"Sorcery "

Directed by, music arrangement and text adaptation: Włodzimierz Staniewski

"Sorcery " - performance

Sorcery, a second performance by Gardzienice based on Mickiewicz's Forefathers Part II, was premiered in eremie San Pietro Alle Stinche near Florence in May 1981. It took a year to realize the performance.
During (...) Expeditions in eastern and northern Poland the time has come to start working
on Gardzienice's second performance, that is 'Sorcery', based on 'Forefathers' Part II, IV, III)

"Sorcery " - performance

Mickiewicz's Forefathers is a work of literature.
It is impossible to reconstruct on the basis of the drama ethnographic principles of the ritual precisely, although it is beyond any doubt that one can find archaic elements on Mickiewicz's Foerfathers. First of all, one did not talk with the ghosts during the ritual. Occasionally one could see a ghost but he usually kept silent.

Perhaps unconsciously Gardzienice relate to this approach. Once Włodzimierz Staniewski said that he believed in ghosts, subtle beings. In the context of 'Sorcery' it seems to be a fundamental statement. Staniewski says that the attempts
at bringing ghosts back do not have to result
in answers from the other reality. His attitude
is skeptical here. However, the experience
of intense efforts and endeavors are sole values. Such manipulations cause a peculiar 'revolving'
in the surrounding world.

"Sorcery " - performance

A true protagonist of 'Sorcery' is the throng,
a collective body consisting of the actors. However, the throng is not only a crowd, but
a group of individuals, Mickiewicz's protagonists emerged from. In one of the opening scenes Mariusz Gołaj appears in a white 'middle-class' shirt. He starts his monologue reciting Hermit's words: 'I am coming from afar, from the hell that is paradise…' Touched by a girl (Anna Zubrzycka) he gets rid of his middle-class outfit, puts on a working-class coat and boots. At that moment Gardzienice's Sorcery becomes an exclusive ritual performed by a lower class. Konrad is not reborn. The recurring question of the performance becomes 'Is this world so merciless? Do ghosts exist at all?' The proper ritual begins, singing gets louder ' It's dark everywhere, it's silent everywhere…". People wander around the hall. The crowded group of actors move always left, against the sun - as etnochoreology says. In the old days that direction had a magical dimension. What meant 'naturalizing' gets fully revealed in movement of the performance. The actors do not imitate peasants' movement. They simply know it. Hours and hours of traveling, spending time together with the old people in the country result in natural behaviour. It bears the echoes
of expeditions, natural movement in space.

"Sorcery " - performance

Mickiewicz's text wasMickiewicz's text
Mickiewicz's text is much shortened, rearranged, sometimes separate words are taken out.
The protagonists borrow words from one another. Apart from the original text there are also other sources used, often taken directly from folk culture (most song adaptations were made by Jan Bernad). Some songs were found in songbooks, some learnt from people during the Expeditions. Mickiewicz's text is interwoven with these songs(…)
Staniewski paid much attention to the musicality of 'Forefathers'. "We were reading 'Forefathers Part II' as (...) an oratorio subjected to a harmony of spheres. Not only text had to be music, but also space, body and ghosts."
(...) The following scenes evolve from
the movement of the throng. A great dynamics, chanting, songs, whirling - all these elements build up the space where people and ghosts coexist together. No way to see the ontological difference between the worlds. A Phantom
and Angels sing together with the peasants.
They are part of the crowd. No boundaries
of the living in between the worlds.
Musicality and dynamics of the performance dominate over the text. The words constitute
the other level of reception. They are equally important but the audience feels that the spectacular and lively performance dominates. Music, movement, and atmosphere replace them. Non-verbal message becomes an equivalent
of language.

"Sorcery " - performance

Chassidic songs culminate the ritual. Although
it seems impossible the tempo grows faster
and faster. One, two, three, four... figures start whirling, filling the whole space with their movement. Wearing big coats and wide skirts. The Chassidic motifs in 'Forefathers' should not
be a surprise. Chassidic movement was very influential in that part of the world (…)

Calling ghosts it is difficult not to refer to people who used to live there. Chassidic songs were their to God, whirling was a form of a prayer.
Apart from visual effects, their presence in the performance introduced a sacred dimension (...)

Gardzienice's 'Sorcery' was not a feature spectale. I have seen several performances
of 'Sorcery' and I noticed that the scenes were moved significantly. I would not be surprised
if somebody else related the performance completely differently. One should mention
a role of Staniewski here. He created and directed 'Sorcery', also participating actively in it.
He is a link between the audience
and the performance space. He sings, sometimes helps the actors to join the action, acts like
a demiurge watching his creation.
'Sorcery' lasted for about 40 minutes.

Tadeusz Kornaś "Gardzienickie Dziady",
"Dziady. Od Wyspiańskiego do Grzegorzewskiego" red. T. Kornaś, G. Niziołek, Księgarnia Akademicka, Kraków, 1999