“Warsaw 1944”, political theatre to fight against “the idiocy of the world”

“Warsaw 1944”: August 17, 24 and 31 at 4 p.m. at the MACBA (Museum of Contemporary Art of Buenos Aires): Av. San Juan 328, CABA

“Warsaw 1944 It is a work pocket”, dice Dennis Smith. An adaptation of Boys from Warsawreleased in 2022, within the framework of FIBA, at El Cultural San Martín. The cast at that time was larger and the production much larger. Both works, the big one and the pocketare based on a book by Ana Wajszczuk of the year 2017, whose full title is Warsaw Boys: A Daughter, a Father and the Traces of the Greatest Uprising Against the Nazis. Indeed, it is the story of Wajszczuk herself traveling with her father to trace her identity. The Warsaw Uprising was one of the most important resistance movements of the Second World War. It began on August 1, 1944, and two months later the Polish capital was razed to the ground by order of Hitler. There were only 150 survivors, some of whom arrived in Argentina at the end of that decade. These days, Warsaw 1944 It can be seen at the MACBA (Museum of Contemporary Art of Buenos Aires) on Saturdays August 17, 24 and 31.

But the story begins in a Starbucks, in 2015, when Wajszczuk interviewed director Smith for GQ Latinoamérica. Two coffees, a tape recorder in the middle and the theatre talk opened up to a confidence because she, at one point, told him that she had written an article about the Warsaw massacre and that she was going to travel with her father to Poland to unravel all that: a family history, the insurgency of the Poles, an investigation that would slowly become a book. Indeed, two years after that coffee, in 2017, it was published by Editorial Sudamericana. The following year, Wajszczuk goes to the theatre to see She and Iof Dennis Smithstarring Laura OliveHe approaches them and gives them each a book. They both read it in the silence of their respective homes and a few days later, chatting about things, so many things, life, also drinking coffee, they said they had finished it. They looked at each other and, complicit, said: “we have to do it.”

When Dennis Smith The boy appears on the screen, his face slowly brightening. The midday sun shines strongly through a large window. He is sitting cross-legged and a small dog is playing with him. It belongs to his parents, and he was temporarily left in their care. There is also a 6-year-old girl in the room, Isa, his niece. For her sake, he tries to be careful with the tone of his words, to avoid insults, swearing, that sort of thing. “There is censorship here,” he says and laughs. The girl doesn’t; she is immersed in her role. Dennis Smith He was born in Madrid and moved to Argentina with his family at the age of three. He settled in Spain a while ago, although he comes back often. “When I come here, I come to work,” he says. He always downplayed the change—the temperature, the seasonal gap—but not this time: last week he had a fever for four days. “Over there, in Spain, I have a much more routine of writing. I give singing lessons too. And I’m married and have a dog. In reality, that’s basically why I left.”

“I consider myself a child of disappointment,” says Smith, “my proselytism is to be”

“When I come here, things start to take shape for me. Now, for example, I came for five months because I’m going to do a play at the San Martín, which is directed by Alfredo Ariaswhich is the new work of Yasmina Reza“. Is called James Brown used curlers. “And I also come to do a work of mine that is very similar to the story in the book of Leila Warrior, The Call: A woman considered a traitor by Montoneros, who became the second official of the organization, which was a bunch. For the first time in her life this woman is going to speak after forty years, because her son knew nothing. For both sides she is like an outcast. She told me that the few times she crossed paths with former colleagues they slandered her from top to bottom and for many years she was afraid. In fact, we all do the play under pseudonyms, because she is afraid; especially at this time, it is not illogical. It will premiere in October at the FIBA. It is called My previous life.

The play was supposed to premiere in February, but since the FIBA ​​was postponed to October, the premiere was also postponed. At that time, they held an intimate performance for her, the woman on whom the play is based, and her closest friends. “There were about forty of them: they came from everywhere, all exiled, to hear her story.” The story is very hard because it mixes politics and intimacy; she wrote it Teresa Donato. “It seems that the Tiger Acosta He invented a whole program to reconvert the Montoneras, so they selected a couple from each camp, changed their clothes, made them dress more femininely and then assigned them a guy to start picking them up and that’s why they believed they were being transformed and said they were dating them. And many of them believed they were deciding it. The woman never wanted to give testimony. And we’re going to do it at El Cultural San Martín, where the Conadep operated, in Room B,” he says enthusiastically.

The cast includes Laura Oliva, Cristina Dramisino, Carolina Kopelioff and Dennis Smith himself, who also adapted the novel by Ana Wajszczuk, who directed the play and who composed the original music.

We return to Warsaw 1944: premiered last Saturday and continues on August 17, 24 and 31. “The other, Boys from Warsawit was like a more spectacular bet if you want, much bigger. Originally we wanted it to be a small and intimate thing, but you see how things are, they happen and suddenly they take you away. But this time we said no and we tried to make a more pocketwhich will help us to continue doing it. Because they had offered us to go to the Metropolitan, but with me, living abroad, it is not easy. I mean, the theater needs a lot of the body, to be feeling, to harangue, to do everything. And the truth is that it was left in a drawer. For two years, the play had twice as many tickets as we had planned the last time. Now, for example, it is practically sold out, you see? It is unbelievable. Something is happening with this play that surprises me. This new version is more testimonial.”

In the cast are Laura Oliva, Cristina Dramisino, Carolina Kopelioff and his own Smithwho is also the one who adapted the novel Ana Wajszczukwho directs the play and who composed the original music. The play lasts less than an hour: fifty minutes. The protagonist is called Ana and when her grandfather dies she decides to reconstruct her family history to tell her mother, like a bedtime story in reverse, who her heroic ancestors were: the children who led the bloodiest uprising against the Nazi occupation during World War II, the boys of Warsaw. “What I always wanted with the book is for it to reach Poland, to be translated into English because there are many Poles in England,” she said. Wajszczuk: “This play is, in a way, a translation: the theatre is. Have you seen those stories where the genie grants wishes? It was a surprise and I am very happy that it has been translated into the language of theatre.”

“What can theatre be used for? To generate more empathy: the possibility of putting oneself in the shoes of another and opening up to dialogue. In a country like ours, that’s a lot,” says Smith.

Both Warsaw 1944 as My previous life They are political works. Political theatre. What does it mean to bring these kinds of themes, discussions, and vehemence to the stage? “I grew up with the Menem era, and I never recovered from that,” Smith begins his response. “I had a certain romance, we could say, with some ideologies as a result of same-sex marriage. I consider myself a child of disappointment. My proselytism is to be. And what I know is that violence is never the way. It is sad to see that the possibility of dialogue is being lost, that we are very undemocratic. It is sad to see how the lives of others are not respected, that there are no nuances, that there are no grey colours. Furthermore, one is not one’s ideas. One is one, one is a body, one is a life. What one thinks is debated, it can even be changed. Thinking differently does not mean being an idiot or being a jerk. Although it must also be said: the world is heading towards idiocy,” he adds.

In Spain, where he lives, “there is everything, but I don’t feel that people are so black and white.” “Unlike Argentina, in Spain there has never been a reflection on the dark years. The same thing happens with Chilean society. There is something very pedagogical in justice and that then trickles down to the people,” he adds. “I come from a very skeptical generation, also with theater. Because if theater ever set out to change the world… well, it failed. But the more you stay with the idea of ​​that failure, the more it is possible to generate change. What can theater serve? To generate more empathy: the possibility of putting yourself in someone else’s shoes and opening up to dialogue. In a country like ours, it is a lot. But if I do something like that, I will try to make a difference. Celine Dion It’s not that I want everyone to be Celine Dion, and if I do the montonera thing it’s not that I want everyone to be a montonero. What I want, in short, is for people to open their minds a little bit.”

* Warsaw 1944: Saturdays 17, 24 and 31 August at 4 pm at MACBA (Museum of Contemporary Art of Buenos Aires, Av. San Juan 328, CABA).