Poznan. They showed the death of John Paul II on the stage. There is a catheter, pampers, and questions about the limits in portraying the disease

The Pope has a catheter and pampers, he wheezes, choking and gibbering. He’s dying. And this is far from an elegant myth. The play about his death is brutally naturalistic and literal, but this may be the last such tribute to John Paul II, before the generation of vulgar memes about him takes over for good.

– Przemysław Gulda for Wp.pl. “Death of John Paul II” directed by Jakub Skrzywanek was based on the biographies, memories and journals of people accompanying John Paul II in the last days of his life (including the secretaries of Stanisław Dziwisz and Mieczysław Mokrzycki), a medical analysis in the field of palliative medicine and the “Ordo Exsequiarum” ceremony . You can also hear the memories of the so-called ordinary people about that period of mass mourning.

The death of John Paul II is actually shown minute by minute. The creators ask where is the limit in showing disease and suffering

We want to look again at the last moments of Karol Wojtyla’s life and ask: are we all equal in the face of death and disease? Where is the limit in showing disease and suffering? and: what does it become when all that is private becomes public?

– explain the creators of the play, which has been shown at the Polish Theater in Poznań since last weekend. The director admitted that one of the key questions for him was to ask, “What do we really remember from John Paul II”. Skrzywanek, noting that today we are more critical of the fundamental figure, who undoubtedly is John Paul II, says:

What really stuck in my memory somewhere is this image on March 27 and 30, 2005, i.e. the last two speeches of John Paul II, who, already with a tracheotomy, unable to speak, was still shown to the public in the papal window. It was absolutely shocking for me. I say it without irony – I was 13 years old and then I was still a happily person who did not really collide with illness, suffering, death in my life. It was electrifying for me to confront this image, which I saw on TV, and it shaped me very much.

There will be no lawsuits

“The lovers of John Paul II, Cardinal Don Stanislao, as well as the management of the Polish Theater in Poznań can rest easy – the performance ‘Death of John Paul II’ does not give rise to great indignation, let alone lawsuits. The 30-year-old director (and the artistic director of the Theater Contemporary in Szczecin) Jakub Skrzywanek does not hold the Pope and his entourage accountable for, at least, the lack of reaction to pedophilia in the Church And can showing the pope in the last days of his life, sick, wheezing, drooling, washed, and with a pampers put on by a nurse, shocking? ” – in “Polityka” Aneta Kyzioł, answering in the next sentence that the most surprising thing is the choice of 45-year-old Michał Kaleta to play the dying 85-year-old. He immediately notices, however, that his role is touching.

The creators hired a medical and nursing consultant. Some of the dialogues are spoken in Italian and Latin to keep them as authentic as possible.

The 100-minute show is intended for people over 16 years of age. As you can read on the website of Teatr Polski in Poznań, “this performative event tells the story of Karol Wojtyła’s last moments and asks questions about death, equality in the face of disease and suffering, and the border between what is public and what is private”. Witold Mrozek in “Gazeta Wyborcza” that the creators focus “on the activities of nurses and doctors, attempts to lead the barely speaking pope to deliver a message or animate his dying body – on the very day of his death – to ‘personally’ sacrifice the crowns for the image of the Mother of God ; secretary Dziwisz puts a sprinkler in his hand, makes gestures for him and utters words “. Cardinal Stanisław Dziwisz is played by Andrzej Szubski.

The cast also includes: Mariusz Adamski (Massimiliano nurse), Alan Al-Murtatha (embalmer), Piotr B. Dąbrowski (2nd secretary of the Pope Mieczysław Mokrzycki), Wojciech Kalwat / Bogdan Żyłkowski (cardinal chamberlain E. Martinez Somalo), Piotr Kaźmierczak (Dr. Renato Buzzonetti), Barbara Krasińska (sister of Tobian Sobótka), Jakub Papuga (master of papal ceremonies, Archbishop P. Marini), Monika Roszko (sister of Eufrozyna Rumian) and Kornelia Trawkowska (Thanatokosmetologist).