The Konfrontacje Festival grows out of the traditions of the Lublin milieu. Each year we attempt to present theatre works created in Lublin or, to a degree, touching the themes related to our city. This year the Municipality
of Lublin is celebrating its 700th jubilee. For that reason, the 2017 programme features substantial contributions from Lublin-based artists, such the latest shows by among others Leszek Mądzik and Łukasz Witt-Michałowski.

Moreover, we have curated shows made by creatives associated with Lublin or shows featuring Lublin-centred motifs. For that reason, the highlights of the programme include Dybbuk, a performance directed by Paweł Passini and produced by the Polski Theatre in Bielko-Biała, as well as The Story of Jacob staged by the Dramatic Theatre in
Warsaw – both focused on the historical Jewish presence in Lublin. Written by Artur Pałyga, the script of Dybbuk draws both on Shloyme An-sky’s The Dybbuk and on the pre-war history of Bielsko-Biała. Having written Our Class, which received rave reviews at Konfrontacje, Tadeusz Słobodzianek returns to Lublin with his latest text, a factual narrative inspired by the life story of a philosopher- priest, a retired lecturer of the Catholic University of Lublin, who – as an adult and an ordained Catholic priest – realises that he is Jewish. The Jewish question returns also in The Point Zero: The Kindly Ones, which explores the theme of the Shoah, however, not from the perspective of the victim but of the executioner. The young generation of artists will be represented by Daniel Adamczyk, whose Dada City refers to the phenomenon of the city in a surreal way.

The Lublin showcase will enable the Festival Guests to become familiar with the creative output of the most interesting theatre personalities as well as draw the viewers’ attention to the multicultural character of the 700-year history of our city.

Janusz Opryński