Mother Makryna

DESCRIPTION OF THE PERFORMANCE:

The performance is based on a poem by Juliusz Słowacki "Conversation with Mother Makryna Mieczysławska" and book by Jacek Dehnel "Matka Makryna".

In the nineteenth century, a dozen years after the fall of the November Uprising, sister Makryna Mieczysławska was considered the personification of the martyrdom of Poland. She was worshiped by all the romantic bards: Krasiński, Mickiewicz, Norwid and Słowacki. The story of a runaway, unified nun from Minsk persecuted by Orthodox clergy, became a sensation in Paris and Rome. Pope Gregory XVI himself listened to her story, and Adam Mickiewicz returned to the Church with her encouragement. A refugee from Tsarist Russia, called a miracle-worker and a saint during her lifetime, became a prioress of the newly established Order, for which the monastery in the Eternal City was funded by Polish Great Emigration.

After many years it turned out that Mother Makryna was actually called Irina Wińczowa. She was never a nun, and the traces of her "martyrdom" are a reminder of her husband: an addict of alcohol, a violent officer of the tsarist army. In the convent she was just a minister - a lay person who helped in giving out meals.

INFORMATION ABOUT THE ARTIST:

Irena Jun - actress and director, one of the world's greatest performers of the Beckettian roles, lecturer at the National Academy of Dramatic Art in Warsaw. In 1958, she graduated from the Faculty of Acting of the AST National Academy of Theatre Arts in Krakow. She has appeared in theaters all over Poland, but she is most connected with Warsaw. She is a part of Studio Theatre team since every beginning. She played in the majority of her directors' performances: Józef Szajna and Jerzy Grzegorzewski. In the eighties, she became famous as the author of outstanding roles in the performances of Antoni Libera based on the texts of Samuel Beckett.She played Woman 2 in "Comedy" (1985) and Nell in "Końcówka" (1986) with Tadeusz Łomnicki, but her greatest achievement was three Beckett monologues: "Not I", "Footfalls", and "Rockaby" from 1985. She also performed with such directors as Mariusz Treliński, Piotr Cieplak, Oskaras Koršunovas, Grzegorz Wiśniewski and Agnieszka Glińska. In Studio, she also directed her own performances: Biesiada u hrabiny Kotłubaj', “Filozofia po góralsku” and 'Oniegin'.
Currently, she can be seen, among others, in Radoslaw Rychcik's "Ripley Under the Ground". As a master of words she is also the author of many monodrams, intimate performances and poetry evenings, which Irena Jun organizes in her One-man Theater of Poetry. Her repertoire includes works by Mickiewicz, Gombrowicz, Miłosz, Szymborska and Rymkiewicz. In 2008 she received the Gold Medal for Merit to Culture Gloria Artis.

REVIEWS: 

'An evening with Irena Jun is a performance that every young actor should see. Of course, the actress is assisted by the very starting material - Słowacki's poem and Dehnel's book about a woman, who in the nineteenth century had masqueraded as a nun who wore martyr's wounds. Her story was believed by Great Emigration, all Polish Bards and even Pope Gregory XVI himself. When it is needed Jun can be hilarious, but it is not an easy kind of humour. She is also not ruthless towards her heroine – thanks to Jun we not only try to understand Makryna, but often keep our fingers crossed for her.'
(“Matka nie-Polka”, Marcin Pieszczyk, Wprost)

LINKS:

• www.teatrstudio.pl/spektakl/matka-makryna