Szosa Wołokołamska [Wolokolamsker Chaussee I–V]

Wolokolamsker Chaussee: the western entry road to Moscow, the approach route of the German tanks in 1941 and the title of a novel by Alexander Bek about the Soviet defensive struggle. Heiner Müller has woven further historical events and literary sources into his theatre text to create a scenic pentaptych: the uprising of 17th June in East Berlin, the Prague spring, short stories by Anna Seghers, Franz Kafka and Heinrich von Kleist.

In this Polish premiere production, the young director Barbara Wysocka realizes Müller’s complex tableaux of events and texts between Berlin, Moscow and Prague with great clarity. With only three actors she demonstrates the way history discards things and people, finds surprising parallels and opens up a wealth of associations. Not the least of her achievements is to prove the necessity of taking an open and critical approach to history.