Directed by: Monika Strzępka Written by: Paweł Demirski, Production: TVP, Country: Poland, Language: Polish, 8 x 46′, 2016, Drama, Rights: USA, Canada, UK, Ireland, Australia, Scandinavia, Turkey and MENA
It is a story about eminent theatre artists of the young generation. The series begins with the famous theatre director, in charge of the theatre for many years, committing suicide, very publicly. Following in his footsteps is a young small-town auteur with very ambitious repertoire plans.
However, it soon becomes apparent that the theatre’s budget makes these plans impossible. What is more, it turns out that the new director is a toy in the hands of the council, who look for any excuse to shut the venerable institution down. The struggle for theatre survival is intertwined with the artistic struggles of the actors. The series is full of intrigues and the young director feels as if he is part of a tragicomic masquerade.
Among other stories we follow a young unfulfilled actor (Dobromir Dymecki), and then we see the world through the eyes of a theatre diva (Antonina Choroszy), an older porter played by Edward Linde-Lubaszenko (Schindlers List) a proletarian technician (Michał Majnicz) Warsaw politicians, a journalist (Ewa Skibińska) and an accountant ( Agnieszka Glińska ), who has long crossed the border of a nervous breakdown.
The series has been compared with The Knick and with the Canadian theatre tv series Slings and Arrows.
Cast
- Marcin Czarnik
- Agnieszka Przepiórska
- Edward Lubaszenko
- Tadeusz Huk
- Ewa Dałkowska
- Jerzy Trela
Awards
- 2017 Prix Europa – Nomination
- 2017 Prix Italia – Nomination