Director from Chorzow conquers European stage

When Ingmar Villqist presented his film version of “Helucik” in the Katakomben theater in Essen (made in cooperation with Adam Sikora, a Polish cinematographer), other European theater operators became interested in his plays. Ingmar Villqist is the artistic pseudonym of Jaroslaw Swierszcz, the Chorzow-born playwright, art historian and professor of the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw.

As the pseudonym implies, Villqist’s plays are marked by the influence of the psychological Scandinavian style of writing. Among his plays performed in Polish theaters: “Oscar and Ruth,” “Helver’s Night” and a series of one-act plays, “The Anaerobes.”
“I received an invitation to ?Theater Cafe Europe,’ an international undertaking by playwrights from many European countries,” Villqist said.

The aim of the project is the reading and presentation of plays created by 20 contemporary dramatists.

It takes place at several locations: Tallin, Russia; Lille, France; Amsterdam and London. Beside Villqist’s “Helver’s Night,” only one other Polish play was chosen for this project: “Norymberga” by Wojciech Tomczyk.

Nevertheless, Villqist didn’t go to the festival, as he has plenty to do in Chorzow, his home town. He is working on film scripts (his latest is “Love in Konigshutte) and also on his next one-act play.

Managers of the Theater of Entertainment in Chorzow have requested a one-act play from Villqist to be presented at the new chamber stage’s inauguration.

Rehearsals for the three-person cast of the intimate love story will begin in late autumn. Another Villqist play, “Oscar and Ruth,” will appear soon in a Swedish translation. It will be published by the Ilke publishing house, which also published “Helver’s Night.”