MICET is made up of network of small workshops filled with props, books, period furniture and design classics. Five themes: FREEDOM, US / THEM, EMOTIONS, BODY, NEW organize the space into pathways, built around Stary’s historical and contemporary performances. Each path has an educational and exercise part.

Freedom

What limits our freedom in today’s world of micro and macro conflicts? Is it wars, diseases, addictions or money? Or is it the thoughts in our heads? The intense battles over artists’ and audiences’ freedoms and identities play themselves out on the theatre stage. Theatre can identify what slavery means today, but it doesn’t provide simple solutions or direct suggestions about how to live, be true to oneself and not go crazy at the same time.

US / THEM

Are THEY the refugees, the immigrants, the cyclists and vegans, the LGBT community, or even our neighbors whose opinions differ from our own? What’s the boundary between “the better sort” and the others? When does ‘protecting ones’ interests’ turn into overt aggression? Can we still stand together despite the deepening divisions?  And even in theatre, is there a real difference between the Actors and the Audience – and can anyone become an artist?

Emotions

Can theatre be a form of group therapy – a guide to understanding each other despite our differences, to letting yourself and others be themselves, to identifying issues which make us distant? At MICET, we can observe the complex emotions of characters directed by Krystian Lupa, Jan Klata and Krzysztof Warlikowski. Here, we can all ask whether a ‘happy end’ is still possible in our lives? And does happiness really require a ‘happy end’?

Body

The sacred and the profane. The dichotomy is the subject of studies and manipulations, an object of desire, a taboo and sometimes our own worst enemy. The public and the private, covered and uncovered, tortured and bent in a smartphone camera lens – in theatre it is a fundamental means of expression. At MICET, we use improvisational techniques to test our own bodies: what do they say to us and how to unblock them to release negative emotions and natural energy.

New

New technologies provide artists with new ways of creating and redefining what theatre is. Lighting effects and video projections, live streaming and performance art all come together to produce unprecedented combinations and juxtapositions. They are expanding theatre’s boundaries and helping it reach new audiences. By incorporating new media, theatre is engaging them in a dialogue, acting as a venue for mediation where the ‘human’ and the technologically-augmented can meet. It encourages the spectator to interact and actively interpret the performances. By diagnosing the here and now in ever-changing ways, theatre helps shaping the future.