2012-01-02

Here we present fragments of reviews published after the premiere of Zygmunt Krauze’s latest opera „Pułapka”. All the critics are in agreement in their assessment of Ewelina Pietrowiak’s superb staging, they all underline the role of the wonderful music, which has drawn out the most important aspects of Różewicz’s drama that are not always captured by stage realisations. "Wroclaw Opera, in staging “Pułapka” have given a wonderful tribute to Tadeusz Różewicz. Zygmunt Krauze and Grzegorz Jarzyna carefully made the necessary abbreviations in the play, which is considered the poet’s most important dramatic achievement. They preserved its structure and layout of scenes. Zygmunt Krauze's music does not blur the meaning of the words. Short orchestral introductions before each successive image, and a few choral episodes are actually the only added elements. The rest is based on dialogues and supplemented with expressive monologues. The composer repeats themes assigned to particular individuals, the score is constructed like of a set of building blocks, but then the "Pułapka" consists of obsessively recurring threads.
Ewelina Pietrowiak, director and author of the scenography, realised an ascetic, but visually beautiful „Pułapka”, perfectly bringing out the ambiguity. It is understandable to those who did not know the play before earlier, its reference to the biography of Franz Kafka (superb Mariusz Godlewski), his complicated relationship with his father (brutal Wiktor Gorelnikow), his inability to lay out life with his fiancée (the vocally subtle Joanna Moskowicz), and his servitude to his friend (Jacek Jaskuła)."
Śmierć czeka w szafie, Jacek Marczyński, Rzeczpospolita, 2011-12-19
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Wrocław: Zygmunt Krauze, Pułapka, world premiere. First of all: great directing, simple, but sophisticated, effective, but discreet. Ewelina Pietrowiak is getting better in staging operas (she also creates set design). And this was not easy. Scenes from Kafka's life, filtered through Różewicz and his memory of the war (the specific role of the wardrobe, anticipating the fate of the Jews) were captured by the composer in the "moaning" orchestral backing, as if out of tune, and the characteristic prosodic mannerism that Krauze has used in most of his operas: a personalised chanting, with detached individual words and sometimes strange accentuation. It is sadly monotonous and tedious, but maybe it was supposed to be a means to express the stuffy, Kafkaesque atmosphere?
Dorota Szwarcman, Weekendowe premiery, POLITYKA 19 December 2011
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This Różewicz-Krauze „Pułapka” is an unusual presentation. A chamber opera in which there are no arias, everything is based on dialogue, and the text of the libretto is a shortened text of the play (bravo for the composer and Grzegorz Jarzyna, because  the cuts have unearthed what is most important, and the music has further underlined it). Ewelina Pietrowiak, director and set designer, has a unique gift for the realisation of contemporary opera (...). On stage, nothing is accidental, and the technical and multimedia possibilities are used not for gimmicks, but to emphasize the sense. Simple, economical set design is the hallmark of Ewelina Pietrowiak, who skillfully operates with symbolism, which is not lacking in Różewicz’s drama. And most importantly - under her direction, the opera singers show that they are also dramatic actors. Because they not only sing, but most of all, they play.
Ja też jestem pułapką, Katarzyna Kaczorowska, Gazeta Wrocławska, 2011-12-19
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I appreciate this play not only for its intellectual and emotional capacity, but also for its form. And this form has become the key to the operatic success of the drama, successfully staged in the theatres (...). Zygmunt Krauze's music successfully highlights the grotesque incompatibility of the characters to the situation in which time and delusion caught them. Using a Webernian motif, the composer worked like an animator of the rhythm of the existence of the heroes trapped in events, social stereotypes, apparent male-female-family relationships, individual longings-needs. The people of the drama behave like participants in a ball of mannequins, which the operatic convention perfectly captures. The unnatural singing fits perfectly to the "epic of being out of place" as has been written about Różewicz’s "Pułapka".

There would be no victory for this presentation without Ewelina Pietrowiak. Most of the audience in anecdotal discussion praised the work of this young director. Rightly so. She found a way to join together all the stage elements. In so far as opera machinery allows, she dynamised the action, harmoniously using the mechanics, multimedia, and especially the acting talents lying dormant in the singers, not always given a chance to flourish. (...) Theatrically and vocally brilliant Mariusz Godlewski in the difficult role of Franz, the high flying (equally well in both categories) also includes Joanna Moskowicz (Felicja).
Pułapka (Opera Wrocławska), Grzegorz Chojnowski, Polskie Radio Wrocław, 2011-12-19
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This year's last premiere in Wrocław Opera primarily highlights Ewelina Pietrowiak’s phenomenal directing. Zygmunt Krauze’s work does not raise such a delight, though together with Grzegorz Jarzyna the composer created a coherent libretto based on Tadeusz Różewicz’s  difficult drama. The musical layer, however, leaves us unsatisfied. We have something to compare it to, for Wrocław audiences remember the premiere of the third version of Zygmunt Krauze’s great opera Gwiazda” with Agata Zubel’s memorable creation.

There, one character ruled supreme on the stage, in the case of „Pułapka” there are many, which requires a completely different reception. Apparently, before the premiere, Zygmunt Krauze indicated that he did not want his work compared with Tadeusz Różewicz’s play, but treated as an integral piece. The intention to some extent succeeded, though, quite paradoxically, mainly thanks to the staging which could easily be shown in any self-respecting opera house in the world. (...) „Pułapka” should be seen not only by music lovers, but also by those hungry for good, classical theatre, which does not distort the letters of the text and does not seek contexts where there are none.
Opera teatrem. Po premierze „Pułapki” Zygmunta Krauzego w Operze Wrocławskiej
Magdalena Talik, Kreatywny Wrocław, 2011-12-19

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After the premiere of Zygmunt Krauze’s „Pułapka” based on Tadeusz Różewicz’s play. There is no more depressing - and at the same time equally beautiful - spectacle in the repertoire of any opera house in Poland. This is not an hashing of Różewicz’s famous play into an opera, but more a lush abstract from a multi-threaded story enveloped in the threads of  Franz Kafka’s life.
Co za piękny i dołujący spektakl. Zobaczysz w Operze  Adam Domagała,
Gazeta Wyborcza Wrocław, 2011-12-20