The Books of Jacob

Krzysztof Garbaczewski (b. 1983 in Białystok, Poland) Theatre director, author of adaptations serving as the basis of his so-called theatre installations, which combine performance, visual arts and music. His trademark collage/syncretic style, the use of video projections and live transmissions are related to our contemporary cyber-sensibility. Garbaczewski’s spectacles address the most important existential matters and search for liminal experiences. The director stages unobvious juxtapositions, for instance by situating the Romantic protagonists of Juliusz Słowacki’s Balladyna a genetics laboratory. He also confronts the question of contemporary Polish identity. A graduate of the Faculty of Theatre Directing and Dramaturgy at the Ludwik Solski State Theatre School in Cracow. Honoured with numerous awards, such as the “Passport” award of Polityka weekly. Krystian Lupa’s assistant in Factory 2 at the Helena Modrzejewska National Stary Theatre in Cracow (2008). He debuted with Elfriede Jelinek’s A Sport Play in Opole (2008). His adaptations include The Tibetan Book of the Dead (Polski Theatre in Wrocław, 2009) and Kronos by Witold Gombrowicz (Polski Theatre in Wrocław, 2013). Director of the spectacles Odyssey (Jan Kochanowski Theatre in Opole, 2009), The Sexual Life of Savages (Nowy Teatr in Warsaw, 2011), The Death Star (Jerzy Szaniawski Dramatic Theatre in Wałbrzych, 2010), Balladyna (Polish Theatre in Poznań, 2013) and The Sky of Stone Instead of Stars (Nowy Teatr in Warsaw, 2013). Often collaborates with Aleksandra Wasilkowska on stage design. Garbaczewski also staged Victory Over the Sun (Grand Theatre – National Opera, 2014), The Tempest (Polski Theatre in Wrocław, 2015) and Hamlet (Helena Modrzejewska National Stary Theatre in Cracow, 2015). In June 2016 Garbaczewski directed Robert Robur based on an unfinished novel by Mirosław Nahacz Robert Robur’s Incredible Adventures / Niezwykłe przygody Roberta Robura, published two years after the author’s death. Garbaczewski transfers dystopian reality, created by the writer to the world of media and virtual reality.  

This year, Garbaczewski staged Feast (Nowy Teatr in Warsaw). In 2017 he directed Plato’s “Symposium” at Nowy Theatre in Warsaw, Reymont’s “The Peasants” at Powszechny Theatre in Warsaw, and Wyspański’s “Liberation” at Studio Theatre in Warsaw. In 2018 he directed “Nietota” and “New Territory” at Powszechny Theatre in Warsaw. He also directed  “Miron Białoszewski/ Allen Ginsberg VR” in New York at The Performing Garage. In 2018 he also initiated an artistic collective Dream Adoption Society, an artistic collective based in Warsaw,  focused on virtual and augmented reality in the context of theater, performance and contemporary art exploring new technologies to create immersive, performative experiences.