Jeremiah’s Tuesday

Jeremiah’s Tuesday
Written and directed by Stefan Mrowinski and performed by Steven Kennedy. The Butterfly Club, Carson Place, Melbourne. 8, 10 & 11 October, 2015.

This is a piece of drama that was first written in Polish in 1990, however, its ability to be redrafted with more contemporary events and themes shows how its fundamental concerns are issues that will never be outdated. The wavering moral compass that guides the musings of the characters ranges from delusions of grandeur to touching and disturbing insight into the flawed and often rapacious character of humanity.

Mrowinski’s view of the dire state of politics comes from somewhere beyond mere cynicism or jaded perspectives. The dark and grotesque scourges such as corruption, totalitarianism and the threat of Armageddon render the play elegiac yet this is finely balanced by its profound beauty and richness. This is a truly exquisite example of Monodrama and the influence of practitioners such as Jerzy Grotowski and Peter Brook upon Mrowinski’s oeuvre is extremely palpable.

Kennedy brings this incredibly lyrical text to life in a manner that matches the passion and intensity of the language. He is fully in command and control of every syllable and expertly controls the complex rhythm and pace of its poetic quality. The experience is enormously visceral while also stirring the imagination, allowing the characters or figures to be fully conjured in the space and present on stage. This brings him in direct dialogue with the spectator and produces a captivating and engrossing theatrical event.

Patricia Di Risio

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