In his play The Death and Resurrection of My Parents’ World Within Me, the German writer Nis-Momme Stockmann combines poetic realism with the grotesque, metaphorically depicting individuals entangled in the soulless system which determines all aspects of their lives. The performance directed by Ewelina Marciniak illustrates the ugliness and cruelty of the world through insistent, oneirically absurd sequences of sentences and gestures. They seem to reflect the state of mind of the main character, the banker (Roman Gancarczyk), who had a nervous breakdown – and desperately tries to escape from his aimless existence.

This is the first Polish staging of the play by the 31-year-old Stockmann, who has already become a prominent figure in the German-speaking theatre. In the autumn of 2009, he took part in an informal meeting of Mitos:21 dramaturgs in the National Stary Theatre where he began writing a new play, based on which a workshop performance was made in the Theatre Museum. The world premiere of The Death and Resurrection of My Parents’ World Within Me (completed in 2011), directed by Lars-Ole Walburg, took place at Staatsschauspiel Hannover on 15 September 2012.

Roman Gancarczyk is phenomenal. Reminiscent of Jerzy Radziwiłowicz at his best, he lends colour to his drivel, to things he keeps repeating for no reason whatsoever. He portrays a broken man who wants to change, but is unable to break free from the shackles of his life. He is lost and cannot tell dreams from reality. Although Gancarczyk gives the best performance, the rest of the cast do not disappoint. An energetic whirlwind, Ewa Kolasińska is mesmerising in her frustration. Katarzyna Krzanowska sparkles as a woman seeking for affection.
Tomasz Kaczorowski, “Nowa Siła Krytyczna”