Spruce trees, poppies, and a statue of the Captain

Teatr Narodowy w Warszawie. Adam Mickiewicz, Dziady, reżyseria: Eimuntas Nekrošius, muzyka: Paweł Szymański, scenografia: Marius Nekrošius, kostiumy: Nadežda Gultiajeva, premiera: 10 marca 2016

Tadeusz Kornaś reviews Adam Mickiewicz's Forefathers' Eve, directed by Eimuntas Nekrošius (National Theater in Warsaw, premiere: 10.03.2016). The opening description of the set, with the poppy spore of unnatural size, warm lighting, and shape of Vilnius' Mickiewicz monument floating in the background gives us a feel for Nekrošius's aesthetic, which, in Kornaś's view, is charged with a fairy-tale ambiance. The critic describes several scenes - Gustaw's encounter with the Priest and the monologs of Konrad and Father Piotr - to prove that, although the director does not mock the Romantic posture, his staging of Forefathers' Eve rings with horror, a sense of distance, and even levity.