Quanta
Dramaturgical introduction
Subtitles in Czech and English language
Suitable for the deaf.
Dramaturgical introduction 30 min before the performance.
The show uses a strobe light, loud music and there is smoking on stage.
Possibility to obtain a quantity discount of -25%.
Regular NdB discounts can be applied to tickets.
The discount for seniors is 30%.
The discount for disabled persons and students is 50%. Discounts are not to be combined.
Łukasz Twarkowski, Poland’s hottest theatre-maker, presents Quanta, the first part of his trilogy about science. Against the backdrop of two world wars, he shows how quantum physics revolutionized our perception of reality. Twarkowski focuses on the human stories of scientists like Schrödinger, Heisenberg, Einstein, and Bohr, connecting their conflicts to our contemporary search for truth.
Quanta takes the audience back to 1938, to a remote hotel in the Swiss Alps. Among the guests is Werner Heisenberg, discoverer of the uncertainty principle. Space and time begin to distort, as memories and biographies intertwine. The world seems to lose its framework, and the audience is drawn into a mosaic of interconnected stories and events.
“When we examine the quantum discoveries, we find an entirely new universe opening to us, one mostly based on probability. Such notions as the uncertainty principle and superposition may most probably grasp the complexity of our lives more accurately, at the same time liberating us from the Newtonian conviction that we will be able to control reality through calculations,” says Twarkowski about his source of inspiration.
Twarkowski’s visual and narrative talent is further amplified by collaborations with set designer Fabien Leden, costume designer Svenja Gassen, choreographer Paweł Sakowicz, composer Lubomir Grzelak, and video artist Jakub Lech. The result is a spectacular and immersive theatrical experience where the boundaries between reality and imagination blur. Prepare for an intriguing journey through science, philosophy, and the human drive for understanding where nothing is as it seems.
*The term “quantum” (pl. quanta) means the smallest possible, further indivisible amount: it denotes the very foundations of all material existence. The human life consists of quanta of events; they create meaning only when in a sequence — only within the framework of time and space can we understand our lives as comprehensive stories. But what happens when even the most fundamental quantities cease to play by the rules as we’re used to?
Co-produced by: Onassis Culture, Athens (Greece), DE SINGEL (Belgium), International Theatre Festival “Divine Comedy” (Poland), National Theatre Brno (Czech Republic), Adam Mickiewicz Institute (Poland)
Director: Lukasz Twarkowski
Dramaturgy: Joanna Bednarczyk
Set design: Fabien Lédé
Costumes: Svenja Gassen
Video designer: Jakub Lech
Music: Lubomir Grzelak
Light design: Eugenijus Sabaliauskas
Choreography: Paweł Sakowicz
Assistant director: Bartė Liagaitė
Assistant costume designer: Pijus Dulskis
Assistant dramaturgy: Simona Jurkuvénaitė
Production: Vidas Bizunevičius, Kamilė Žičkytė, Lukrecija Gužauskaitė
Cast: Marius Čižauskas, Algirdas Dainavičius, Airida Gintautaitė, Martynas Nedzinskas, Gediminas Rimeika, Rytis Saladžius, Rasa Samuolytė, Nelė Savičenko, Vainius Sodeika, Rimantė Valiukaitė, Arūnas Vozbutas, Aistė Zabotkaitė
Łukasz Twarkowski
In his work, the Polish director Łukasz Twarkowski (born in 1983) combines theatre with visual art — as a rule, his shows and performances are enhanced by the use of various intermedia approaches. Aiming to achieve a complex portrayal of the multi-layeredness of life in the 21st century, he looks for inspiration in art, cinema, and electronic music, chiefly that of so-called rave culture. At the centre of his distinctive personal technique lies the exploration of the possibilities (as well as the search for the limits) of theatre as means of communication. Tearing down traditional modes of narration, he’s become a stark enemy of convention. His unique stage language allows the audience to take an active part in each of his productions.
Twarkowski’s first project with the Lithuanian National Drama Theatre, Lokis (2017), won four Golden Stage Crosses (the highest Lithuanian theatre award) and became a hit; his second show at the same theatre, Respublika (2020), was co-produced together with Münchner Kammerspiele. Another co-production of his, Rothko (2022), emerged in Riga, and received 11 nominations for the Latvian Spēlmaņu nakts theatre awards. The intimate sci-fi drama Employees (2023) — for which he returned to work in Poland after seven years abroad — was presented to the Czech audience at last year’s Theatre World Brno festival.
