Opening Night: 12 November 2022
Author: Olga Tokarczuk
Title: The Books of Jacob
Original Title: Księgi Jakubowe
Director: Michał Zadara

Auditorium: Boguslawski Hall
Running time: 2 hours 50 min inculding one interval


Ticket prices:

full-price tickets:
zone I: 120 PLN
zone II: 110 PLN
zone III: 100 PLN

concession tickets:
zone I: 85 PLN
zone II: 75 PLN
zone III: 65 PLN

rush tickets:
40 PLN  more info →

students of state theatre and art schools: 
15 PLN more info →

The Books of Jacob

This is a staging of the most important novel by Polish Nobel Prize winner Olga Tokarczuk.

In the middle of the 18th century, in Podolia, Jacob Lejbowicz Frank proclaimed the new principles of the Jewish faith. For some, he was the Messiah. Others saw him as a heretic and sectarian. The story of Frank, abounding with extraordinary adventures, reveals the true image of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth – a country of many cultures and nationalities on the cusp of a new era. In the story, we can also see a reflection of today's reality, with its threats and hopes for a better design for the world.

direction, light design, video: Michał Zadara
stage adaptation: Barbara WysockaMichał Zadara
set design: Robert Rumas
costume design: Julia Kornacka
music: Justyna Skoczek, Michał Zadara

The performance uses excerpts from the following musical works: Queen of the Night aria from the The Magic Flute and 2 quintet in C Minor by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Symphony No. 7 in A Major by Ludwig van Beethoven, Passacaglia in C Minor by Johann Sebastian Bach, Mazurka Op. 50, No. 1 by Karol Szymanowski.

Cast

And children

Maja Amsterdamska – Pesel, Haskiel, Agata
Felicja Nizińska – Cyvka, Eva/Avacha
Antoni Bluszcz / Tymoteusz Czajka – Little Jacob Frank


Production team

  • director's assistants: Anna Grycewicz, Michał Świechowski
    set design's assistant: Anna Maria Macugowska
    costume designer's assistant: Martyna Cierpisz 
    stunt effects: Andrzej Słomiński
  • light technicians: Zbigniew Szulim, Bartłomiej Kaczalski, Krzysztof Łukasz Stefan
    • sound technicians: Marek Szymański, Hubert Majewski, Mariusz Maszewski
  • video projection: Mariusz Chałubek, Paweł Woźniak
  • stage manager: Katarzyna Kłosowska-Kobiałka
    prompter: Magdalena Markowska
  •  


Gallery


  • FAUST

    Faust by Goethe – one of the greatest masterpieces of European culture. The play, directed by Wojciech Faruga, premieres on October 26, 2024.

  • OTHER DELIGHTS

    Other Delights by Jerzy Pilch directed by Jacek Głomb. With artful phrasing, Pilch tells an ordinary story of extraordinary love. Premiere – 7 December 2024.  


  • FEBLIK

    Feblik (Old Polish for an ‘infatuation’), surprising drama by Małgorzata Maciejewska received the Tadeusz Różewicz Drama Award. The spectacle directed by Lena Frankiewicz. 

  • A DREAM PLAY

    After the well-received Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Sławomir Narloch returned to the National Theatre with another premiere – A Dream Play by Strindberg.

     

  • KING LEAR

    King Lear may be Shakespeare's boldest examination of human nature. Jan Englert plays the title role. The tragedy directed by Grzegorz Wiśniewski. 

  • WAITING FOR GODOT

    Piotr Cieplak directs Waiting for Godot by Beckett. Is this a classic yet? Does it still have its avant-garde power? And, are we still waiting?


  • FREDRO. THE JUBILEE YEAR

    To celebrate 230 years since Aleksander Fredro's birth, the National Theatre invites you to an evening dedicated to the life and works of Poland’s greatest comedy writer. 

  • TALES FROM THE VIENNA WOODS

    Vienna in economic crisis and its lost inhabitants; portrait of the society in which fascism is born. Małgorzata Bogajewska directs Ödön von Horváth's 1931 drama.

  • THE THEATRE MAKER

    The play by Thomas Bernhard, one of the most outstanding playwrights of the second half of the 20th century. In the title role – Jerzy Radziwiłowicz. 

  • ALICE'S WONDERLAND

    Have you ever quarreled with the Time or visited a forest where things have no names? The musical performance based on the famous novels by Lewis Carroll. 

  • THE MISANTHROPE

    Jan Englert stages a classic play by Molière. What is Alcest's misanthropy: an uncompromising commitment to the truth or a doomed uprising against social conventions?

  • THE BOOKS OF JACOB

    Staging the most important novel by Polish Nobel Prize winner Olga Tokarczuk directed by Michał Zadara. 

  • THE DECALOGUE

    An iconic work of Polish cinema, rethought thirty-five years after its creation. Wojciech Faruga directs The Decalogue by Krzysztof Kieślowski and Krzysztof Piesiewicz. 


  • MARY STUART

    Grzegorz Wiśniewski returns to the classic drama about human passions interwoven in a ruthless machinery of history and intrigue.

  • MÜNCHHAUSEN FOR ADULTS

    Maciej Wojtyszko directs his own play about Baron von Münchhausen, a famous adventurer and swindler.


  • Solidarity with Ukraine | Солідарні з Україною

    The ensemble of the National Theatre stands in solidarity with the Ukrainians who are fighting for the independence of their homeland.

  • PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK

    The new theatrical version of the Australian prose classics directed by Lena Frankiewicz. In the role of Mrs Appleyard – Ewa Wiśniewska.


  • SNAKE SKIN

    Artur Urbański directs his own play which main character is Ruth Berlau, one of Bertolt Brecht's closest associates and life companions.


  • AUTUMN SONATA

    A theatrical version of the famous film by Ingmar Bergman directed by Grzegorz Wiśniewski. Danuta Stenka as Charlotte.


  • MOTHER JOAN OF ANGELS

    How does evil arise that we do not understand?Mother Joan of Angles by Iwaszkiewicz directed by Wojciech Faruga. 


  • The National Theatre at Google Cultural Institute

    Virtual exhibition 250 Years of Teatr Narodowy (National Theatre of Poland) is available online at Google Cultural Institute.


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