Janusz Klimsza: It is human nature to want to live well and to put in as little effort as possible to achieve that.

An experiment is a journey into the unknown

Veronika Onheiserová: Janusz, as a director and actor, you have strong roots in Ostrava, or perhaps more specifically between Silesia and Poland. At the same time, as a creator, you have traveled all over the country, but this is your first time working at the Husa na provázku Theater. What do you think makes Provázek so special?

Janusz Klimsza: As a teenager who did authorial theatre at high school, I naturally had my role models. Provázek was the unattainable peak, something like seventh heaven. The specific nature of Provázek today is probably that it is the heir to that top-class theatre behind the Iron Curtain. It is a brand that is a piece of theater history. In addition to the performances, the audience also felt the breath of freedom, which was rare in those days. There were only a few similar ensembles in the countries of the former Soviet bloc. All of them had an uncompromising view of the events around them and all spoke in a completely unique, autonomous language. I think this is still true today. Provázek is a theater with an opinion on sensitive issues and an unmistakable language.

Recently, you have mainly directed in large established theatres. How does your work differ when you create on one of the stages of the Center for Experimental Theatre?

Here I would like to mention one telling fact: the first material I received from the theater was a kind of preamble (Addendum on Fear, ed.), which states that the process of searching is fundamental, that it includes the right to wander, or even to make mistakes, and that under no circumstances should we condemn or disparage either the wandering or the space it has led us to. An experiment is a journey into the unknown. In the literal sense: trying things out. By their very nature, large theaters are primarily focused on results.

First read-through of the production Satan in Goray
Photo: Jakub Šnajdr

Singer – writer of a vanished world?

In the novel Satan in Goray by Jewish-American writer I. B. Singer, we witness the development of a community manipulated by fear. What historical events inspired Singer while writing? What led him to write this work?

We can speculate on how he perceived the growing waves of anti-Semitism in neighboring Germany. Singer wrote his first novel in Warsaw, where it was also published in 1935. That was the year the Nuremberg Laws came into force in Germany, which may have revived the spirit of the 17th-century pogroms in Ukraine with which the novel begins. It was also the year Singer emigrated to America. However, the idea of a messiah who appears at the worst possible time and turns existing laws and traditions upside down was and is still alive. Those were bad times, and things were getting worse. This was probably another reason why Singer chose the story of Sabbatai Zevi, the false messiah from the second half of the 17th century.

Do you see any parallels between the events in the novel and today?

First of all, we are witnessing a bloody war in Ukraine today. Even today, we hear promises from all sides from people who will supposedly ensure a comfortable future for us, without any obligations or effort on our part. They promise a radical change, for the better, of course. The transformation of life is to be immediate, definitive, and thoroughly pleasant. And someone else is supposed to ensure it. We are only supposed to watch and collect bonuses. I remember the first wave of privatization in the 1990s, those miraculous funds that promised incredible returns on deposits. The number of people who fell for it was proportional to the absurdity of those promises. It is human nature to want to live well and to make as little effort as possible to achieve it.

First read-through of the production Satan in Goray
Photo: Jakub Šnajdr

You can read more in the printed version of the program for the production of Satan in Goraj.

The premiere of the production takes place on January 30, 2026, at the Husa na provázku Theater.