“The Emperor” is one of the best-known books by Ryszard Kapuściński, one that surely needs no special introduction. This work has been brought to the stage on many occasions, always to great success. Today, fifteen years after the last theatrical production, Teatr Zagłębia in Sosnowiec, thanks to director Aneta Głuch-Klucznik, presents the work on its own stage.

Ryszard Kapuściński’s “The Emperor” is not so much a story about the ruler of Ethiopia, Haile Selassie I, as about the people surrounding him — his court — for it is on them that the whole narrative is focused; it is through their accounts that we come to know the figure of the Ethiopian monarch. Successive characters speak about the work they performed day to day at the king’s court, describing their duties or recounting other figures from the entourage. And so we have F., whose sole occupation was walking the imperial dog on its lead and wiping its urine from the shoes of dignitaries; A.M-M., who as a footman operated the doors to the Audience Hall; I.B., the purse-bearer, who carried behind the treasurer a bag filled with money; G.H-M., the imperial cuckoo, who by his bows signalled to the ruler the passing of time… There were also intelligence chiefs, students, and cushion-bearers — in all, a whole host of characters.

Teatr Zagłębia has rendered this distinctive language of Kapuściński’s superbly on stage. All the most important and (one might say) most amusing elements of the book have been presented in the production. On stage we see a cast of ten actors, who embody the successive characters and through their storytelling construct for us the world surrounding and adoring Haile Selassie I — who is present throughout on stage as a faceless effigy towering over everyone. The props on stage are reduced to a minimum, but what we see is entirely sufficient: a door frame serves as a doorway or a picture frame, a staircase can become prison bars, a mop becomes the imperial dog, while a plain ladder becomes an allegorical representation of the rungs of hierarchy at court. Similarly the actors’ costumes are very simple; all are dressed in identical overalls, and only certain characteristic costume elements make a given actor into a specific character from the novel — for instance, a bag hung around the neck makes it immediately clear that the figure wearing it is the purse-bearer, who distributes money to people at the ruler’s command. Nothing more and nothing less, for sometimes minimalism in a production is entirely sufficient — and so it is here too.

I must add that I was absolutely captivated by the stage movement in the production, for it is superbly realised. The stage simply lives the whole time; something is always happening — now it is the fleeting movement of one character, then each person is occupied with something, or all move in a synchronised manner. From the very beginning, the depiction of the struggle for position in the court hierarchy by means of a plain ladder is very expressive, and in my view the production grows ever more interesting as it progresses.

In summary, “The Emperor” is a work that can be recommended both to connoisseurs of Ryszard Kapuściński and to newcomers, for the manner of presentation does not require familiarity with the work, and the truths conveyed here are universal, comprehensible, and likely to remain relevant for ever.

Tomasz Sknadaj, November 2016

[caption id=“attachment_3811” align=“aligncenter” width=“620”] R. Kapuściński “Cesarz”, dir. Aneta Głuch-Klucznik, Teatr Zagłębia in Sosnowiec / photo M. Stobierski[/caption]

[caption id=“attachment_3814” align=“aligncenter” width=“620”] photo Maciej Stobierski (rehearsal shots)[/caption]

[caption id=“attachment_3815” align=“aligncenter” width=“620”] photo Maciej Stobierski (rehearsal shots)[/caption]

[caption id=“attachment_3816” align=“aligncenter” width=“620”] photo Maciej Stobierski (rehearsal shots)[/caption]

The Emperor Teatr Zagłębia in Sosnowiec, premiere: 5 November 2016

Text: Ryszard Kapuściński. Director: Aneta Głuch-Klucznik. Adaptation: Tomasz Man. Set design and costumes: Marianna Lisiecka. Music: Marek Otwinowski. Choreography: Maćko Prusak. Lighting design: Robert Baliński.

Cast: Agnieszka Bałaga-Okońska, Agnieszka Bieńkowska, Maria Bieńkowska, Ryszarda Celińska, Beata Deutschman, Michał Bałaga, Przemysław Kania, Krzysztof Korzeniowski, Tomasz Muszyński, Sebastian Węgrzyn.

Reviews:

The Charm of Absolute Power, Tomasz Kostro, sosnowiec.info.pl The Emperor — review, Tomasz Sknadaj, Teraz Teatr Humanity — absent, or “The Emperor” by Teatr Zagłębia, Szymon Michlewicz-Sowa, Reflektor The Emperor, Agnieszka Kobroń, Afisz Teatralny A (Non-)repeatable Pattern, Robert Przeliorz, Blog Irracjonalnie Nieracjonalny The Need for a Strong Voice, Daria Sobik, Portal Katowicki

Source: https://www.terazteatr.pl/aktualnosci/cesarz-recenzja,3271

source: kapuscinski.info