CHO­REA The­atre is a thri­ving, un­co­un­ta­ble and unpre­dic­ta­ble gro­up of ar­ti­sts, per­for­mers, mu­si­cians, dan­cers, ac­tors, prac­ti­tio­ners, the­atre and dra­ma the­ori­sts. They cre­ate in­ter­di­sci­pli­na­ry ar­ti­stic, edu­ca­tio­nal and so­cial pro­jects: con­certs, work­shops and per­for­man­ces. CHOREA Theatre em­ploy in­no­va­ti­ve, ori­gi­nal work me­thods, go­ing bey­ond the cul­tu­ral ma­in­stre­am. They di­rect their work, pro­jects, ac­tions and ac­ti­vi­ties to: adults, youth and chil­dren, tho­se who are re­gu­lar the­atre-go­ers, tho­se with li­mi­ted ac­cess to art, and tho­se lo­oking for al­ter­na­ti­ve cul­tu­ral in­i­tia­ti­ves.

“The Crack” is a performance created by the CHO­REA Theatre, based on the text of the Norwegian playwright Arne Lygre, translated by Elizabeth Frątczak Nowotny, and using fragments of poetic texts written by Rumi.

This is not a performance about refugees, who have suddenly lost the roofs over their heads and have to head out into the unknown. This is not a performance about those who do not know where they are going, but only where they came from. This is not a performance about people who have lost their loved ones, yet they still want to live. This is not a performance about those who are losing everything, yet still have hope that they will be able to start their lives anew.

“The Crack” is a performance about you – about us, who have roofs over our heads and plenty of food to eat, yet we still do not realize that we can lose it all, at any moment. That suddenly we can be thrown into the unknown, just because someone, without warning, might drop a bomb on our town, or poison our water, or decide that we do not have any rights to live in our city anymore. This performance is about our fears and about finding hope. And about the fact, that each one of us is, was, or one day will be a refugee, usually not by his own choice.

We read newspapers and watch the news every day. At times we feel like escaping to Noah’s ark, or at least to Nepal. But thanks to the work on this performance we feel less helpless in relation to the world which surrounds us (this may sound terribly naive, but it is how I feel). Maybe because the struggle with our own helplessness begins with talking about it, and not turning our eyes away from what is happening. We are looking for a crack, through which a stream of light could shine through, and for a chance to reach the other side of despair.

Six women and one man try to tell, through words, movement and singing, very ordinary stories of people who have lost everything, and have nothing left but hope. Hope, which sometimes turns into a survival instinct, and sometimes into an acceptance of its loss.

I hope that, thanks to our performance, despite the aggression and fear against OTHERS which is growing day by day, we will be able to see people in these others. People like us. When the demons are gone, maybe then the conversation will begin..

-Tomasz Rodowicz