The Arians

6.01 and 26.03 the play will be performed with English surtitles.

The text of the improvisation can be found in the foyer (before the play).

This play uses various contexts – local, historical, and contemporary – to delve into the phenomenon of the Polish Brethren community (Arians). Active in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, they advocated religious tolerance, social equality, universal access to education, and pacifism, before facing persecution and an eventual ban.

This experimental project at the Stary Theatre inquires into the possibility of an Arian gathering today — a space for exchange, political and religious freedom, and a utopian community cutting through social divisions. The play examines intolerance, the tension between individual faith and institutional religiosity, and a vision of Christianity different from the dominant one in Poland.

The work is a new drama for six voices, with six actors taking on roles across generations of Polish "brothers" and "sisters" and their opponents. This production was created thanks to a City of Krakow Creative Scholarship 2019.

Cast: Paulina Kondrak, Beata Paluch, Juliusz Chrząstowski, Krystian Durman, Grzegorz Mielczarek, Łukasz Szczepanowski.

Creators: Beniamin M. Bukowski. Scriptwriter and director: Basia Bińkowska. Scenography / costumes: Tobiasz Sebastian Berg. Choreography: Sebastian Świąder. Composer: Joanna Kuźmienko. Assistant director: Julia Łucja Mazur. Assistant scenographer.