Director Jerzy Zoń talks about the ULICA programme, the opening of a new venue and the future of KTO Theatre.

Justyna Skalska: The holiday season is coming, which in Kraków is always full of cultural events, and one of the most anticipated is the ULICA Festival organised by KTO Theatre. What form will the 34th edition take?

Jerzy Zoń: Last year, I wanted to show the viewers of ULICA the craziest, most amazing and weird things. We tend to forget that people have wanted to see unusual and shocking things for centuries: a headless woman, a tightrope walker, a fire eater. That’s why I called the previous edition of the festival “Bizarre Acts”. However, the strangest phenomenon in recent years arrived in the form of the pandemic. In the autumn we were able to complete half of the planned programme. The restrictions did not discourage the audience, and the performances we held in the open air enjoyed great popularity.

Unfortunately, since many artists were unable to come, especially from outside Poland, I decided to continue last year’s theme by calling the 34th ULICA “Bizarre Acts. Reactivation”. This year's festival will have two parts: summer (9–11 July) and autumn (4, 5 September). I should stress that this formula has already proven itself last year and that’s why we want to continue it.

What "strange" and interesting things can we find in the summer festival programme?

We are trying to present a rich programme despite this difficult time for us when some theatres, especially foreign ones, are unable to visit us due to various restrictions. Therefore, in July we are preparing a Polish edition, and in September we hope to welcome an international cast to Kraków.

In July, we will invite our regular guests, including HoM Theatre, Na Walizkach Theatre and Stage 96 Theatre with a performance for children. We will be showing a project by our younger colleagues from Migro Theatre: DROM – on the Paths of the Roma. The Biuro Podróży Theatre will present its latest “pandemic” play about love and longing, isolation and remoteness, namely Eurydice. There will also be stars such as Joan Catalá, an actor from Barcelona who creates wonderful performances with passers-by, and the German duo Merel Kamp and Jos van Wees whose light-hearted etude Springtime – suspended on two springs! – is a tragicomic love story. The festival will take place in five locations: traditionally the Main Market Square, the Small Market Square and the Podgórski Market Square, and – for the first time – in front of TAURON Arena Kraków and at the former hospital complex Wesoła where we will present performances including The Blind and The Scent of Time. Some shows will also travel to Gliwice and Tarnów.

That’s in the holidays – what about the autumn?

In September we are preparing a “champions league”. We have also invited the French group of jugglers, dancers and actors Bistaki, who will show that it is possible to make sensational street theatre using... shovels and corn kernels! There will also be an appearance by clown maestro Leo Bassi in a moving performance Me, Mussolini!, whose metaphor in the realities of contemporary Poland will be all too eloquent... We have a total of 70 performances ahead of us, and I hope all of Kraków’s residents and guests will join us!

When will KTO Theatre inaugurate its activities at its new home at Zamoyskiego Street?

The grand opening of the theatre will be held twice: on 6 and 7 September. It will be preceded, still as part of ULICA, by a truly “strange” event: cranes will be erected on both banks of the Vistula, between Kazimierz and Podgórze, with a 40-metre rope stretched between them. And the charismatic French acrobat Tatiana-Mosio Bongonga from the Basinga ensemble will walk on this very rope – without any protection! Her passage to the other side of the river will be symbolic for us – after all, Theatre KTO is also moving from the city centre to Podgórze...

A new location on the cultural map of Kraków also means new activities. What is KTO Theatre preparing for us?

With the motto “Małopolska – Poland – World”, from Tuesday to Saturday we want to present the highest quality performances, monodramas and dance shows from outside Kraków. My goal is to find and present exceptional performances without words: pantomimic, performative, universal, and understandable for all.

Sundays, on the other hand, will be fully dedicated to children. We will present beautiful and clever performances and workshops to introduce young viewers to important topics such as the suffering of our planet, tolerance and respect for difference. We will also host street activities and workshops, but I stress that we do not want to turn KTO Theatre into a cultural centre. I think theatre should stay theatre.

We also want to open up to the local community and take to the streets in our customary way. That’s why we will make the Podgórski Market Square our second stage. We are already planning two outdoor events: the Podgórze Theatre Parade in August, and the Podgórze New Year’s Eve Ball. In turn, during the workshops carried out as part of the “Four Shades of Theatre” project residents of the district – and others – will have the opportunity to learn about Lemko, Tatar and Roma cultures, understand reality faced by people with disabilities, and experience art through the prism of ecology and new technologies.

Is KTO Theatre about to become the Podgórski Theatre?!

I once met an artist who organised an International Neighbourhood Theatre in abandoned textile factories in Lille, France. I was intrigued by the complicated name. “It doesn't matter where we make art; it matters what we have to say through it,” he said. And that's what KTO Theatre is going to stick to.

Interviewed by Justyna Skalska

Jerzy Zoń – polish theatre director and actor, director and co-founder of the KTO Theatre, organizer of the ULICA Street Thetre Festival.