- Polish stage
- Theatre
THERE IS ONLY ONE
Dates
24.06 / Tuesday, 19:00
25.06 / Wednesday, 19:00
26.06 / Thursday, 21:00
Dates
24.06 / Tuesday, 19:00
25.06 / Wednesday, 19:00
26.06 / Thursday, 21:00
Venue
Do not bring it up unless you have to. Skip it, stay silent, step aside. Don’t answer, block the contact, put it away—for a while, for later, on a forgotten shelf.
Can passivity be a form of rebellion? Can withdrawing from a relationship become a ruthless knockout blow aimed at the other person? And what if the suspension applies to the bond between a daughter and her mother? After all, there is only one mother.
“There Is Only One” is an absurd, terrifying, and darkly humorous study of a relationship held together by the last threads of communication between an adult child and a parent. Amid silent emotions, jealousy, loneliness, and disappointment, a picture of an impossible bond emerges—one that still pulses with life.
Where do boundaries end when we protect our own? Why does the daughter become the parent to her own mother? And finally, what do we do with all that love if the mother rejects it?
Directed by Pamela Leończyk with a script by Daria Sobik, the performance is set within an unconventional scenographic arrangement curated by Aleksandra Pietrzak. It features works by Anna Myszkowiak, represented by Molski Gallery. In her artistic practice, Myszkowiak brings to life the experience of corporeality and intimacy, allowing us to imagine others’ emotions and to step beyond the limits of our own.
During the day, the performance transforms into an exhibition, which will be open to the public from June 25 to 29 at Scena Robocza in Poznań.
“I think I’m writing about my mother so that now it’s me who gives birth to her” — writes Nobel laureate Annie Ernaux in one of her micro-novels. These words became the inspiration behind writing an autobiographical drama about a severed mother-daughter bond.
What is she doing now? Is she alive? What did she eat for dinner?
These questions, due to a once-close but broken relationship, will remain unanswered, yet they arise almost every day. So do the ambivalent feelings—ranging from disgust to longing, from the sense of rejection through unconditional love to self-destructive rage.
The play “There Is Only One” is a project that, through an attempt to understand, offers other women who found the only way to live without fear in the suspension of their relationship with their mother a chance to find peace and harmony within themselves.
Pamela Leończyk – theatre director, installation artist, theatre educator and accessibility coordinator. She graduated in theatre directing from the Aleksander Zelwerowicz National Academy of Dramatic Art in Warsaw, and holds degrees in theatre studies and performance studies from the Jagiellonian University in Kraków. She is a member of the Board of the Guild of Polish Theatre Directors. She collaborates with the Association of Theatre Educators and the Foundation for Socio-Economic Initiatives. She was a recipient of the New Theatre Lab grant organized by Teatr Nowy Proxima in Kraków, the “New Stage” programme by the Adam Mickiewicz Institute, the Animatus international installation competition, as well as art scholarships from the cities of Suwałki, Kraków (2020), and Warsaw (2021).
Her theatre work has been presented at the FIST Festival in Belgrade. Her play Night Swimmers won the main prize at the International Festival of Theatre and Avant-Garde Art “Pestka”; Body Process received the Grand Prix at the National Independent Theatre Festival OFTeN; and her Winter’s Tale work-in-progress won the New Yorick Award at the 27th Gdańsk Shakespeare Festival. She has collaborated with Teatr Powszechny in Warsaw, Tasca Teatro in Turin, Wilam Horzyca Theatre in Toruń, Teatr 21, Teatr Nowy Proxima in Kraków, Łaźnia Centre for Contemporary Art in Gdańsk and the Baltic Gallery of Contemporary Art in Słupsk.
Daria Sobik – playwright and dramaturge. She graduated in theatre studies from the Jagiellonian University and cultural studies from the University of Silesia. Finalist of the Gdynia Drama Award, New Drama Stage at the W. Siemaszkowa Theatre in Rzeszów, and the Young(er) Poland competition at the National Stary Theatre in Kraków (From the Same Cloth with Mariusz Gołosz). She was a semi-finalist of the “You’ll Never Walk Alone” competition at TR Warszawa and a New Yorick Award winner (with Pamela Leończyk) at the 27th Gdańsk Shakespeare Festival. She has worked as dramaturge and playwright at Teatr Powszechny and Teatr Studio in Warsaw, Teatr Nowy in Łódź, Polish Theatre in Bydgoszcz, Zagłębie Theatre in Sosnowiec, Adam Mickiewicz Theatre in Częstochowa, and New National Theatre in Tokyo. Her plays have been published by Dialog and Notatnik Teatralny.
Monika Roszko – graduate of the Acting Department at the Ludwik Solski State Drama School in Kraków. A film and theatre actress, she has been a member of the Polish Theatre ensemble in Poznań since 2016. She is known for her roles in K. (dir. M. Strzępka), The Trojan Women (dir. K. Michalak), Odysseus (dir. E. Marciniak), The Great Frederic (dir. J. Klata), Brave Piotrek and Orphan Marysia. A Fairy Tale for Adults (dir. W. Rubin), 28 Days (dir. K. Siwińska), Nana(dir. M. Pęcikiewicz), The Stranger (dir. K. Minkowska), The Death of John Paul II (dir. J. Skrzywanek), Colourful Dreams (dir. Sz. Adamczak and W. Rodak), Family Tapes (dir. P. Pacześniak), and The Hague (dir. S. Denisova). She made her film debut in Volhynia (dir. W. Smarzowski) in 2016. In 2018, she was recognised in the “Subjective List of Theatre Actors” by Jacek Sieradzki, and in 2021 she was nominated for the Medal of Young Art by Głos Wielkopolski.
Halina Chmielarz – graduate of the Acting Department at the Polish National Film, Television and Theatre School in Łódź. She performed at the Powszechny Theatre in Radom (1992–93), the Eighth Day Theatre in Poznań (1993–94, 2000–2002), the Polish Theatre in Poznań (1995–97), and the Rozmaitości Theatre in Warsaw (1997–99). She has also collaborated with the National Theatre in Warsaw, the Baltic Dramatic Theatre in Koszalin, and the Municipal Theatre in Leszno. She is known for her roles in television, films and serials.
Magdalena Sowul – composer, music producer, vocalist and clarinettist born in 1989. She received the City of Warsaw Art Scholarship for her music project The Last Creak. As part of the project, she wrote the play Sexy Corpse Core and composed and recorded eight songs about girlhood.
Anna Myszkowiak – sculptor and installation artist from Biłgoraj. She is a final-year student at the Faculty of Sculpture, University of the Arts in Poznań, and a graduate of the State Secondary School of Fine Arts in Lublin (specialising in woodcarving). She won the Grand Prix at the 16th LOOSTROO Autumn Art Salon (2024) and received Ministry of Culture scholarships for artistic achievements (2025, 2019). Her works explore embodiment, discomfort and wonder, using both classical sculptural materials (wood, metal) and everyday objects (blankets, baking paper, found items). In There Is Only One, her sculptures form a key part of the scenography.
Aleksandra Pietrzak – curator, art historian and critic, and research associate at the National Museum in Poznań. She holds degrees in Art History (Jagiellonian University), Contemporary Art (Pedagogical University in Kraków), and Museum Studies (University of Warsaw). She is the author of the “Museum Lesson” series for Czas Kultury and has contributed to Rynek i Sztuka and Restart. In There Is Only One, she curates the scenography.
Funded by the City of Poznań #poznanwspiera Funded by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage from the Culture Promotion Fund – a state special-purpose fund.
Director: Pamela Leończyk
Text and Dramaturgy: Daria Sobik
Performance: Monika Roszko, Halina Chmielarz
Installation: Anna Myszkowiak
Exhibition Curator: Aleksandra Pietrzak
Music: Magdalena Sowul
Video: Jędrzej Guzik
Visual Identity: Wiktoria Szydłowska
Sound Design: Maciej Frycz
Lighting Design: Michał Kurasiński
Executive Production: Wiktoria Studnicka
Promotion and Communication: Aleksandra Puk, Michalina Cendrowska
Production: Scena Robocza
Share it