The Polish Book Institute

A staging of Jan Kochanowski's Odprawa Posłów Greckich (“The Dismissal of the Greek Envoys”), translated by Charles Kraszewski and directed by Jason Morell, took place in Stratford-upon-Avon on Saturday as part of another edition of the “Shakespeare & Poland” festival at The Bear Pit theatre. The festival was organised by the Polish Cultural Institute in London and partnered by the Book Institute.

After the performance, a discussion with Morell, Charles Kraszewski, and actors from the Royal Shakespeare Company was organised. The whole event was moderated by Professor Tony Howard of Warwick University. As Marta de Zuniga, Director of the Polish Cultural Institute in London, noted, “Morell has worked with texts by Jan Kochanowski before; last year he directed Treny (“Laments”) and interpreted it in a contemporary key - the relationship between father and daughter, father and mother, father and wife."

Last year, a statue of Jan Kochanowski was also unveiled on the occasion of the festival in Stratford-upon-Avon. The initiative was intended to draw attention to the similarities between the two artists - both in terms of literature and their lives. The statue, made by British sculptor Andrew Lilley, can be admired right now in the gardens of Anne Hathaway's home, where Shakespeare's future wife spent her childhood.