A family celebration doesn’t go quite as expected in mesmerizing Polish production of FESTEN at St. Ann’s
St. Ann’s Warehouse
38 Water St.
Through April 29, $55-$70
718-254-8779
www.stannswarehouse.org
www.trwarszawa.pl
Festen, a mesmerizing theatrical version of the very first Dogme 95 film, Thomas Vinterberg’s 1998 The Celebration, is a fitting final production at St. Ann’s Warehouse’s longtime space on Water St. in DUMBO. Adapted for the stage by Vinterberg and Mogens Rukov, Festen is set in a wealthy Danish family’s hotel, where friends and relatives have gathered to celebrate patriarch Helge’s (Jan Peszek) sixtieth birthday. But a shadow is cast over the festivities when one of his sons, Christian (Andrzej Chyra), calmly and matter-of-factly accuses Helge of having raped him and his twin sister when they were children. Christian’s brother, Michael (Marek Kalita), and sister, Helene (alternately portrayed by Danuta Stenka and Katarzyna Herman), assume that Christian is just being his dour self, making it all up, as the party continues. But as it becomes more likely that he is telling the truth, things take a turn for the worse. Director Grzegorz Jarzyna and his TR Warszawa company have transformed Festen into a multifaceted drama that incorporates elements of Chekhov and Shakespeare while adding existential staging. Jarzyna’s version doesn’t just follow the collapse of a family but evokes the fall of communism in late-twentieth-century Poland, depicting a generational battle that involves class warfare, European colonialism, and racism. In an odd pacing that ends up working well, the first act runs an hour and forty-five minutes, with the twenty-minute coda performed following intermission. A beguiling production filled with tasty little surprises, TR Warszawa’s Festen is well worth celebrating.