Concept, text & direction: Gosia Wdowik / Collaboration in dramaturgy: Maria Rössler / Visuals & Creative Technology: Jimmy Grimma / Set design: Dominika Olszowy & Tomasz Mróz / Light design: Aleksandr Prowaliński / With: Oneka von Schrader, Gosia Wdowik & Jaśmina Polak / Concept & implementation of the theatrical reconstruction of the collective abortion coming out: TERAZ POLIŻ (Marta Jalowska, Dorota Glac, Kamila Worobiej), Martyna Wawrzyniak & Gosia Wdowik work with/by Agnieszka, Dominika, Jaśmina, Ania, Urszula, Marta K., Justyna, Natalia, Julia, Martyna, Ola, Małga, Krystyna, Marta, Zosia, Edka, Doris, Yulia, Agata, Kinga, Beata, Iza, Zuza, Ewa & Magda / Special thanks: Jan Tomza-Osiecki, Marta Jalowska, Dorota Glac, Kamila Worobiej, Martyna Wawrzyniak, Marta Nawrot, Keerthi Basavarajaiah, Justin Schembri
Gosia Wdowik
She was a friend of someone else
- Theatre
English /
With German surtitles /
With English surtitles /
Polish /
approx. 60 mins.
“She was a friend of someone else” tells the story of how women in Poland fight for their right to abortion. The theatre work is about protests, activism and burnout. It addresses the desires and doubts associated with activism.
What happens when you need to fight the same battles over and over again? In “She was a friend of someone else,” Gosia Wdowik documents the struggle for abortion rights in Poland: A group of activists is planning a high-profile protest against the stigmatisation and criminalisation of abortion. The idea is for women to show solidarity and speak out publicly about their abortions without fear or shame. As a collective political act, this then influenced legislation at best. It could have been an activist success story. But it became a story with too many beginnings and not enough endings – and an exhausted narrator. Is quitting an option? How can resistance and change emerge from a state of exhaustion?
Gosia Wdowik herself lies mute and motionless on the floor. Her countless engagements have left her burnt out. The work enquires about the correlation between activism and burnout, which manifests itself, among other things, in the fear that rights once acquired are not secured forever and threaten to disappear again in moments of retreat and rest. A subtle choreography opens up an emotional space around the experience of an exhausted woman who stayed in bed one day instead of protesting - only to eventually return to community life.
Cast
Dates
Current
Notes:
After the performance on 28.3.: Artist Talk with Anna Volkland
Credits
Production: NOWY TEATR (Warsaw), CAMPO (Ghent). Co-production: Kunstenfestivaldesarts (Brussels), Teatro Municipal do Porto, SPRING (Utrecht), Frascati Producties (Amsterdam), HELLERAU – Europäisches Zentrum der Künste (Dresden), Spielart (Munich), Dublin Theatre Festival & Beursschouwburg (Brussels), Points communs - Nouvelle Scène nationale de Cergy-Pontoise / Val d'Oise
Location
HAU2
Hallesches Ufer 34, 10963 BerlinThere are two marked parking spots in front of the building. Barrier-free restroom facilities are available. Four relaxed seats are available in the first row of HAU2. Tickets for wheelchair users and accompanying persons can also be booked via the ticketing system. If you need help, please contact our Ticketing & Service team at +49 (0)30 259004-27 or send us an email to
tickets@hebbel-am-ufer.de.
Latest information for arrival:
There is currently a construction site on Hallesches Ufer between Wilhelmstraße and Möckernbrücke underground station. There is a divided replacement route for pedestrians (right) and cyclists (left), which are separated by a yellow ground line. The carriageway is narrowed to one lane.
Travelling to HAU2 via U Hallesches Tor:
If you are coming from Hallesches Tor underground station, you will have to use an alternative footpath from Wilhelmstraße / Hallesches Ufer junction, which is separated from the carriageway by a construction fence – the actual footpath is currently closed. Please note: the alternative route is also used by cyclists. Pedestrians should keep to the right. We therefore currently recommend that visually impaired or blind visitors come to the HAU with an accompanying person.
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