Basen Artystyczny Stage
A PERFORMANCE FOR ADULT AUDIENCES
Leszek Możdżer
A Ball at the Opera
Libretto | Julian Tuwim
Creative team
Directed by | Agnieszka Płoszajska
Musical direction | Leszek Możdżer
Set Design | Katarzyna Gabrat-Szymańska
Costume Design | Małgorzata Słoniowska
Choreography | Santiago Bello
Sound direction | Piotr Taraszkiewicz
Lighting direction | Adam Tyszka
Multimedia | Karolina Jacewicz
Vocal Preparation | Paulina Stekla
Assistant Director | Jeremiasz Gzyl
Assistant Choreographer | Darya Melekh
Accompanist/Vocal Coach | Krzysztof Brzeziński
Something will happen at Basen Artystyczny that defies categorization.
Not a recital. Not a concert. Not a “guest appearance.”
Leszek Możdżer in opera. In a theatrical performance. At the very heart of a living stage organism.
A Ball at the Opera, based on the poem by Julian Tuwim, returns in a new, uncompromising version — as a music-theatre spectacle at the intersection of opera, performance art, and contemporary theatre. A grotesque that amuses — until it stops being funny. An apocalyptic vision of the world beneath a mask of splendor. A ball that continues even as everything trembles.
Leszek Możdżer not only creates the musical layer and leads the instrumental ensemble. He enters the structure of the performance itself. He is present. He reacts. He co-creates the tension between word and sound.
This is a performance for adult audiences.
This is a ball in which the audience becomes a participant.
This is a mirror. Not necessarily a comfortable one.
A Ball at the Opera — Julian Tuwim’s most famous satirical poem — returns in a bold new staging as a music-theatre spectacle at the crossroads of opera, performance, and contemporary theatre. It presents an apocalyptic vision of the world in which grotesque imagery intertwines with a piercing diagnosis of social condition. Written in the 1930s as a sharp satire on the decadence of elites and a premonition of impending catastrophe, the text resonates strikingly today — exposing mechanisms of collective illusion and moral decay concealed beneath a façade of opulence.
The new musical layer is composed by Leszek Możdżer — an artist of boundless imagination and extraordinary sonic sensitivity. His composition and musical direction give the performance a contemporary pulse and dramatic depth, building powerful tension between word and sound.
You are invited to A Ball at the Opera.
Ball attire required.
Reviews
My goodness… what an evening.
The dress code was black tie, so everyone arrived decked out in sequins, glitter and bow ties—yet somehow still felt just a little underdressed. The ball had not even begun, and already the foyer was buzzing: elegant women, gentlemen in top hats, musicians in white tailcoats and patent leather shoes polished to a mirror shine. As slightly bewildered guests entered, they were greeted by someone casually tinkling away at Polonaise in A major. A provocation? Absolutely—and far from the only one.
Perhaps surprisingly, the production remains fundamentally faithful to Julian Tuwim’s original. In his poem—and here on stage (or rather, on the catwalk)—the poet, using language charged with intense emotion, settles accounts with the powerful figures of his time: people who, instead of confronting the looming catastrophe, continue to celebrate as though there were no tomorrow. It is hard to escape the impression that Leszek Możdżer has invited today’s Warsaw elite to his ball precisely so they might see themselves reflected in that same merciless mirror.
Director Agnieszka Płoszajska, keenly attuned to the realities of the world around her, skilfully leads the audience through a labyrinth of meanings. Beneath the grotesque costumes and the seemingly playful tone lie profound questions about the roles imposed by society and culture, as well as the pervasive culture of pretence and the worship of money. Quotations from the Book of Revelation sharpen the production’s edge, foretelling total destruction and an inevitable end. There is not the slightest hint of hope for change; complete annihilation seems the only possible resolution for this world.
Scenographer Katarzyna Gabrat-Szymańska ingeniously adapts the visual design to the possibilities of the new stage, and, mindful of the work’s dreamlike quality, blends opulence and glamour with kitsch and an exaggerated cabaret aesthetic, further enhanced by Małgorzata Słoniowska’s sophisticated costumes. Choreographer Santiago Bello brings Tuwim’s famous phrase—“tempo: champagne, Satan, shantan”—into vivid physical expression.
Anna Czajkowska/www.teatrdlawszystkich.pl
Bal w operze (A Ball at the Opera), Julian Tuwim’s best-known satirical poem, returns in a bold new incarnation as a music-theatre production at the intersection of opera, performance art and contemporary theatre. It presents an apocalyptic vision of the world, where grotesque imagery intertwines with a penetrating diagnosis of society’s condition. Written in the 1930s as a fierce satire on the decadence of the elite and the foreboding of an approaching catastrophe, the text resonates today with remarkable relevance, exposing the mechanisms of collective illusion and moral decay concealed beneath a glittering façade.
Leszek Możdżer does far more than compose the score and direct the instrumental ensemble. He becomes an integral part of the performance itself. He is present. He responds. He actively shapes the tension between word and sound. His music gives the production a contemporary pulse and dramatic depth, creating an intense, richly layered theatrical experience.