In the Trap of Existence. Dramatis Personae and Their World in Tymoteusz Karpowicz's Przerwa w podróży (A Stop in the Journey)

Abstract

In one of Tymoteusz Karpowicz's most ambitious dramaturgic attempts – Przerwa w podróży (A Stop in the Journey) – the protagonists representing the most general categories of human existence and various aspects of human activity, who are `all passengers of all means of communication', are put in the situation of existential suspense. A stop in the journey in the spatial sense makes it possible to travel into the depth of oneself, it becomes a chance to throw away all the redundancy of life and find in oneself the integral `ego', independent of functionality, that is of the roles that one has to play. The transitional reality in which the dramatis personae find themselves validates many interpretative orders, which in turn gives the characters many dimensions – they make ambiguous gestures, actions and their relations become ambiguous. A confrontation of many interpretation planes creates a polyphonic world of creative “all-possibility”, which, however, has its inner logic that is reflected in the way of presenting the protagonists and in the subsequent sequences bringing changes of arrangements and oppositions that are formed between them. The changing configurations, in which the characters look for affirmation of their existence in the relation with a partner, constitute the process of becoming mature enough – in experiencing oneself and others – to have one's own authentic consciousness; to one's humanity.