J. M. Coetzee “Elizabeth Costello. Seven Lectures and Five Moral Tales”

A great among the greats, there are few awards that this theatre director has not won. Krzysztof Warlikowski is the founder of the Nowy Teatr in Warsaw, a theatre that has survived Poland’s illiberal regime largely because it depends on the capital’s city council. In 2021, he won the Golden Lion at the Venice Biennale for his particularly innovative theatrical productions, ranging from Greek tragedies performed in the most subversive manner to Tony Kushner’s Angels in America, black comedies by Israeli playwright Hanoch Levin, and major opera productions including Mozart’s Don Giovanni and Gluck’s Alceste, with the latter inspired by Lady Di. This time Warlikowski takes on a novel by a South African-born, Australian-naturalised author, consisting of several lessons and an epilogue. All feature an elderly Australian author as their protagonist, a fictional character called Elizabeth Costello, who appears not only in this novel but also in other works by the author and, curiously, is mentioned by name or referred to by other characters in five of Warlikowski’s productions. The writer, serving as a kind of alter ego for Coetzee, travels the world giving talks in various countries. In these lectures, she discusses philosophy, the environment, and social and existential issues, appealing to our consciences by drawing attention to the fate of animals, social injustice, and the exclusion of the elderly and infirm.

This stage director was born in 1962 in Poland and received training from European theatre luminaries such as Krystian Lupa, Peter Brook, Ingmar Bergman and Giorgio Strehler. He made his debut at Barcelona’s Grec Festival with Elisabeth Costello.

A production by the Nowy Teatr of Warsaw.

Co-produced by Schauspiel Stuttgart, Théâtre de Liège, La Colline – théâtre national, Paris, and the Athens Epidaurus Festival.

Partners: Kinoteka, IAM, Culture.pl, Institut Français

Co-financed by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage through the Cultural Promotion Fund, a state special purpose fund

Nowy Teatr is financed by the City of Warsaw