conversations in ten questions 35 : Przemysław Błaszczak

In this series of interviews we try to get to know the artists who were the artists of İstanbul Fringe Festival in 2022. Our second guest is Przemysław Błaszczak from Studio Kokyu. 

 Ayse Draz, Art Unlimited Performing Arts Editor & Mehmet Kerem Ozel, Writer

© Magdalena Mądra

What is the essence of performance in your opinion?

It is very interesting question. If you would ask me what the essence of the theatre is, I would probably answer, a meeting. Meeting where I have something important to tell you, to transmit to you, and you come to meet me with the openness to hear, to receive, to get inspired, to follow my story. But this question is in fact, what is the essence of performance, so my answer will be conscious doing. Performance is a certain structure of actions, precise, good (in my opinion) if not accidental. As I understand performance, it is also well prepared. Then, when it is happening, we can witness a performance of the doers – we see them inside of precise structure of actions, in a stream of doing. And it is done as precisely and exactly as it should be. This alive stream of actions, I would point as a essence of performance. As an example, you can think about a perfect cut done by a swordsman. He has been practising this action for a long time, perhaps his entire life. Then he is able to perform it exactly as it should be. This is where you can see the essence.

Do you believe in the transformative power of art? How?

Definitely yes. I believe in it, and without it I would not be doing it. At the same time, this function of art is not simply given. It is not guaranteed that art will have this power, or we could say that not all what we are used to calling art has a transforming power. I believe it is a task, something to reach, a challenge. The transformative power of art can work from two perspectives. One is the perspective of a viewer, the one, who is receiving the message hidden in the piece of art. That is why, it is such a responsibility to know, what my message is, what is the reason, why do I do my art, what do I want to say to the others. It is here, where the arts start to be political, because it has to be an act of individual freedom, a voice, from the depth of a heart, to the other. It can happen that someone hearing this voice of freedom, a call of deep inner need to share something important, will resonate with us, will redefine his ideas, his point of view. I believe this is what in ancient times was called catharsis. Cleansing of the senses. If participation in art can clean the senses of someone, he/she will hear, see, perceive in more clear way, or let’s say in a more direct way. Therefore, we could say they will have better connection to him/herself. This is the therapeutic function of art. I believe, it is very present in history of art- the books, paintings, songs, performances, which have or has at certain times a power to transform individuals, or maybe even whole nations. The other perspective is the transformation of the doer. The one, doing art. I do want to use the word artist consciously, because it have very strong connotation. I would like to speak rather about the craftsman, someone who is constantly working on his/her skills, on him/her self. This process of pushing forward, not being satisfied with what I already achieved, a hunger to go a step further, where I haven’t been yet, to new territory, new questions, deeper in contact with oneself, to be more direct, more honest in what I do. This kind of approach leads straight to the transformation, through constant, conscious work on myself.

When you are working on a piece, what sources inspire you? Do dreams play a role in your works?

I get inspiration from very various directions. When working on a piece, and I start to get deep into the investigation of a topic, the whole of reality begins to speak to me. Through songs, pictures, political and social news, films, literature. For sure literature is one of the very strong, maybe the strongest sources. I read a lot, I am search for a context. But also, I have a lot of conversations, I investigate the topic, by speaking with people, asking questions, trying to catch connection to here and now. I never worked consciously with dreams as a source, but in the creative process, I do have strong dreams, I dream the performance, or the story, some events. Naturally, when you go deep, intensively into certain topic, life around you transform somehow, and you see references everywhere. On conscious and subconscious level.

When do you decide to give a title to a work you are working on if it already does not have one?

Most of the time, it comes during the process of building the performance. Most of the time I have some title, which I know it is temporary, just to name the work somehow, but the final title of the performance comes when we get deep enough into the work, when we clearly see what it is in fact. I can say, it is always like this with me. The first title is just a meeting with the topic. The real title we discover from the process of work, the confrontation with it.

Are there any artists whom you can describe as "my master", or any person whom you think influenced your art most? And if there is such an artist or person, who?

I very often have this funny question in my head: Which thought is really mine? So much was said, so much was done over the centuries. We are participating in this enormous community of thoughts, ideas. For many years I was working as an actor with Jarosław Fret. It was over 15 years. I am absolutely sure that this was a period of strong formation for me. I learned a lot from working with him, observing him at work, having many inspiring conversations. So, he would be one of very important artists in my life. The next one, who I will call my master without any doubts is Theodoros Terzopoulos. Working with him as an actor, then learning his method, and also learning how to teach it, gave me amazing chance to drink from this source. I got from him all that I was missing to start my independent journey as a leader of the work, director. I must say he was and still is very generous to me, I can always ask him questions, consult ideas. I am very grateful for all I got from him, and for the fact that he is in my life. There is also the third person, I call master, sensei. This is my aikido teacher Piotr Masztalerz. He is my master and real friend. I would not be the person I am without him. I am very lucky, that I have meet him nearly 20 years ago, and our relation is very strong and vivid till now. I want to also say, that in my life I meet many great masters, and each gave me something. Last to mention is Aram Kerovpian – a great mastersinger of traditional Armenian liturgical chant. He changed my relationship to the voice. The list is really long, so let’s stop with these four. The master I never met one to one but changed my life with his work and ideas is Jerzy Grotowski. Probably if I had never read a book with a collection of his texts, when I was 18, I would not be doing theatre today. This master changed my life without meeting me in person. But he is so present in my life till today.

How do you think that this pandemic which humanity is facing at a global scale today will transform performing arts in the future?

I hope it will not transform it. I believe there is enough of the impact of the pandemic on humanity till now. There is a lot of fear, anger, luck of trust brought on by what has been happening these last two years. I would love to believe that we will be strong and stubborn enough to believe that we can do our art in the way as we did before pandemic, that we will not be afraid of meeting people, touching one another, spending time together. I really hope that the online era will pass away, and we will enjoy the life and the presence of the other. If there is a change because of the pandemic I would like to believe that we will put a bigger value on the possibility of being together, meeting each other, laughing, singing and dancing together, without fear, tasting life. I wish this change for all of us.

From the description of the team on the company’s website we assumed that this piece is a collective work. The three young contemporary women, who wrote the original script adapting Shakespeare’s Hamlet and created the stage design concept, are also the performers on the stage. And you are the director, who led the team during the development process of the piece. Can you tell us a little bit about how this process progressed and how it evolved to the final piece?

It was very complex process. All started from reading Hamlet. Actually, I proposed the topic of Ophelia to the team of Studio Kokyu. We knew we wanted to step into work on The performance, and I thought perhaps we can approach this topic, one which had been very important and inspiring for me for years. I think it started when I first read “Hamlet Machine” by Heiner Müller. Since that time, I was continually coming back to it in my thoughts and very often to the Ophelia which I met in that text. When I met with Anita Szymańska, Marie Walker and Martine Vrieling van Tuijl , I proposed them to work on the figure, topic of Ophelia, and it happened that somehow it is a very close topic to all of them. Then we decided to come back to the source. We started from reading Shakespeare’s Hamlet. We read and analysed Hamlet very carefully, to really see Ophelia in this story. And then we read Hamlet machine, trying to hear the voice of Ophelia after the centuries. Then we read Hamlet again, investigating Ophelia, trying to see here, where she is, how is she, what she sees , what she thinks... What has happened in her life, that she ended up in the way we know from Shakespeare? We, in parallel were also studying the reception of Ophelia in culture over the centuries. What happened with this young, beautiful, unhappy girl? In this kind of studies we understood that we are doing a kind of surgery, dissection, autopsy on the text of Shakespeare and on the figure of Ophelia. We understood, that it is happening somewhere in laboratory, or in the “Theatre” – which initially what was called, at the beginning of modern times, the place where students could observe an autopsy, studying medicine or anatomy. So, this gave us initial idea about the set, the environment of the performance. We will do an autopsy on the text, but also on the dead body of this young girl, who has drowned. Water, white, septic space, and three actresses confronting them self with figure of Ophelia. Each of them they wrote their own answer, their own voice of Ophelia, who in the original drama speaks very little. There is no place for the voice of a young girl in the men’s world of Elsynor. We quite quickly understood that number 3 is also no accidental. Ophelia of Shakespeare is different from Ophelia of Muller, but none of them is from today. We need Ophelia of 2022, from the heart of Europe. Ophelia, who have voice to say NO! The process of work was like a common deep dive into this reality, into this topic. We were there together, doing, improvising, writing, reading, asking questions, agreeing and disagreeing. looking for the message which will be ours. It became very personal. My function was to support the composition, work on pulse, timing, energy. I believe, it was very democratic process, where leader was to serve and to help, not to be someone above. When because of life complications, Martine had to leave the studio, and the Performance, which was already after premiere, Kasia Stankiewicz joined us. So, we again opened the body of the performance, finding a place for her Ophelia, For her voice, for her text. This is what we have today. It is like a live creature, with scars on it, scars of memory of the process of work, of the people who were in this process, and the life of them. The time of creation of this performance was very a intense, but a very special experience. It really grew out of all of us. It was emerging slowly, step by step, surprisingly, blossoming, growing, showing what the true hidden content of it was. It was almost like we were discovering a new territory together, and it was possible to discover it only with these people in this very moment. I am very grateful to whole ensemble for this extraordinary time.

If you had to translate I Come to You River: Ophelia Fractured into a single sentence, what would that sentence be?

Ophelia x-ray . Seriously, the title is exactly as it should be. I would prefer to not translate it.  

What does ‘Fringe’ signify for you?

Fringe is the place for experiment, for the discussion with the main stream, for revolution in art, for freedom. It is a place to meet various people looking for new ways, new forms to communicate their ideas, needs, experiences. It is a holy day for art. Holy days, in the sense of days which are holy.

What does it mean to you to participate in the Istanbul Fringe festival with this piece?

Istanbul is very special place. Here Europe meets Asia in one city. Here east meets the west. Christianity meets Islam. Here is one of the deepest roots of western culture. An incredible, rich, inspiring, melting pot. It is a great opportunity that with our performance we are able to reach people representing so different traditions, cultures, points of view in one place. It is very inspiring, challenging, and exciting at the same time. We are very happy that we can be part of this festival, and we are also grateful for organizers, that they did not give up in this difficult time of pandemic. Let’s celebrate art and theatre together! A world without art, is a world without hope. Till we can celebrate, participate in art, there is hope for us, for the world. We look forward to celebrate hope with the people of Istanbul.

[The turkish version of this interview was published in unlimited]