Show of the micro-musical titled “A Hug Promotion”. Photo: Joanna Biesiaga
A new cycle of events in the Syrena Theatre. Its aim is to workshop a selected topic. We will be inviting artists who are not part of the mainstream of Polish musicals and music theatre scene.
During the course of the project, participants will spend several days working on a short musical (15–30 minutes) to be presented in the Syrena Theatre. These micro-musical forms can later become a basis for further work on the topic or a completed work, although this is not the basic aim – what is more important is to try out the musical potential of a given topic, or a given team of creators. Equally important is providing the invited artists with an open creative atmosphere and possibility to freely experiment with the musical and theatrical form.
1. Edition
“A Hug Promotion”
Creative team of the micro-musical “A Hug Promotion”
Direction and choreography: Tobiasz Sebastian Berg
Music: Dawid Majewski
Screenplay and dramaturgy: Ewa Mikuła
Dramaturgy and director’s assistant: Lucy Sosnowska
Consultations: Oktawia Kromer
Space and light direction: Klaudia Kasperska
Costumes: Edyta Jermacz
Cast: Małgorzata Kowalska (Hugger), Anna Andrzejewska (Skin), Weronika Łukaszewska (Ania), Bartosz Witkowski (Widower), Hubert Konieczny (Łukasz)
Premiere: June 18, 2023
Is it possible to replace contact with another human with something else in our current era characterized by individualism, the continuous pursuit of personal ambitions, and the dynamic development of technologies? This is the topic explored by the creators of the “A Hug Promotion”, the first micro-musical. It was inspired by the book by Oktawia Kromer, “A Strictly Platonic Service. How Loneliness Become a Business”, written about the phenomenon of professional hugging.
“Hugging”, which began in the United States but is also practiced in Poland, is a paid service that offers hugs for clients. Sessions have a number of restrictions, and the most important is their platonic nature. Inspired by the phenomenon, perceived as an example of the commercialization of one of the most intimate and tender interpersonal activities, the creative team wanted to explore the condition of loneliness in contemporary society. The project combined words and movement using the convention of musical theatre, presenting monologues written in musical form.
