Words are music – language is a voice: Marta Górnicka and the political choral theatre

Górnicka devotes herself to all these socio-politically relevant, conflict-laden and highly topical subjects in her productions using the devices of (precise, choreographically adapted) choral theatre, which has its historical reference points in Ancient Greece: Rituals and ceremonies of community, collective dance and song. At the same, Górnicka demonstratively transcends these limits by believing in the diversity of the ensemble and, in particular, by giving women a chance to have their say, women whose body and voice are still marginalised today. For Górnicka and her works, the choir serves as one of the most powerful elements of the theatre and as a central device for critically reflecting on the social, cultural, economic or religious character of humans – and yet for a long time the choir as a powerful figure and dramatic device seemed to have been forgotten in the theatre of post-antiquity.

Whilst choirs in the theatre have celebrated a renaissance in recent times through the productions of the theatre director Einar Schleef in the 1980s, this development was a long time coming in neighbouring Poland. Only when Górnicka founded the “Chór Kobiet” in 2010, did she finally give the crucial boost to a new choral theatre which was predominantly, if not completely influenced by female voices instead of by men. This is as progressive as it is sensational, particularly against the backdrop of the roll-back in the role of women in Poland that has persisted for a number of years. But even if the Polish cultural scene has moved quickly in recent years to celebrate the performances by the women’s choir as a theatre event and acknowledged it with awards, Górnicka’s non-conformist and progressive political stance and the critical image of Poland that she conveys in her pieces have been rejected by cultural policy decision-makers in her homeland so that she has had difficulties in promoting art and culture.[2] By contrast, the guest performances of her spoken choral theatre have been and continue to be acclaimed on stages around the world and they enjoy great popularity – particularly in France and Germany[3], where she is currently working in the Maxim Gorki Theatre and at the Münchner Kammerspiel and where she continues to step up her work in the POLITICAL VOICE INSTITUTE that she founded.

What more can this talented director extract from a choir in terms of performance and content? With a pulsating degree of reinvigorated emotionality, tonality and subtext, in each of the productions the director and her ensemble truly captivate the audience and thrust us towards all that is fragile in our societal co-existence, the spirited conflicts of our togetherness and the presence of injustices, but they also demonstrate the clarity and beauty of our Basic Law in its expression and language. And this shocks and impresses in equal measure. The show presented at the Brandenburger Tor on 3 October 2018 was also rewarded with applause: For example in the passage “Politisch Verfolgte genießen Asylrecht.” (“Persons persecuted on political grounds shall have the right of asylum.”) (Article 16a) and in “Gegen jeden, der es unternimmt, diese Ordnung zu beseitigen, haben alle Deutschen das Recht zum Widerstand, wenn andere Abhilfe nicht möglich ist.“ (“All Germans shall have the right to resist any person seeking to abolish this constitutional order if no other remedy is available.”) (Article 20) … until the choir melts into a dance at the end and the participants scurry wildly around the stage doing their own thing.

What remains of this impressive spectacle is the realisation that our constitution as a collection of our values is wonderful. And we are all responsible for protecting these fundamental values of our democracy and our coexistence. Each and every one of us.

Katarzyna Salski, July 2020

Further informations: 

https://www.gorki.de/de/ensemble/marta-gornicka

http://www.martagornicka.com/Gornicka/HOME.html  

Literature:

Thomas Irmer: Die Gesellschaft auf der Bühne. Zum Chortheater der polnischen Regisseurin Marta Górnicka, in: Theater der Zeit, Issue 03/2017. Online: https://www.theaterderzeit.de/2017/03/34822/komplett/ (retrieved on 30 July 2020)

Anna Opel: Das sprechende Wir, in: Deutschen Bühne, Volume 03/2020. Online: https://www.die-deutsche-buehne.de/das-sprechende-wir (retrieved on 30 July 2020)