Performance “Conference of the Birds” | Poland
Creators: CHOREA Theatre
Text: Based on Fariduddin Attar’s poem “The Conference of the Birds” and the play “The Conference of the Birds” by Peter Brook and Jean-Claude Carrière, translated by Mariusz Radomyski and Robert Urbański
Direction: Łukasz Kos
Music: Maciej Maciaszek
Stage design, costumes: Paweł Walicki
Visuals, live camera: Kamil Wallace Walesiak
Lighting: Tomasz Krukowski
Sound design: Hubert Żurawski
Cast: Janusz Adam Biedrzycki, Joanna Chmielecka, Łukasz Kos, Małgorzata Lipczyńska, Maciej Maciaszek, Tomasz Rodowicz, Paweł Smagała, Kamil Wallace Walesiak
Poster: Kamil Rekosz
Photos: Bartosz Ciechanowicz
Producers: Zofia Kędra, Anna Maszewska
Production: CHOREA Theatre
Premiere: July 11, 2026
Date: August 20, 2026 | Thursday
Date: August 21, 2026 | Friday
Time: 6 pm
Place: Stage, Art Factory in Łódź, 3 Tymienieckiego Street
Tickets: 25 PLN - industry | 40 PLN - early bird | 50 PLN - reduced | 70 PLN - regular
Early bird tickets: on sale from June 23, 2026 until July 7, 2026 or until they are sold out | via biletomat.pl portal | online payment
Regular and reduced tickets: on sale from July 8, 2026 until they are sold out | via biletomat.pl portal | online payment
Industry tickets: for cultural workers, on sale one hour before the selected event, at the Festival Office | cash or contactless card payment | booking: from June 23, 2026, by mail:biuro@retroperspektywy.com
Duration: 100 minutes
Age restrictions: 14+
Language: Polish
Content warning: Smoke and scent effects (incense, Palo Santo, sage) are used during the performance; if you are sensitive to strong smells or smoke, please be cautious; if you have any concerns, please speak to a member of staff before entering the theatre auditorium
Performance on August 21, will be interpreted into Polish Sign Language (PJM).
After the performance, on August 21, around 8 pm, we invite the viewers to a meeting and discussion with the artists.
The discussion will take place in the Glass Hall of the Art Factory in Łódź.
The discussion will be led by Tomasz Domagała.
The discussion will be held in Polish.
The discussion will be interpreted into Polish Sign Language (PJM).
DESCRIPTION OF THE PERFORMANCE
What makes us set out on a journey, even though we don’t know where it will take us?
Or perhaps it’s not about the destination. It’s about who we become along the way.
“Conference of the Birds” is another collaboration between the artists of CHOREA Theatre and director Łukasz Kos. This time, the creators draw upon the 12th-century poem by Fariduddin Attar, one of the most important works of Sufi literature. The collision of the director’s distinctive style with the uniqueness of the text, combined with CHOREA’s methods and sensibility, creates a unique artistic quality achievable only through this collaborative encounter.
The initial news of the discovery of a feather belonging to the mythical winged-king Simorgh becomes, for the protagonists, the Birds, an impulse to attempt a journey aimed at meeting this legendary ruler.
The story, described as a masterpiece of mystical literature, was adapted for theatre in the 1970s by Peter Brook. It is a dialogue on humanism that transcends cultural, religious, and historical differences. The message takes on special significance in today’s world, full of chaos and conflict. It is an attempt to inspire hope for finding unity and shared values in a stratifying and polarizing world, through the individual transformation of each and every person.
This is the second theatrical production of this poem in the history of Polish theatre.
INFORMATION ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Łukasz Kos - theatre director and actor. Born in 1970 in Warsaw. At the age of 10, he started to write theatre plays and decided to become a director. A student of the Theatre Studies Department of The Aleksander Zelwerowicz National Academy of Dramatic Art in Warsaw. In 1999 he graduated from the Faculty of Drama Directing at the AST National Academy of Theatre Art in Kraków. He also graduated from the Andrzej Wajda Master School of Film Directing. Łukasz Kos has directed over 50 theatre, opera and music productions. During his studies he became an assistant to Maja Komorowska, Rudolf Zioło and Andrzej Wajda. Between the years 1989-1992 he toured with the private Kici-Koci Theatre of Zbigniew Mich and Wojciech Królikiewicz around Poland. He cooperated with the following theatres: Teatr Nowy in Łódź, Teatr Powszechny in Warsaw, Teatr Polski in Wrocław, Teatr Rozmaitości in Warsaw, Teatr Narodowy in Warsaw, Teatr Studyjny in Łódź, Teatr Polonia in Warsaw, Teatr Rozrywki in Chorzów, Teatr Wielki - Opera Narodowa in Warsaw, Teatr Norwida in Jelenia Góra, Och-Teatr in Warsaw, Teatr IMKA in Warsaw, Teatr Zagłębia in Sosnowiec. He is a member of Teatro Tatro, Slovakia.
Paweł Walicki - Polish set designer, director, and artist specializing in animated film and theatrical set design. He is a graduate of the Academy of Fine Arts in Poznań, where he studied painting and animated film, as well as set design at the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków under the supervision of Prof. Andrzej Kreutz Majewski. His thesis project and directorial debut was the animated film “Joan Miró.” Walicki has designed sets for numerous theatre and television projects, including the educational program “Z-Grana chata” and the musical “Miss Saigon” at the Roma Musical Theater. He also designed the sets for “Swan Lake” at the Grand Theatre - National Opera and worked on productions at the Stefan Jaracz Theatre in Olsztyn.
Maciej Maciaszek - unconventional trumpeter, singer, musician, self-taught composer, actor. He began his musical education in the Grójec Fire Brigade Orchestra. However, it was not the solemn marches that captured him, but Jazz, whose theory he began to secretly explore. As a would-be Polish and Indian philologist, he dropped out of college just to jump on alternative musical toplists by performing music from a few thousand years ago, along with the musical formation 'The Ancient Orchestra'. He became an actor when it turned out that 'The Ancient Orchestra' music group was in fact a camouflaged theatre collective. In the newly formed CHOREA Theatre Association as an actor, musician and composer, he insistently tried to smuggle the themes and threads of the so-called entertainment music, to ultimately contribute to the creation of a subversive project 'Antiquity/Trans/Formation'. As he does not go to the church nor the Philharmonics, in the 'Oratory Dance Project', as a composer, he became a representative of the excluded cultures from before Christ and Bach. He still hopes that it is possible to civilise a barbarian... or maybe to barbarise the civil?
CHOREA Theatre - a thriving, uncountable and unpredictable group of artists, performers, musicians, dancers, actors, practitioners, theatre and drama theorists. They create interdisciplinary artistic, educational and social projects: concerts, workshops and performances. They employ innovative, original work methods, going beyond the cultural mainstream. They direct their work, projects, actions and activities to adults, youth and children, those who are regular theatre-goers, those with limited access to art, and those looking for alternative cultural initiatives. They put emphasis on team-building, joint cooperation, partnership, group dynamics, interrelations, the awareness of body, voice and musicality in their work. The group has developed its own training technique, which involves working with the body, voice, and rhythm, as well as working with a partner and in a group. A key aspect of CHOREA’s method is teamwork - the ability to collaborate in a laboratory-like setting - while ensuring that the group's interest does not overshadow an individual's uniqueness. The aim of the method is to explore the substance of movement, sound, and word, combined into an integral whole, by breaking away from traditional ways of illustrating their mutual relationships, and awakening the entire body through intense training to create a stage presence that reconnects all these elements. CHOREA collaborates with many groups and artists from Poland and around the world. The theatre has produced dozens of performances and concerts. CHOREA works with many individual, experienced and renowned artists, as well as with amateurs, students, volunteers, people full of curiosity about the world, seekers, and active individuals. Under the theatre's umbrella operates: the Intergenerational Theatre Group, and the Youth and Children's Theatre Groups. The group regularly conducts a series of theatre and music workshops in Poland and around the world. Since 2010, CHOREA has been organising the International Theatre Festival “Retroperspektywy” (“Retrospectives”). In 2015, the theatre released the album “Lulabajki” (“Lullabies”) with music for both children and adults. In 2016, in collaboration with the Film School in Łódź and the National Institute of Music and Dance in Warsaw, CHOREA created the handbook “Actors' physical training. From individual to group actions”. In 2020, CHOREA Theatre held the online premiere of the album “Gilgamesz”, featuring music by Tomasz Krzyżanowski. In 2023, CHOREA recorded the album “Livet” (“Life”), a contemporary suite for the Earth, composed and arranged by Piotr Klimek, inspired by traditional songs from Bulgaria, Ukraine, Poland, and Norway.
