Teatr A Part is an auteur theatre company founded by director Marcin Herich in 2004 in Katowice, presenting stage performances, site-specific activities, and outdoor performances. Teatr A Part is a theatre of the body, movement, form, and visual narrative. A Part’s performances have been presented in over 30 countries on five continents.
“Panic Duet”)” is a benefit performance for two Teatr A Part actors and co-authors of many of its productions, the artistic couple Natalia and Cezary Kruszyn. The performance is a playful summary of their shared journey, as well as a theatrical reflection on aging and the passage of time.
The epithet “panic” in the title of the performance highlights an important area of inspiration and references, both aesthetic and semantic, contained within the piece. This refers to the Parisian post-surrealist panic movement, a radical artistic group inspired by the “anti-style” movement, whose name alluded to the Greek god Pan, a violent and wild man from Arcadia (also identified with the Satyr). The etymology of the word “panic” derives from Pan and the emotions that accompanied mortals’ encounters with the god. This perfectly captures the states and emotions that accompany aging and the “menopause” (menopause, andropause). In this context, panic is a fear of infirmity, ugliness, illness, and death – a fear of violence against one’s self-image and loss of oneself. On the other hand, the word “panic” and its heightened signifier are also synonymous with stage fright.
The Panic Movement, active in Paris in the 1960s, was co-founded by Roland Topor, Alejandro Jodorowski, Fernando Arrabal, and Jacques Sternberg, who chose Luis Buñuel and Antoine Artaud as their patrons. The Panic Movement, somewhat forgotten today, was one of the most expressive manifestations of its time—the era of counterculture and the new avant-garde, of freedom of thought, life, and art. We are inspired by it, evoke it, and remember it.
Solo for Two—The Panic Duet. Confusion, uncertainty, noise, paroxysm, paradox, fear—accompany life, every life from beginning to end. In their unique, distinct, violent manifestations, they are well known to all artists.* They are an indispensable part of the creative process, interwoven with it, unloved and unwanted. In the Panic Duet, they become the co-protagonist of the performance, emanating a surreal power.
*Here we explain: if you don’t feel these emotions and don’t go through these states while creating, you’re not an artist, not at all.
Script, direction, spatial design, lighting: Marcin Herich
Script collaboration, stars: Natalia Kruszyna and Cezary Kruszyna
Technical collaboration: Cezary Kruszyna
Music: Angel, Armando Trovajoli, Johann Sebastian Bach, Fetish Park, Ludovico Einaudi, Marcin Wasilewski Trio, Paul Schütze, Social Interior, Stavroz, Vasily “Mushroomer” Kashnikov, and James Q. “Spider” Rich and Boots Randolph
The dialogues and monologues in the performance are improvised by the actors.
The performance uses quotes from the writings and statements of Zdzisław Beksiński, Jan Sztandynger, Mark Twain, Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz, and Stanisław Wyspiański. The performance uses excerpts from the recording of the happening “Teatro Sin Fin” (also known as “Melodrama Sacramental”) featuring Alejandro Jodorowski, presented at the Paris Festival of Free Expression in May 1965.
Premiere: December 2025
Duration: 80 minutes
+18
The performance contains full nudity and graphic cinematic images.
Reservations and tickets by email: rezerwacjeapart [at] wp [dot] pl.
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