Heart of Glass. A Zen Musical

Studio Theatre

libretto: Klaudia Hartung-Wójciak i Maria Peszek
direction, stage movement: Cezary Tomaszewski
music: Andrzej Smolik, Maria Peszek
choreography: Barbara Olech
music direction of the instrumental group: Jacek Kita
set design, costumes: Aleksandra Wasilkowska
vocal preparation: Anna Serafińska, Adam Rymarz (współpraca)
lights direction: Jędrzej Jęcikowski
sound direction: Krzysztof Polesiński
production cooperation: Grzegorz Bieńko
dancers: Darek Kowalewski, Marcel Zawadzki
instrumental group: Jacek Kita, Piotr Wróbel, Jakub Szydło
production manager: Monika Balińska
assistant of production manager: Julia Tyjewska
assistant of director: Wiktoria Krążek
stage manager: Krystyna Klyta

cast: Małgorzata Biela, Dominika Biernat, Tomasz Nosinski, Monika Obara, Marcin Pempuś, Jan Peszek, Maria Peszek, Sonia Roszczuk, Mateusz Smoliński, Monika Świtaj, Marta Zięba, Ewelina Żak

PPA production: Kaja Gonera

Hans Christian (Andersen) vs. Maria Awaria & Jan (Peszek).
The musical from Warsaw’s Studio Theatre owes its backbone to Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Snow Queen” and its heart, lungs and liver to the book “Naku*wiam zen” by Maria and Jan Peszek, an autobiographical conversation between daughter and father about love, death, God, art and the meaning of life.
In Andersen’s story, as we know, Gerda’s mission to save Kai is about the power of love and friendship, perseverance in the pursuit of a goal, the conviction that good always triumphs and, by the way, that sharp minds (like shards of the devil’s mirror) and carnal lust are not things worth wasting time.
But things are different in this remake: For Maria and Jan, physiology is an unavoidable, sometimes inconvenient fact of life, which is its charm; there are no established truths, and everything is mocked and doubted. And love? Love is not a literary abstraction with a moral but a powerful emotion on which the world is built, for better or worse. Maria and Jan venture into the darkest realms, confronting us with the uncomfortable, the unwanted and the disgusting; they search anew for relationships with each other and with other people, outside the patterns of the so-called good family, and above all, remain in a state of constant ignorance and affirmation of life “despite everything”. Touching, funny, tragic, naughty and unpredictable.

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Photo: Dawid Grzelak