INTERVIEW WITH NATALIA STAHIRA

to Jan 16, 2023ALL, CONVERSATIONS, THEATRE

Conversation before the premiere

WITH A HAND ON MY THROAT. SONGS FROM THE REPERTOIRE OF EVA DEMARCZYK directed by Anna Soroka-Grin. Premiere January 14, 2023 Warsaw Contemporary Theater 

Before the premiere, I talked to Natalia Stahira, an actress and assistant director of the play” with a hand on my throat... "contemporary theater in Warsaw. Natalia Stahira graduated from the Acting department of Musical Theater at the Theater Academy in Warsaw in 2022. Since May 2022-actress of the contemporary theater in Warsaw.

Tomasz Ostrovsky: the play " with a hand on my throat. Songs from the repertoire of Eva Demarchik "this is the next premiere of Anna Soroka-Grin at the modern theater after an outstanding performance" and the planets are going crazy. Young in honor of Kora "" which in the original version was a student transition exam within the framework of the theater Academy. You are also performing in this performance.

Natalia StahiraQuestioner: This was our second-year exam on the subject of "Musical Dialogues" under the guidance of Anna Soroka Grin. Anya came to us with a repertoire of Maanam and kora. She said, " Look, I'd like to do this kind of poetry. We said: great! and we created an exam, which later director Maciej Englert included in the repertoire of modern theater (2021). Thus, he gave us, as students, the opportunity to play on the professional stage.

This is a great example of Anna Soroka-Grin's collaboration with theaters for the future of her students. We will remind: earlier, the exam performance AT the IV year of the acting faculty " Lunapark. Songs of Grzegorz Ciechowski " was included in the repertoire of the National Theater (2018). In turn, in November 2022, Anna Soroka-Grin and AT students prepared a performance "Dream sellers-songs from the repertoire of Arthur Roic and the Myslovitsa ensemble". Now we are waiting for the premiere of another musical performance by Anna Soroka-Grin with young actors, but already graduates (2020-2022) of the Theater Academy in Warsaw (Natalia Kuyava, Natalia Stahira, Michal Juraszek, Tomasz Osica, Jakub Skiperski) and the Academy of Theater Arts in Krakow (Monika Pawlicka, Przemyslaw Kowalski). It will be a performance with songs by Eva Demarchik. Each of these performances, based on poetic songs, is brilliantly staged. It has its own drama and choreography. In the play, you are the fearsome venomous spider Black Widow (Latrodectus Mactans).

The characters in which we incarnate were basically a reference point for us to search for, build relationships in the group, some kind of characteristic feature. How we receive incentives, what we fear, and what we give to others. On this basis, we built a whole. It seems to me that my web, my black widow, is not so much dangerous for the environment as it is dangerous for itself because of the decisions it makes, and sometimes because of some bitter structures that are in it. The whole performance is a return to what is inside us, which we are also ashamed of, which, perhaps, does not quite suit us. Make a conscience bill. When constructing the drama, we started from poetry, from the texts that sound. There are recorded human dramas. Pain, grief, happiness. I think the link to this was that each of these characters has a chance and a desire to experience all these things. So it was a dramatic connection.

You met Anna Soroka-Grin quite often on your way. In drama school, you were a teacher and staged one of your two graduation performances, "Almost and other times" by Olga Tokarchuk.

I still remember the festival of theatrical miniatures in Krakow (2014). When I came to the PWST stage, she was playing in Tuvim for Adults, a performance by the Roma Musical Theater. And then I absolutely fell in love. Once in this performance and twice in how Anya sang "bird radio". I thought that someday I would be able to sing such things and play like that. And there I thought that one day, maybe I would see her at work, maybe on stage somewhere, but in my wildest dreams, I wouldn't have thought that we would be so close, that it would be such a collaboration, that we would find a common language. We work very well. We both like discipline. I think we have a common space, some kind of magical space to explore. Anya has an unusual gift for selecting the people she works with. He has an amazing intuition. We immediately became a team.

Musical performances directed by Anna Soroka-Grin contain elements of choreography, require knowledge of dance, good physical fitness, and good physical fitness. I know that you were involved in many sports, including horse riding, handball, rugby, boxing.

I used to exercise more than I do now. Rugby was a very valuable adventure, but I didn't last long in this discipline. I was lucky to grow up in Krakow, where I had the opportunity to practice this rare discipline. My teacher at school managed such a team, so I played there. But I played more handball.

And boxing?

That's exactly what I went back to doing. I'm training at the battle Academy. For me, the purpose of these trainings is not a sports competition. It's simple to discipline the body to improve coordination. Jazz dance or Modern Dance are things that I came across in college and that are somewhere in my basket of experience and skills, but they are not honed. It's not that I go to dances or that I've been doing ballet for many years. Yes, it is not. I'm sorry, but I've always been an athlete. I was more of a saw game.

While working on the play "with your hand on your throat...", you had the opportunity to work with the respected choreographer Evelina Adamskaya-Porchik.

Outstanding choreographer. Evelyn has an incredibly open head. In addition, it is sensitive to the person with whom it works, and so perceives what a person can do, in what direction he wants to move. She just has a gift. The biggest people in musical theater in Poland work with Evelina and want to work with her. It seems to me that the world is waiting for Evelina Adamskaya-Porchik.

The second women's diploma at the Theater Academy (2021) was directed by Anna Vechur. This collaboration also led to further implementations.

The second diploma is the performance "people, places and things". I played Emma's character there, one of the Emms. It was a very difficult text, very emotional. At a high range. It struck the tenderest chord of a person, his imperfection and lack of respect. And the way Anya put us through it last night. I can tell you about my experience, I'll tell you on my own behalf how I felt in all these nooks and crannies. It was so safe, so affectionate, so reliable and wonderful that I really wish everyone such meetings. Later, we had the opportunity to meet on the set of the feature film The Taming of the Shrew (2022), which Anya directed. Then I was invited by Anya to the television theater. It was also a kind of space experience for me, because it was the live show "Apollo from Bellac" (2022).

The performance followed the traditions of the television theater directed by Adam Hanushkevich, his live theater, and his 1958 play of the same name, which was first recorded. On the set of this play, you met Anna Soroka-Grin. How do you remember your TV debut?

I have great memories. Anya vechur was very understanding, very affectionate, very attentive. And it seems to me – later, of course, I saw the play-that it really turned out great, despite my fears. There was no opportunity to repeat anything, we are flying live, and this is how it will be shown. Not like in the theater. Sometimes there are different situations in the theater, something slips out to someone, someone forgets something, but it comes out with the audience, they don't remember it anymore. Our performance was shown live, but it was also recorded for posterity in parallel (it is available on VOD of the TV theater).

At the Theater Academy, you also had the opportunity to experience the Staropolsky theater. You have performed in two productions as part of the Staropolskaya Drama Workshop, created by Professor Yaroslav Gaevsky. These were performances prepared according to the scripts developed by Kazimierz Deimek for the plays "The Life of Joseph"and" Old Polish Joys".

"The Life of Joseph" happened after our first year. Professor Gayevsky taught us elementary acting assignments in the second semester of our first year and invited us to work on this play for the entire year. It was an incredible experience because we were able to work together very professionally. We played this show for several years. For us, it was a great chance to get in touch with an oral poem, and also an Old Polish one.

The second Staropolsky performance on this initiative is "Staropolsky joys" directed by Yaroslav Kilyan.

I remember these two productions very well, because, as I said, it was for me, on the one hand, a huge challenge, and on the other-an incredible pleasure, when it turned out that this Old Polish language was suddenly reborn somewhere inside us.

Deimek has put a lot of work into making this language, this Old Polish literature, more accessible to modern audiences.

This also made our work much easier. Returning to those realizations, I was reminded of an anecdote from the time when we spent a whole year working on the play "The Life of Joseph". Some words were part of our spoken language. It was born in us by itself, it was a very interesting observation, an interesting experience. I remember this work very well.

A lady came to the modern theater together with the play "planets are raging..." in 2021. The production decided that next year you were included in the troupe of this theater?

You should ask the director about this. It seems to me that, as always, there were a lot of factors involved, of course, the workshop that Director Maciej Englert organized for actors seeking to participate. This is already a tradition in this theater. The seminar was attended by about 20 people. We were given a few scenes to prepare for. We first worked on these scenes with ourselves, and then with the director. Everything happened in a very family, cool atmosphere, there was no pressure. I think the director also chooses a couple of people on this basis, whom he would like to attract or give a role in some performance. He would like to give it a chance. I got this chance. I am very grateful for it, because I was wonderfully received by the people who work here. Both acting, administrative, and technical staff. In fact, since I have been in this theater, I feel calm and happy.

Immediately after joining the modern theater (May 2022), you started rehearsals for the play "and the phone rings" (premiere in September 2022).

Yes, it was. These were difficult challenges for me, because it was the first time I participated in a process in which I was the youngest person. I join a theater group. All the people were already involved, they already knew each other, and I was a newbie. It was very stressful for me. As it turned out later, it was unnecessary, because I was very warmly received. But I had a big problem, because I had to play a very confident woman, such a businesswoman. There was a lot of searching for this form, this interior. I think I'm still looking for this because it's a never-finished process.

What are your other plans in and out of the theater?

At the moment, we are still in the new premiere for a few days. In addition to theater, I also work as a voice actor, whether it's dubbing or voice acting. But now I'm focused on contemporary theater.

You have graduated from the acting department of musical theater, so you have a predisposition to roles in musical theater. You came to the drama theater.

That's right. This is very interesting, because when I entered the theater school, I did not think about the vocal specialty. At first, all I did was think about drama, and that's how my career came to be. And fate has led me so that most of the performances in which I play were musical, or those in which I sing, although they are not strictly musical, like, for example, "Minetti. Portrait of an Old age Artist " at the Polonius Theater. Because I'm one of the costumers there, and all the behind-the-scenes songs are me, too. The direction of musical theater is not dominant for me, but it gives me great satisfaction, great pleasure. I will accept such challenges if they arise, but this is not the main direction I want to go in.

Roles in three repertoire positions of modern theater, a performance in a television theater play, a role in a feature film – These are your achievements in the first year since completing your education at the theater Academy. This is an upbeat career announcement worth keeping an eye on. Thank you for talking to me.

Thank you.

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WITH A HAND ON YOUR THROAT-SONGS FROM THE REPERTOIRE OF EVA DEMARCZYK
Screenplay and direction: Anna Soroka-Grin
Arrangements – Yakov Lyubovich
Choreography – Evelina Adamska-Porchik
Costumes – Sabina Chuprinskaya
Directing the light – Peter Grin
Vocal training – Monika Malets
Assistant Director – Natalia Stahira
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Crew:
Natalia Kuyava - Malachite
Monika Pavlitskaya - The Seagull
Natalia Stahira – Latrodectus Mactans
Mikhail Yurashek – Ice
Przemysław Kowalski – Ariel
Tomasz Osica - The Wolf
Yakub Skipper - A moth
 
 
Below are photos from the performance with a hand on your throat. Songs from the repertoire of Eva Demarczyk.

 

 
 

photo: Tomasz Ostrowski