Theatre can change a thousand lives: Stainiewski

As the fifth Delhi Ibsen Festival 2012 starts from Saturday, Polish director Wlodzimierz Staniewski speaks to TSI Online's  Arundhuti Banerjee on the power of theatre, Henreik Ibsen and directing a play in India.

Q: What was your first reaction when you received an invitation from ‘Delhi Ibsen Festival’?

TSI: I was intrigued and agitated. My mind whispered that don’t do it, it’s too risky, too many unknowns, too many unclear conditions. While my instincts whispered that do it! do it! You are in love with India, you like challenges and you like to bet everything on one card. I followed my instinct because it has rarely let me down.

You are directing Ibsen’s 'The Master Builder' with the theatre group 'Padatik' from Kolkata. How was the experience of working with them?

The 'Padatik' group is really a constellation of unusual people. They are practically on mission impossible with me and I highly appreciate it. Imagine! no more than three weeks to create a very, very complex performance with actors who have a lot of other obligations in a world where everything works in a totally different way. I was completely immersed in the play while directing it.

So, what different things you did while working with actors?

First of all, it’s only three weeks under these ‘make or  break’ conditions. I am trying of course to smuggle something of my work methodology, but to achieve this you need to put the actors through months of intensive training. Consequently, my ambitions are focused on retrieving from the actors their own potentials and energy. While at the same time I am trying to build a separate reality on the stage with actors, stage design, music and rhythm.

Have you made any changes to Ibsen's original text for the play?

I made a lot of cuts and drastic transformations for instance, changing long dialogues into monologues in order to expose characters’ emotions, obsessions and passions.

How strong medium theatre is to bring the change in society?

Theatre can totally change lives. Through my activity I know that more than one life was changed. If one life is changed or transformed, then it is easy to imagine that a hundred or thousand lives can be changed. From one to a thousand is not such a long way.

How does Henrik Ibsen's work inspire you as a director?

I can say that I am almost shocked that this old fashioned author inspired me so much. The world he portrays in his drama has many dimensions and it is a great area for today’s directors to explore.