Opening Night: 24 Febuary 2024
Author: William Shakespeare
Title: Król Lear
Original Title: The Tragedy of King Lear
Translator: Stanisław Barańczak
Director: Grzegorz Wiśniewski

Auditorium: Boguslawski Hall
Running time: 3 hours inculding one interval

Ticket prices:

full-price tickets:
zone I: 120 zł
zone II: 110 zł
zone III: 100 zł

concession tickets:
zone I: 85 zł
zone II: 75 zł
zone III: 65 zł

rush tickets:
40 PLN  more info →

students of state theatre and art schools: 
15 PLN more info →

King Lear

The King of Britain divides his kingdom between his three daughters to free himself from worries and hardships. However, before the decision he poses a question: which of you loves me the most?

Can he expect honesty? Can honesty convince him? Is it possible to give up power, but not a desire to be obeyed? And can one understand one’s own declining years?

William Shakespeare's tragedy is considered one of the finest examples of European theatre. According to Jan Kott, ‘King Lear's’ theme is the decay and fall of the world. Nonetheless, the depth of thought and the strength of emotions prompt multiple interpretations of the drama. ‘King Lear’ may be Shakespeare's boldest examination of human nature. Jan Englert will play the title role in the National Theatre's production.


Spectacle for adult audiences
Please mind that the performance includes loud sound and music effects, and smoke effects.


direction: Grzegorz Wiśniewski
cooperation on dramaturgy: Jakub Roszkowski
set and light design, costume, video: Mirek Kaczmarek
music: Aleksandra Gryka
choreography: Wioleta Fiuk


The following Radiohead songs were used in the performance: Exit Music (For A Film) from OK COMPUTER (1997), There, There from Hail to the Thief  (2003), Idioteque from Kid A (2000), I Might Be Wrong from Amnesiac (2001). The songs were recorded based on the original compositions included in the aforementioned releases. The vocal parts in the recording as well as live are performed by Dominika Kluźniak.

Cast

And

Tadeusz Wielecki (guest performer) / Wojciech Pulcyn (guest performer) – musician (double bass) 

Dancers (guest actors)

Wioleta Fiuk
Andrzej Buczkowski
Grzegorz Grzywacz
Witold Jurewicz
Jerzy Klonowski
Marek Kowalski

Andrzej Pankowski


Production team

  • director's assistant: Hubert Paszkiewicz 
    sound technicians: Marek Szymański, Hubert Majewski, Mariusz Maszewski
  • light technicians: Zbigniew Szulim, Bartłomiej Kaczalski, Krzysztof Łukasz Stefan
  • video projection: Mariusz Chałubek, Paweł Woźniak
  • stage manager: Katarzyna Kłosowska-Kobiałka
    prompter: Magdalena Markowska
  •  




Licence for this stage production was granted by the Society of Authors – ZAiKS.

Gallery

  • OTHER DELIGHTS

    Other Delights by Jerzy Pilch directed by Jacek Głomb. With artful phrasing, Pilch tells an ordinary story of extraordinary love. Premiere – 7 December 2024.  


  • FAUST

    Faust by Goethe – one of the greatest masterpieces of European culture. The play, directed by Wojciech Faruga, premieres on October 26, 2024.

  • FEBLIK

    Feblik (Old Polish for an ‘infatuation’), surprising drama by Małgorzata Maciejewska received the Tadeusz Różewicz Drama Award. The spectacle directed by Lena Frankiewicz. 

  • A DREAM PLAY

    After the well-received Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Sławomir Narloch returned to the National Theatre with another premiere – A Dream Play by Strindberg.

     

  • KING LEAR

    King Lear may be Shakespeare's boldest examination of human nature. Jan Englert plays the title role. The tragedy directed by Grzegorz Wiśniewski. 

  • WAITING FOR GODOT

    Piotr Cieplak directs Waiting for Godot by Beckett. Is this a classic yet? Does it still have its avant-garde power? And, are we still waiting?


  • FREDRO. THE JUBILEE YEAR

    To celebrate 230 years since Aleksander Fredro's birth, the National Theatre invites you to an evening dedicated to the life and works of Poland’s greatest comedy writer. 

  • TALES FROM THE VIENNA WOODS

    Vienna in economic crisis and its lost inhabitants; portrait of the society in which fascism is born. Małgorzata Bogajewska directs Ödön von Horváth's 1931 drama.

  • THE THEATRE MAKER

    The play by Thomas Bernhard, one of the most outstanding playwrights of the second half of the 20th century. In the title role – Jerzy Radziwiłowicz. 

  • ALICE'S WONDERLAND

    Have you ever quarreled with the Time or visited a forest where things have no names? The musical performance based on the famous novels by Lewis Carroll. 

  • THE MISANTHROPE

    Jan Englert stages a classic play by Molière. What is Alcest's misanthropy: an uncompromising commitment to the truth or a doomed uprising against social conventions?

  • THE BOOKS OF JACOB

    Staging the most important novel by Polish Nobel Prize winner Olga Tokarczuk directed by Michał Zadara. 

  • THE DECALOGUE

    An iconic work of Polish cinema, rethought thirty-five years after its creation. Wojciech Faruga directs The Decalogue by Krzysztof Kieślowski and Krzysztof Piesiewicz. 


  • MARY STUART

    Grzegorz Wiśniewski returns to the classic drama about human passions interwoven in a ruthless machinery of history and intrigue.

  • MÜNCHHAUSEN FOR ADULTS

    Maciej Wojtyszko directs his own play about Baron von Münchhausen, a famous adventurer and swindler.


  • Solidarity with Ukraine | Солідарні з Україною

    The ensemble of the National Theatre stands in solidarity with the Ukrainians who are fighting for the independence of their homeland.

  • PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK

    The new theatrical version of the Australian prose classics directed by Lena Frankiewicz. In the role of Mrs Appleyard – Ewa Wiśniewska.


  • SNAKE SKIN

    Artur Urbański directs his own play which main character is Ruth Berlau, one of Bertolt Brecht's closest associates and life companions.


  • AUTUMN SONATA

    A theatrical version of the famous film by Ingmar Bergman directed by Grzegorz Wiśniewski. Danuta Stenka as Charlotte.


  • MOTHER JOAN OF ANGELS

    How does evil arise that we do not understand?Mother Joan of Angles by Iwaszkiewicz directed by Wojciech Faruga. 


  • The National Theatre at Google Cultural Institute

    Virtual exhibition 250 Years of Teatr Narodowy (National Theatre of Poland) is available online at Google Cultural Institute.


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