Ophelias. Iconography of Madness, Zorka Wollny

“Wollny’s Ophelias. Iconography of Madness, which is a performance and theater piece at the same time, features twelve professional actresses who play Ophelia, one after another. The actresses, who come from different theater traditions and generations, all played Ophelia according to their divergent training, knowledge, skills, and so on. The procession of Ophelias was stunning—the audience entered the world of deception, sorrow, and madness caused by the system of patriarchal rule. Some performed the character as a woman completely alienated from reality, while others seemed perfectly “normal.” Any woman would feel that they might also fall, that in the given condition (of Shakespeare’s Hamlet), they would not survive. The eternal feminine that opened before our eyes did not consist in the perpetuation of women’s beauty or seductive capacities, as in the stereotypical fetish of femininity; it became a feminist Howl of the female personae non grata in the male-dominated world. In my text accompanying the project’s online release, I claimed that these Ophelias performed a structural transformation of the public sphere.”

Ewa Majewska E-Flux Journal #92 (2018)

performance for eleven actresses, 50min Muzeum Sztuki, Lodz 2012, Contemporary Museum Wroclaw 2013, International Schakespear Festival Gdansk 2013 performed by: Iwona Bielska, Monika Dąbrowska, Ewa Domańska, Gabriela Frycz, Anna Ilczuk, Elżbieta Karkoszka, Krystyna Łubieńska, Marta Kalmus-Jankowska, Katarzyna Misiewicz, Karolina Porcari, Agnieszka Radzikowska, Małgorzata Rudzka, Bożena Stryjkówna photos by Adam T. Burton movies by: Małgorzata Mazur

In one place, at the same time eleven Ophelias met, eleven ways of experiencing and playing the role, eleven actor performances. In the empty space of Muzeum Sztuki eleven actresses who have played the role of Ophelia in theatre productions of Shakespeare’s Hamlet performed the final scene of madness.

The oldest performer was 80 years old (played Ophelie in 1960), the youngest is still playing in the adaptation from this year. The joint appearance of the actresses, arranged by Zorka Wollny, was a performance in which different interpretations of the classic dramatic role created an image of female madness.