The Little Match Girl is not Andersen's only fairy tale with a sad ending. Director Jacek Pietruski decided to change it because, as he explained in an interview with Danuta Piekarska from "Gazeta Lubuska", he "likes happier endings".
Katarzyna Buchwald wrote about LT's performance "The Tin Soldier" (premiered on January 23, 2005) in the weekly "Co w Mieście Piszczy":
[…] The performance was based on two fairy tales by Hans Christian Andersen: "The Brave Tin Soldier" and "The Balaclava and the Shepherdess". The author of the adaptation and the director of the play is an actor from Toruń, Jacek Pietruski, who loves Andersen. He considers his fairy tales beautiful but sad, which is why his adaptations end with a happy ending - the Tin Soldier and the Ballerina do not die in the fire, but stay together forever. – It is a story about courage, bravery, perseverance, but above all about love, which leads to the desired goal – explains the director. […]
Pietruski decided to set the action of his play in a kitchen scenery, which was told by Piekarska. In his view, “this is not quite an ordinary place. It is a kitchen where all objects come to life, not only the soldier and the ballerina, but also the kettle and cups. Props play a very important role in the performance. It is a spectacle that strongly engages both the actors and the entire technical team. I invite the youngest viewers with their parents and grandparents to the theater, 'The Tin Soldier' is a family show for small and older children.
On January 11, 2006, "The Tin Soldier" was presented in the Krakow PWST hall. The show took place as part of the nationwide festival "On a pea grain", organized on the occasion of the 200th anniversary of the birth of the Danish fairy tale writer, which passed last year. “This show is a combination of a live plan, puppets, muppets, and a colorful shadow theater,” said Alicja Bałata from Nordic House, the organizer of the event.
“The rats made me laugh a lot. They were dressed in human clothes, wrote Paulina Musielak from Primary School No. 1 in Kraków, who won the second prize for a theater review written after watching Tin Soldier. The text by Jakub Kasprzykowski from Primary School No. 119, who was delighted with the wonderful set design of this play, was considered the best review. “The Chinese was a cookie container, but it moved its mouth. It was interesting to me how in one sideboard you can place the decoration of the house, yard, sewage and the sea,” writes the boy.
The performance featured: Ludwik Schiller (Tin Soldier, Florek), Wioletta Sokal (Baller Girl, Rat Niezda), Beata Sobicka-Kupczyk (Marianna, Confectioner, Rat Powta), Janusz Młyński (Chinese, Chief Rat). The scenography was designed by Barbara Poczwardowska.
Photo. A. Wierdak
Project: B. Poczwardowska
Sources:
EKOZ, „Szczurki w ludzkich ubrankach”, „Gazeta Krakowska” 2006, nr 24.
min, „Lubuski żołnierzyk ‘Na ziarnku grochu’”, „Gazeta Wyborcza [Kraków]” 2006, nr 8.
D. Piekarska, „Andersen razy dwa”, „Gazeta Lubuska” 2005, nr 10.
(oprac. pp)
Creators:
Author: Hans Christian Andersen
Staging, direction and musical arrangement: Jacek Pietruski
Scenography: Barbara Poczwardowska
Music: Pyotr Tchaikovsky
Cast:
Ludwik Schiller – Cynowy Żołnierzyk, Florek
Wioletta Sokal – Baletnica, Szczur Niezda
Beata Sobicka-Kupczyk – Marianna, Cukiernica, Szczur Powta
Janusz Młyński – Chińczyk, Herszt Szczurów
Premiera: 23.01.2005 8
