Mothers - A Song for Wartime

They are both survivors and helpers. Refugees and witnesses of violence and bombings. They all now live in Poland, where they have come together as a choir. They use the power of their voices in order to name what there can be no words for. They do not want to be heard as victims but as the protagonists of their stories.

The Polish director Marta Górnicka, an exception on the European stage with her choral theatre, confronts the noise of war with the women’s sprechgesang, which becomes an accusation, a plea and a warning to us and all the people of Europe.    

The cumulative power of the voices is not only reminiscent of an antique chorus but also of the Ukrainian vocal tradition of the shchedrivka. Linking the women’s experiences of war and exile with tender nursery rhymes and folksongs in a precise choreography opens up a wide space of contemplation. Marta Górnicka and her choir articulate ritual choral traditions going back to the seventh century BCE and political demands in such a way that theatre makes a common space based on attentive listening to others.