistently evolving critical theatre project [and] the courage to speak more and more sharply than we would like to hear'. In 2011, Parafrazy, a collection of Demirski’s plays, was published by Krytyka Polityczna. In 2013 he made his translating debut with the Polish version of Caryl Churchill’s Love & Information.
Maciej Nowak
(1964), art historian, theatre scholar, theatre and restaurant critic. In 1988-1989 worked for Pamiętnik Teatralny journal, before founding and becoming editor of Goniec Teatralny (1990–1992) and Ruch Teatralny (1994–2005). Between 1997 and 2000 edited the culture section of Gazeta Wyborcza newspaper. From 2000 to 2006 head and artistic director of the Wybrzeże Theatre in Gdańsk, which at this time became one of the most talked-about Polish companies, the scene of the debuts and successes of a number of young directors: Grażyna Kania, Agnieszka Olsten, Monika Pęcikiewicz, Paweł Demirski, Jan Klata, Wojciech Klemm and Michał Zadara. Founder and director (2003–2013) of the Zbigniew Raszewski Theatre Institute in Warsaw. Since September 2013 a juror on the TV series Top Chef Polska. Since 1 September 2015 the artistic director of the Polski Theatre in Poznań.
