A play based on Hubert Selby’s novel of the same title
Co-production: Helena Modrzejewska National Stary Theater in Krakow

WARSAW PREMIERE: April 17, 2026
KRAKOW PREMIERE: April 25, 2026

Published in 1978, the novel by the American writer Hubert Selby Jr. was initially read as a fantasy of life on the edge, a dystopian vision of a world in which addiction to stimulants becomes the fulfilment of the demand for acceleration at any cost. Critics argued that it described a boundary that could never be crossed, insisting that life sustained by such forms of stimulation would ultimately prove impossible.

Director Jakub Skrzywanek reads Requiem for a Dream as a portrait of the present day:

We are all high on something. We are lonely creatures, living most of our lives in fear, misunderstanding and exclusion. We may seek intimacy and connection, only to discover how deeply unhappy we are. We may cling to the belief that anger, courage or struggle might offer a way out.

The bitter truth is that what rescues us is work, sex, drugs, our beautiful, flawless bodies and the admiration we feel for ourselves. What a beautiful, intoxicating vision it is to finally be only for oneself. To fall asleep and never wake up again. Has reality surpassed the avant-garde dystopia?