Pan Tadeusz first night at Kupala theater on 15 January

The Yanka Kupala National Academic Theater invites for the first night of the Pan Tadeusz production on 15 January.

The theatrical version of the epic poem by Adam Mickiewicz will be staged by the leading Belarusian drama theater for the first time.

The famous poem has been staged by director Nikolai Pinigin with the participation of art director Zinoviy Margolin, costume designer Alena Igrusha, and composer Andrei Zubrich. Iosif Semyazhon translated the poem from Polish into Belarusian, the stage version has been written by Sergei Kovalev.

The poem describes fives days from the life of the Polish gentry in 1811 and one day in 1812. The action takes place at the Neman riverside just before Napoleon’s invasion.

The stage design will feature an engraving by Napoleon Orda. Pieces from the Pan Tedeusz movie by Andrzej Wajda (1999) and the silent movie shot by Richard Ordynski in 1928 will be projected on a screen.

Almost all the members of the troupe are engaged in the production: only male parts are around 30. The production will feature People’s Artist of the USSR and Belarus Gennady Ovsyannikov, People’s Artists of Belarus Sergei Zhuravel, Nikolai Kirichenko, and Arnold Pomazan, Honored Artists of Belarus Sergei Kravchenko, Georgy Malyavski, Alexander Podobed, and also Svetlana Anikei, Marta Golubeva, Kristina Kazak, Roman Podolyako, Pavel Kharlanchuk-Yuzhakov, Yulia Shpilevskaya, and others. Over 60 costumes from linen and woolen fabrics were made for the production.

“This is our first large-scale project after we opened after renovations. Pan Tadeusz has never been staged in Belarus before. I wanted to start working on the production long ago. I believe that it will educate people. We should draw the attention of our viewers to the Belarusian history and explain why Mickiewicz calls his country “Lithuania” in the poem, Nikolai Pinigin said.

The Kupala theater will also give opening nights on 16 and 17 January.