“This is a hit that has all the other hits beneath it” — this is how columnist Rafał Ziemkiewicz described the “play” currently being staged in a Warsaw theatre. The work, directed by Piotr Pacześniak and titled Witaj Abdo (Welcome, Abdo), is described as a “dystopian vision of the future” depicting “murders committed by Poles against Arab refugees,” allegedly taking place between the years 2021 and 2031.
A scandalous performance in a Warsaw theatre
Rafał Ziemkiewicz elaborated on the matter in a post on X (formerly Twitter). The “work” is being staged at the Warsaw Studio Theater, which is co-organized and co-funded by the City of Warsaw. The play refers to alleged “crimes” committed by Poles at the Belarusian border, which are discovered in the year 2049.
“It turns out that Poles, with the song of the Bar Confederates and Kordian on their lips, massacred thousands of Arab refugees here almost 30 years ago. Those who were not immediately thrown into mass graves were tortured in a secretly revitalized post-Nazi extermination camp, repurposed for that very goal. The Catholic-nationalist regime managed to hide its crimes for a long time, but thanks to the work of brave prosecutors and equally noble human rights activists, the truth about the Poles comes to light…”
— reads the play’s synopsis.
It also states that “The Euro-Islamic Tribunal is conducting trials against those who, both passively and actively, contributed to the violence against people at the European Union’s borders between 2021 and 2031.” The summary introduces several interrogated characters.
“Three interrogated figures — an activist, a travel agency employee, and a border guard — represent different levels of entanglement in the acts judged within the play. Their voices do not so much reconstruct the past as they circle around it, trying to justify, reframe, or forget it. Hovering over them is the spectre of Abdalrahman Harem — the titular character, a refugee whose trace was lost at the border,”
the description adds.
“This is a hit that has all other hits beneath it. The Warsaw Studio Theater is staging a work by Mikita Iłanczyk (Belarusian People’s Republic) titled Witaj Abdo (…) Who is sponsoring this work? Yes — the Mayor of Warsaw, Rafał Trzaskowski!!!”
— Rafał A. Ziemkiewicz wrote on X.
Drugs on stage
This is not the first time that controversial performances have been staged in Warsaw’s theatres. Recently, it was reported that one of the city’s municipal theatres presented a play titled NarcoSexuals.
“It portrays a group of men who lose themselves in drug-fueled sex. Viewers walk around a mock-up of a suburban house and observe a chemsex party through its windows”
— read the announcement for the performance.
The theatre in question is a municipal cultural institution located in Warsaw’s Mokotów district. Its operations are funded by Norwegian grants as well as the budgets of the Polish state and the City of Warsaw.