World Puppetry Day is a celebration of all those who deal with this art form and those who simply love puppets.
2023 marks the round 20th anniversary of the celebrations, which took place for the first time on March 21, 2003. The originator of the whole project was the Iranian puppeteer Javad Zolfaghari, and since then the International Association of Puppeteers (Union Internationale de la Marionnette - UNIMA) has been the organizer.
On this occasion, it is worth recalling the performance of the Lubuski Theater from the times when representatives of this profession did not yet have their own separate holiday. For a long time, however, they had celebrated another celebration, concerning all people of the stage, regardless of their profession. The Zielona Góra premiere of "Abduction in Tiutiurlistan" by Wojciech Żukrowski, which took place on March 27, 1985 on the stage of the then Puppet Stage, fell on the International Theater Day.
The performance directed by Bohdan Radkowski is worth recalling not only because of the mastery of performance, but also because of thematic references. The story of the kidnapping of Princess Wiolinka, which almost led to a war between two fictitious countries - Tiutiurlistan and Blablacja, was written during the German occupation. “There is also a carefree gaiety in this prose, in spite of the horrors of war,” said critic Stefan Melkowski. Only public life - politics, history - is both terrifying and absurd at the same time. Only homo politicus will not be purified by laughter here. Happiness exists - the writer seems to say - in everyday human life. And in fantasy. And in nature. And in a fairy tale. And that's all, for the social man is absurd, while in the whole area of human privacy and the nature of fairy tales there is freedom and happiness. This is how he expressed himself and imprinted the terrifying time of war on the fairy-tale world! It is obvious that in the fairy tale "Kidnapping in Tiutiurlistan", the black magic of cruel history and evil human nature has been balanced with the good white magic of the White Prince or childish magic, but dangerous powers remain dangerous powers... The tale of Tiutiurlistan was therefore in to a large extent an attempt to save the trust of a child, a world in which the system of values is simple and transparent. Here and in the following children's books, his [Żukrowski's] humanistic utopia is realized directly and literally.”
The noble, anti-war message of Żukrowski's work and its stage adaptation remains valid to this day - probably even more now than in the mid-1980s.
Source:
S. Melkowski, "Wojciech Żukrowski", series "Portraits of contemporary Polish writers", Warsaw 1985.
Photos: Tadeusz Ambroż
Set and costume designs: Mieczysław Antuszewicz
(elaborated by pp)
Creators:
Rapture in TIUTIURLISTANA
Author: Wojciech Żukrowski
Adaptation: Krystyna Skuszanka
Directed by Bohdan Radkowski
Scenography: Mieczyslaw Antuszewicz
Music: Jan Szyrocki
Cast:
Jerzy Lamenta - Corporal Marcin Pypeć
Ludwik Schiller - Mysibrat Miauczura
Anna Dobrzańska – Lisica Chytraska
Elżbieta Węgrzyn – Queen Wiolinka, Pchlinella
Miłosz Roszkowski - King Barylko
Jan Wysocki - King Cinnamon, Baranello, Laokon Fular
Krzysztof Romanski - Gypsy Corn
Ewa Zakrzewska-Drumla
Olga Miłaszewska – Klapon
Danuta Baska – Mrs. Breakfast
Józef Bieniasz – Officer, White-king
Krystyna Sych – Newsboy
Miłosz Roszkowski and Józef Bieniasz - Judges
Mariola Stupak-Kirkorek, Mysiak
Zofia Dela – Mouse
Premiere: March 27, 1985
