We give Ophelia back her voice so that she can express herself, not as we want to see her – all in white, submissive, floating like a great lily in her ecstatic death, but as a person destroyed in the power game which was never truly hers. A collateral damage one would say.

Maybe we will hear this voice coming from far, far away, asking if we agree to this quiet tragedy to continue or if now is the time for a change, for breaking the vicious circle, stopping the machine and ending the old order. Or maybe, following Müller’s vision in Hamletmachine, to wake up we need a return of Electra who, equipped with a butcher’s knife and poison will walk through our bedrooms. Hopefully, we can wake up before she does. Hopefully, it’s not too late to hear Ophelia’s voice, begging us for a better world.

The piece has been developed by a team led by Przemysław Błaszczak.

Grotowski Institute - Premiere November 2020 -

Gdansk International Shakespeare Festival 2020 -Winner of Shaking the walls Prize

Gdansk International Shakespeare Festival 2021 -Winner of Jury Prize  

Kontrapunkt Festival Szczecin 2021 - Winner of Audience vote 

Istanbul Fringe Festival 2022 

Teatro Español Madrid 2022

dir . Przemysław Błaszak

cast : Marie Walker, Kasia Stanskiewicz, Marta Horyza

Script, space and scenography concept, text Anita Szymańska, Marie Walker, Martine Vrieling van Tuijl 

Directing, project management, lighting concept: Przemysław Błaszczak

Implementation of lighting Dawid Ilczyszyn

Video projections Adrian Jackowski

"I Come to You River: Ophelia Fractured" is a re-telling of the story of Ophelia, giving her the voice of modern young women who search for the meaning behind this ‘romantic’ figure. We cast the light on her, making it fracture and reveal what is normally hidden in the shadows. We observe how her fractured image creates a space for the new meanings to emerge, observing how the cracks on her pale marble-like skin fill up with stories and images which speak to us – about us. They speak about love and loneliness, about depression, about a man and a woman, about family, about the system which, whether we want it or not, we all create.

Archived: I Come to You River: Ophelia Fractured