Tadeusz Różewicz confronts contemporary civilizational crises by creating the Elderly Woman – a fictional character whose wisdom, ironic sense of humor and clarity of mind offer relief and hope. It is therefore good to listen to her speaking the truth as she utters what come across as spells from an ancient, inherently natural source of knowledge. With her help it may be possible to salvage what the author believes has been tossed onto a civilizational dump, the world’s wastelands…
In her masterful monodrama which premiered at Teatr Studio in 1988, and now returns in an updated format, Irena Jun was able to embody the show’s entire universe through her portrayal of the Elderly Woman. This is a female version of an ancient god, immortal and indestructible, rising at dawn as civilizations keep dying, witnessing cowardice and heroism, greatness and pitifulness in all appropriate dimensions and scales. She is our “tender guide” based on archetypes of witches and wise women which are being rediscovered today. A woman who we would do well to meet and listen to – not only to discover how surprisingly relevant Tadeusz Różewicz’s words turn out to be today.
