How many times can you go through the same breakup? At Malta Festival, we invite you to experience a unique theatrical event. The Second Woman, a 24-hour performance – after acclaimed runs in London, New York, and Vienna – comes to Poland for the first time, in a new version developed locally and starring Magdalena Cielecka.

The Malta Festival programme is designed to guide us towards balance -one that grows out of a deeper understanding of one another. “The Second Woman” – a compelling theatrical marathon built on repeated patterns, each time unfolding with new emotions and intentions — becomes a powerful study in attentiveness, as well as a panorama of masculinities we all too rarely consider through an empathetic lens. I am glad that Malta will become a space for this opportunity, says Dominika Kulczyk, patron of the festival.

Imagine a single scene. A brief encounter between two people at an emotional turning point. Now imagine that same scene repeated one hundred times – each time with a different partner. For 24 hours, without interruption, Magdalena Cielecka returns to that same moment. Each encounter lasts around ten minutes. There are no rehearsals, no prior arrangements – only a starting point and whatever unfolds between two people, here and now. At the key moment, the partner must make a choice: to say: “I have always loved you” or “I have never loved you.” That single line changes everything, every time.

You see everything. The camera captures the details – glances, hesitations, subtle gestures – while you watch the same situation shift and reconfigure again and again. Repetition does not lead to routine, but to tension. Each iteration brings new emotions, new dynamics, new meanings. You can enter at any moment, stay for a single scene or for several hours. Come back. Compare. Watch how the rhythm changes, how the actress changes, how the people beside her change.

This Polish edition is created especially for Malta Festival. On stage, alongside Magdalena Cielecka, there will be 100 participants selected through an open call. No acting experience is required – what matters is the willingness to step into a brief, intense encounter. The project by Nat Randall and Anna Breckon has been presented at venues including Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York, Holland Festival in Amsterdam, and Wiener Festwochen. In each location, the same scene unfolded differently – each time shaped by a new context: personal, cultural, local.

An integral part of the Polish version of The Second Woman is an open call for 100 men who will appear on stage as partners to Magdalena Cielecka. Participants of different ages, backgrounds, and life experiences are invited to apply. No acting experience is required — what matters is a willingness to step into a short scene based on a script that the actress will repeat 100 times. Applications are open from 27 March to 17 April via a form available on the Malta Festival website.

Casting: https://malta-festival.pl/casting-the-second-woman/ 

26–27 June

Start: 26 June, 6:00 PM

MTP | Earth Hall, Poznań

The Second Woman is part of the international theatre programme of Malta Festival. In Poznań, you will also see The Distance by Tiago Rodrigues, This resting, patience by Ewa Dziarnowska, and La Mort de la Mer by CocoRosie, featuring Justyna Wasilewska.

To Love!