CONVERSATION WITH ANNA SOROKA-GRIN

to Oct 21, 2022ALL, CONVERSATIONS, THEATRE

Conversation after the premiere

Prime time with text Suikovskaya Street directed by Anna Soroki-Grin, starring Valdemar Milevich and Slawomir Grzymkowski. Premiere October 13, 2022 cultural prom 

 Tomasz Ostrowski: Prime Time by Veslava Sudzhkovskaya is a description of the war drama through the eyes of Valdemar Milevich, a war journalist who was killed in Iraq in 2004. The premiere of the monodrama took place just a few months after the beginning of Russia's aggression in Ukraine. Perhaps the date match is not accidental?

Anna Soroka-Grin: Yes, probably random. Vesya finished writing this text and put the last stop two weeks before the war began. War is a context that, unfortunately, is painfully formed and, in addition, serves as a backdrop for this spectacle. The character of Valdemar Milevich is electrified first of all by what he did, but also by what path he went through and, unfortunately, how his life ended, what kind of death. This was our starting point for the entire production. The phrase that sounds in the play: "I was not allowed to prepare for departure. In my dangerous job, however, this is an exceptional privilege.” And something similar has happened in our country, because, of course, the war in Ukraine, near us, continues and is painful, including our experience. Probably less painful than for those who experience it directly. However, we have somewhere in the back of our head that we are in the so-called compression zone, as it is called in the West. Poland is on the so-called "waltz of Russia" route, so we always feel the fear that accompanies us every day. Won't this big guy push this button? We don't know. Thus, this performance is also personified by what we come with, what we live in. Of course, the war in Ukraine creates a context for this performance.

Valdemar Milevich participated in many armed conflicts, by the way, he observed the political side of these conflicts. Leaders of the conflicting parties try to censor journalists so that only news favorable to them gets into the community, or even that no news reaches them.
In parallel with the Vietnam War, the war in Laos continued for 22 years. Only two years after it ended, the Americans showed that they conducted 580 thousand airstrikes there, during which they dropped 270 million bombs. Correspondents were isolated from this conflict. A different situation occurred in Iraq. Before going to the front, 900 American and British journalists signed a 50-point agreement with the Pentagon on what they can and can't report. On the basis of this agreement, they were provided with security, transportation to places covered by the war. British journalist Maggie O'Kane later wrote about the Iraq War: "We did a dirty job with this war, with truth and blood. We, the media representatives, were harnessed like two thousand beach donkeys, and we were led through the sand to see what the American and British military wanted to show us in this beautiful and pure war."
Valdemar Milevich was true to his ideals, did not enjoy special privileges, and was a reliable correspondent. Today, the situation is changing, and it is becoming increasingly difficult to hide the truth. New technologies and social networks are ubiquitous. Therefore, at least out of respect for Valdemar Milevich, it is worth looking at the role of a war correspondent earlier and today.

Valdemar Milevich was indeed a pioneer when it came to Poland. He was a pioneer of this phenomenon, which was a war correspondent. Now, as you said, the flow of information is on a completely different level, both technologically and mentally. This is something incredible. Citizens themselves create separate channels through which we can see what is really happening.
In fact, the role of a citizen who becomes a kind of correspondent is changing. But going back to Valdemar Milevich, he really was a pioneer and passionate. Yes, it was a dangerous job, even a very dangerous one, because it ended tragically. He knew it was possible; he had often been on both sides of a conflict, in very dangerous places. I was very fascinated by the uniqueness of this character. I remember his program "strange world", his reports. But I also remember his eyes. I remember that there was a lot of sadness in those eyes. They were eyes that saw a lot. In our performance, we can't avoid this. We ask the question: Can we erase violent and traumatic images? Waldemar Milevich later returned with them to his homeland, Poland. Of course, it wasn't Poland with honey and milk, but in the context of the countries he visited, the people he met, we had electricity in the sockets, we had glass in the windows, and we had several products to choose from on the store shelves. And this contrast rather strongly influenced him and built up an internal conflict in him.

Many of the memorable traumatic images that he recorded in his memory, which we learn about from the stage, are difficult to show to the public for ethical reasons. Transmitted in large quantities, they cause neutralization.

This is very painful, because it affects all of us. We just get used to what we see and how it goes on stage, we want more. We watch violent movies. The Internet is saturated with this. I think we seem to be in control of this. Meanwhile, quite a lot of brutalism permeates our lives (computer games, movies, etc.). In this regard, the question arises, where is the border? Just when we finally say stop. I turn off the TV. I don't allow my child to look at certain things. But I understand that I can't protect him from a lot of things and a lot of information. We can't control everything. We just absorb them.

A lot of very sharp scenes, attacking us from all sides. In the computer games you're talking about, it's very easy to shoot people.

Indeed, we practice certain behaviors in ourselves and push those boundaries. This begs the question: When will we humans start celebrating more beauty rather than murder? It's amazing. Not to mention the war that is taking place in our immediate vicinity. I wouldn't want to get involved in politics, but we live by what happens. There was a massacre near us, and they're still finding mass graves. And this, of course, is not the end.



Almost every day we see houses destroyed after the bombing and people breaking out of the rubble. In one day, four people came out of the rubble in good condition, but how many people will not come out?

At the moment when the war started, I had a feeling that something jumped in me, and I saw it in people as well. This also happened at one of our rehearsals in the theater. Has fantasy become a reality? It wasn't a movie anymore. It really did happen. And these stories that we bring to life in prime time really happened. These are just fragments of what Valdemar Milevich saw. He took many stories, paintings, and events with him.

He was also addicted to what he saw. In response to the questions " is he afraid? he spoke more about the stress associated with the discipline of the military reporter profession: "I have a constant fear of whether I will be able to implement the material in time or overcome the obstacles that are hanging in front of me. Where there is war, there are dark spots that both occupiers and combatants want to hide. Therefore, I live in constant tension: will I be able to outwit various officials, get appropriate permits, circumvent prohibitions...?"

Yes, it had its own boundaries elsewhere. They were very strongly supported in it.

In the media world, there was a deadline, that is, the time at which correspondence can be sent, because later the statute of limitations expired for publishers. Someone else sells, and the journalist is left behind.

Yes, this is also an ethical and moral issue. We also touch on this in our performance. It's fair to go, collect material, then come back and live on it, because that's what they make money from.

On the other hand, looking at the current situation in Ukraine, we believe that the documents collected by international war correspondents going to the front lines will allow us to bring war criminals to justice before international tribunals in the future.

Exactly. They are now prosecutors of this situation, they are very much needed. My husband is a cameraman. I can see how much it is monitoring this conflict. One of his colleagues goes there as a correspondent. I can't listen to what they say for various reasons. It costs me a lot. These are often heroic decisions.

According to Reporters Without Borders (RSF), 66 journalists and 30 of their assistants were killed in Iraq. Next to Valdemar Milevich, his editor was killed and a camera operator was injured. In just a few months, from February 24 to September 16, 39 journalists have already been killed in Ukraine. It is all unimaginable how little a person means in the face of the barbarity of war.

With this spectacle, we also ask about the human condition; when we, as humans, break the chain of evil and say Stop. But stop in ourselves. What attitude we will take to what is happening, how to tune in to this reality.
I think that with this performance, which is very important for me and Slavek Grzymkowski, that as people who are engaged in art, theater, we can have our own personal voice in this matter. Prime time makes this possible.
It is worth mentioning Slavka Grzymkowski. We have known each other for a very long time: for many years we played in the cult "taxi" directed by Igor Gorkovsky. Now we meet in a different configuration. The actor is a special and beautiful person. We understand that without decisive trust and openness to ourselves, the courage to ask ourselves difficult questions, there would not have been such a tender spectacle. You need to have such sensitivity to go down to the human hell and come back from there. Slavek has them. I thank him for his trust.

Have you met Veslava Suikovskaya, the author of the PRIME TIME text, before, in other implementations?

Veslava has already written songs for the Billie Holiday play "Lady Day at Emerson Abr and Grill", which you can hear in the concert version as part of the series of my concerts women, Women in the Musical Theater of Roma. She also wrote songs for the play "almost and other times", which I staged at the theater Academy as a thesis. "Prime Time" is my first work with her literary text, a monodrama. I'm very happy because I think something very important has happened.

Since we mentioned your connections with the Warsaw Theater Academy, I must express my gratitude to you and Rector Wojciech Malaikat for putting performances that are exams or diplomas on the boards of public theaters at a very difficult time for theaters and artists. This is a unique situation when subsequent musical performances in your direction, with great success with the public, are included in the permanent repertoire of theaters. "Lunapark. Songs of Grzegorz Ciechowski "on the stage of the National Theater can be seen from 2019, and the play" and the planets are raging...(young in honor of Cora)"since August 2021, it has been in the repertoire of the Warsaw Contemporary Theater. As part of the training sessions of the Theater Academy, you prepared the play "dream sellers". He will also start a theatrical life.

In the near future, on November 5, we will have the premiere of the play "dream sellers" with songs by Artur Roic and the MYSLOVICA ensemble at the Roma Musical Theater on the Nova stage. The next performances are scheduled for November 6, 12 and 13. Performances are created as part of didactic classes. These are semester-ending exams. Some of them have stage potential and are transferred, thanks to the support and interest of Warsaw theater directors, to professional stages. I am very glad that my students and young people are open to my idea and boldly enter it. Many thanks to them for this.

You are polishing diamonds. We see the results of this work in the theaters that they enter later. Performances are also appreciated at festivals, including the Actors ' Song Festival in Wroclaw.

I am very happy. It's fine what you say. So what I'm doing makes sense. Thank you very much.

At the end of our conversation, I will also inform you that on October 29 and 30, the Roma Music Theater (on the Nova stage) will host concerts in support of your recording of "the most beautiful" with songs by Agnieszka Osetska. I wish you good luck, further success in directing, acting, singing and excellent exams with AT students who will become blockbusters of the theater scene.

PRIME TIME

crew
Valdemar Milevich   Slawomir Grzymkowski
live music  Robert Sivak
Text: Wieslawa Sujkowska
Directing: Anna Soroka-Grin
Production: Peter Duda
Music: Robert Sivak
Directing the Light: Polina Gorets
Implementation of Light: Maciej Pachota
Sets and costumes: Yulia Shevelyuk
Photo: David Tejer
Chart: Marek Twardowski
Promotion: Gabriela The Figure
Coordination: Agnieszka Pashko

 

ANNA SOROKA-GRIN

Graduated from the Acting department of the Theater Academy in Warsaw (2000). Co-founder Of the Krug Theater Studio.

She played m.in in the performances of Igor Gorky: "Russian Drama", "party of blooming girls", "love for three oranges", "absolutely out of show", "Taxi", "Old Woman" based on texts by Danil Charms (hunting Theater). Performs his own concerts, m.in with a solo concert of songs by Edith Piaf, Eva Demarczyk, Billie Holiday, accompanied by the famous composer and pianist Vladimir Nagorny, also performs a solo concert of interwar songs "Vintage". She performed on many metropolitan stages, m.in. Comedy Theater ("Cinderella"), Polonia Theater ("woman with terrace view"), Montownia Theater ("Peer Gynt", "Lovv"”, Studio Theater ("one hand"”, Ochota Theater ("the Old Woman", "waves"”, Soho Theater and throughout countries m.in. Theater named after him. Wanda Semashkova in Rzeszow ("Piaf", "the shape of things", "George and Ira Gershwin"), entertainment theater in Chorzow ("departure", "West Side Story", "rent", "Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill", "adventures of a female hairdresser").

For her acting performance in the play Taxi, she won the 2006 Jan Sviderski Prize of the Drama Theater Section of the Union of Polish Stage Artists in the XII National Competition for an exhibition of Polish contemporary art.

Winner of the art award" Golden Mask "of Marshal of the Silesian Voivodeship Janusz Moszynski in the category of vocal and acting role for the role of Maureen Johnson in the play" rent " by Jonathan Larson, Directed by Ingmar Willkist (2006) and the Jan Kipura Theater Music Award in the category of Best Singer for the role of Edith Piaf in the play "Edith and Marlene", directed by Marta Mesaros, Mazovian Musical Theater (2013). Winner of the VI competition "we remember Osiecka", finalist of the PPA in Wroclaw (2003). Other awards: 2003-first prize of journalists of the coast in the VI edition of the competition let's remember Osetskaya, third prize in the Warsaw final; 2006 - the prize of them. Yanina Novitskaya-Prokurorskaya and Stanislav Prokurorsky "for creative achievements and attitude that strengthens the artist's spirit", awarded by the then rector of the Theater Academy, Professor Lech Slivonik.

He has dozens of roles in dubbing, TV shows and films. Collaborates with the Polish Radio Theater and Audio Library.  

Roma Theater: "the process "(dir. Jakub Szydlowski), "Kiss me all in the face", "Tuvim for Adults" (dir. Jerzy Satanowski) "Alice in Wonderland" (directed by S. Domagala) on the New stage of TM Roma, and in the play" Mamma Mia "(directed by Wojciech Komczynski) she played the role of Donna Sheridan.  

Currently, you can see Anna Soroka-Grin in performances:  

Polonia Theatre-Cafe Luna (directed by Anna Vechur-plyushch), 

Warsaw Chamber Opera "Troupe" (director Michal Znanecki) 

Amadeus Drama Theater (directed by Anna Vechur) 

Roma Theater "Tuvim for adults" and a series of concerts "women Women".

Directing: 

National Theatre-Lunapark Theatre Academy  

Modern theater " and the planets are raging”, 

O-Kacheli Theater ,  

Collegium Nobilium Theater "almost and other times" based on the novel by Olga Tokarchuk (adaptation and direction), 

"I want to have a calm heart" - performance-concert by Anna Grokhovskaya, Collegium Nobilium Theater

"Prime Time" monodrama inspired by the character of Valdemar Milevich, text. Veslava Sujkowska (premiere of Prom Culture) 

In 2013, she defended her doctorate at the Theater Academy in Warsaw, where she is currently a teacher.

 

Conversation from the blog conversations about theater on the site https://photo-oto.com/  
 
 

photo: Tomasz Ostrowski