Associate Artist Agnieszka Blonska

HFC Associate Artist Agnieszka Blonska

Agnieszka Blonska’s work is a collaboration between director Agnieszka Blonska and producer Helen Edwards. First working together on the UK Tour of Once Upon A Time in 2015, since then Agnieszka and Helen have begun developing ideas together. Their collaboration and work have been supported by Theatre Bristol. Their work aims to create theatre that explores individual experiences and challenges society’s values.

Agnieszka has worked in Britain, Poland and across Europe for the last fifteen years both as an independent artist and in collaboration with theatre companies and venues such as Wildworks, Powszechny Theatre, Theatre Institute in Warsaw, Desperate Men, DotComedy, Mercurial Wrestler, National Theatre Studio, Soho Theatre, Circomedia, Hall For Cornwall and Theatre Bristol.

In her practice Agnieszka is particularly interested in subjects of identity, social change and personal stories in relation to society. She uses a variety of forms including participatory and performative theatre exploring the boundaries of traditional drama and play. Agnieszka uses devising methods and improvisation, often examining deconstruction and non-linear approach to performance.

2017 has been a busy year for Agnieszka, balancing her international work with theatre in the UK and her work as a lecturer at Falmouth University.

(F.E.A.R.) is a one-man show about constructed fear that asks directly if the world wants us to feel safe. Written and performed by Gareth Clark, directed and developed by Agnieszka Blonska with choreography by Merega Palser (F.E.A.R.) is a brave, revealing and at times hilarious one-man tour of early child hood memories to midlife identity crisis delivered directly to the audience in a revealing and intimate manner. The work is supported by Chapter and toured the UK before a run at the Edinburgh Fringe this summer.

Mefisto at Teatr Powszechny premiered on 30 September to 4 star reviews and it is swiftly becoming a talking point in the Warsaw theatre scene. The show continues in rep and an English subtitled performance took place on the 9 November.

In other news Gwalt. Glosy (Rape. Voices) returned to Teatr Powszechny on the 28 - 29 October. This show, first developed in 2015, uses real life testimony of women who have experienced sexual violence to explore the experience of women in Poland today.

Earlier in November My Granddad was Digging, My Dad was Digging and I will not (which premiered at Gogol Fest in Ukraine in 2016), was performed at the Ukrainian Theatre Festival which took place at the Theatre Institute in Warsaw.

Work currently in development includes Polish Vermin, exploring our attitudes to the Brexit vote and what comes next for us all. It’s a piece being developed in Cornwall, a county that voted leave and Bristol, a city that voted remain. The exploration of the work was instigated and devised by three Polish artists who have made the UK their home, R&D sharings of Polish Vermin were presented in July 2017 at Bristol Ferment at the Arnolfini and the Newlyn Gallery & Exchange.